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Mock Executions Among CIA Torture Tactics

By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 21, 2009 7:10 PM CDT
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(Newser) – A report long suppressed by Bush administration officials set to be released next week says the CIA used mock executions as part of post-9/11 interrogations, Newsweek reports—though federal law prohibits threatening prisoners with “imminent death,” and the practice wasn’t authorized by the Justice Department, unlike other “enhanced” techniques like waterboarding.

A man suspected in the USS Cole bombing was threatened with a gun and a power drill during one interrogation, the report found; during another, a gunshot was fired in the room next door to make the detainee believe a fellow prisoner had been executed. The report has been ready since 2004, and has been read by some lawmakers; two former CIA heads kept it buried fearing its impact on agency morale.

Top Bush administration officials wanted the report, which outlines the mock executions, kept secret.
Top Bush administration officials wanted the report, which outlines the mock executions, kept secret.   (Wikimedia Commons)
Top Bush administration officials wanted the report, which outlines the mock executions, kept secret.
Top Bush administration officials wanted the report, which outlines the mock executions, kept secret.   (Wikimedia Commons)
Top Bush administration officials wanted the report, which outlines the mock executions, kept secret.
Top Bush administration officials wanted the report, which outlines the mock executions, kept secret.   (Wikimedia Commons)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
odowd80
Aug 22, 2009 12:40 PM CDT
The CIA should have forced prisoners to watch Glenn Beck all day, every day. That would have broken them in a hurry!
brawne
Aug 22, 2009 12:28 PM CDT
There is a viable option between a power drill and Starbucks. I think it's called Psych-Ops. Or how to get someone to cough it up by manipulating their emotions. Catch more flies with honey is so tried that it is true. To play to fear, means acting as though people are being boiled in oil when actually they are being conned. It's not hard. Glen Beck does it every day. You think his audience would love him more if he poked a stick in their eye or if he manipulated the shit out of them to believe anything he says? Love Stewart showing the footage of Beck on CNN calling American healthcare the worst, and then the footage of him on FOX calling it the best. That is how you break people.
Ucantusethatname
Aug 22, 2009 12:19 PM CDT
Tough times called for tough tactics. Would you have preferred talking with them over a cup of coffee at Starbucks?

 
Bush administration • CIA • torture • Department of Justice • execution • Michael Hayden • interrogation • waterboarding • Porter Goss • USS Cole • report • enhanced interrogation techniques • morale • mock executions

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