Corey Floyd
Exploratory Paper
College Writing
2/11/2016
CIA Enhanced Interrogations Techniques: Saving lives or Inhumane
The CIA was founded in 1947 with the task of analyzing national security,
they do this primarily though the human intelligence. After the terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center the CIA began interrogating possible members of al-Qaida in
attempts to get information that could lead to the capture of al-Qaida leaders and stop
possible terrorist attacks. CIA called these tactics “enhanced interrogation techniques”.
The CIA used enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, standing on
broken legs, forced rectal feeding, sleep deprivation and many others (Tucker). Currently
the enhanced interrogations are banned by President Obama, with the upcoming election
that could change. The CIA has been accused of using some techniques that are unlawful,
facing claims that the techniques used were excessive and not used to gain information
that could be lifesaving. Some believe the enhanced interrogation techniques stopped
numerous attack on the United States, and U.S. military establishments.
The CIA has come under heavy scrutiny since the records of their tactics were
released in 2013. In “Why You Never Saw The CIA’s Interrogation Tapes” an article
written by PBS’s director of audience development Patrice Taddonio on May 19th 2015,
she notes
When graphic photographs of American soldiers abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib
prison in Iraq surfaced in 2004, they sparked international outrage — and
prompted new scrutiny of how the U.S. treats its prisoners.
She adds the CIA was in possession of videotaped “enhanced interrogations”, this was
more worrying to the CIA because of the impact the video would have, she goes on to say
although Abu Ghraib was not a CIA run facility, the CIA would still be worried about the
events that took place there. The CIA was in possession of something that could be more
explosive and they feared this would surface. The CIA had hundreds of hours of
videotaped “enhanced interrogations” (Taddonio). In October 2015 two former Air Force
Phycologists were sued by The American Civil Liberties Union, the two designed the
program the CIA used during its interrogations. The law suit claiming the interrogation
tactics used did not produce lifesaving information and inflicted pain beyond legal limits
(Tucker). Non U.S. citizens have the right to sue in the U.S. over human rights issues
under the Alien Tort Statute. The suit was filed on behalf of three former prisoners, one of
