Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
FAX: 202 228 3954
Dear Senator Feinstein:
We write to urge that you make the forthcoming Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program public with as few redactions as possible.
We strongly support the Committee’s ongoing effort to investigate and establish the facts surrounding the CIA interrogation, rendition, and detention programs. These issues have been the subject of intense speculation and debate, and the absence of a comprehensive examination of the facts based on the actual historical record has been extremely corrosive and divisive. For example, soon after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, proponents of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” claimed that information derived from torture revealed his whereabouts. The anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death will likely result in another contentious debate about the use of torture and cruelty in interrogations. The public is entitled to a complete reporting of the facts, detailing how and why these techniques came to be used.
The use of cruel interrogation techniques long denounced by the United States as forms of torture represented a dramatic reversal from the principles to which our nation has aspired for over 200 years. We believe that these policies were abhorrent, illegal and ineffective. But, in the absence of a comprehensive review based on the classified record, people on both sides of this controversy continue to claim the facts are on their side.
The Committee should let the facts speak. It should let the American people know what was done in their name. There can be no justification for continuing to deny the public the facts. As you know, the bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee Report on the role of the Department of Defense in detainee abuses has already been made public.
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.
We look forward to working with you on bringing appropriate congressional and public oversight to U.S. interrogation and detention policies.
Yours Sincerely,
Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma
American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International USA
Asian Americans for Community Involvement, Center for Survivors of Torture
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Brennan Center for Justice
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Justice and Accountability
Center for Survivors of Torture
Center for Victims of Torture
Florida Center for Survivors of Torture
Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
International Justice Network
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
No More Guantanamos
North Carolina Stop Torture Now
Northern Virginia Family Service
NYU Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture
Open Society Foundations
PEN American Center
Physicians for Human Rights
Program for Torture Victims
Reprieve
Survivors of Torture, International