CIA torture report undermines US authority

The White House says the newly released torture report detailing harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA has undermined US moral authority around the world.

“The moral authority of the United States of America is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal to protect and advance US interests around the globe and it’s the view of the president that the use of these techniques regardless of whether or not they elicit national intelligence information undermine our ability to use this very powerful tool,” White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said on Wednesday.

He went on to say that the brutal tactics should not have been used due to the damage they caused to the US image around the world.

Earnest also said that the US is “willing to face up to its shortcomings” and that it is committed to making sure that these shortcomings will not happen again.

On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a drastically redacted summary of its voluminous report on the CIA’s torture program during the George W. Bush administration.

The interrogation of suspected terrorists was far more brutal than the spy agency had disclosed, Senate intelligence committee chair Dianne Feinstein said as she announced the release of the report on Tuesday in Washington.

Following the disclosure of the report, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Wednesday that US officials and CIA agents who authorized or carried out torture against prisoners must be prosecuted.