Government officials familiar with the CIA's early interrogations say the most powerful evidence of apparent excesses is contained in the "top secret" May 7, 2004, inspector general report, based on more than 100 interviews, a review of the videotapes and 38,000 pages of documents. The full report remains closely held, although White House officials have told political allies that they intend to declassify it for public release when the debate quiets over last month's release of the Justice Department's interrogation memos...
Although some useful information was produced, the report concluded that "it is difficult to determine conclusively whether interrogations have provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks," according to the Justice Department's declassified summary of it.
"This news is particularly timely in light of Cheney's continuing high-profile claims that torture may have saved 'hundreds of thousands of lives,'" says Sargent. "The report is the one I wrote about recently that the ACLU obtained through litigation in highly redacted form. It has an entire redacted section that discusses the 'effectiveness' of torture -- or lack thereof."
So, long story short, the only defense of torture -- that it works -- may be about to collapse. It also pays to remember that the memos Cheney wants released that he says prove torture worked come from his own office.
