President Bush paved the wayfor torture when he signed an order saying that the Geneva...
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President Bush paved the way
for torture when he signed an order saying that the Geneva Conventions
did not apply to Al-Qaeda. That allowed George Tenet
to try something different so long as Abu Zubaydah was believed
to be a member of Al-Qaeda. President Bush today has decided
that Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist group
under the treaty. If members of Al-Qaeda were different from other prisoners of war then perhaps different interrogation
techniques could be used. But not so different
as to cause permanent damage which could be evidence of torture. That led the CIA
to retrofit a program developed after the Korean War in which we brutalized
our own soldiers to prepare them to resist
the brutality of others. If we did it to ourselves,
how bad could it be? When I started,
I was a human intelligence officer
for torture when he signed an order saying that the Geneva Conventions
did not apply to Al-Qaeda. That allowed George Tenet
to try something different so long as Abu Zubaydah was believed
to be a member of Al-Qaeda. President Bush today has decided
that Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist group
under the treaty. If members of Al-Qaeda were different from other prisoners of war then perhaps different interrogation
techniques could be used. But not so different
as to cause permanent damage which could be evidence of torture. That led the CIA
to retrofit a program developed after the Korean War in which we brutalized
our own soldiers to prepare them to resist
the brutality of others. If we did it to ourselves,
how bad could it be? When I started,
I was a human intelligence officer
Full Transcript
00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:02.096
President Bush paved the way
for torture
00:00:03.016 --> 00:00:04.044
when he signed an order saying
00:00:04.052 --> 00:00:07.028
that the Geneva Conventions
did not apply to Al-Qaeda.
00:00:07.056 --> 00:00:10.002
That allowed George Tenet
to try something different
00:00:10.048 --> 00:00:14.999
so long as Abu Zubaydah was believed
to be a member of Al-Qaeda.
00:00:14.072 --> 00:00:16.096
President Bush today has decided
that Al-Qaeda
00:00:17.016 --> 00:00:19.006
is an international terrorist group
under the treaty.
00:00:20.048 --> 00:00:22.998
If members of Al-Qaeda were different
00:00:22.016 --> 00:00:23.004
from other prisoners of war
00:00:23.076 --> 00:00:26.008
then perhaps different interrogation
techniques could be used.
00:00:27.028 --> 00:00:29.088
But not so different
as to cause permanent damage
00:00:30.016 --> 00:00:31.068
which could be evidence of torture.
00:00:32.024 --> 00:00:34.068
That led the CIA
to retrofit a program
00:00:34.076 --> 00:00:36.028
developed after the Korean War
00:00:36.056 --> 00:00:38.072
in which we brutalized
our own soldiers
00:00:38.008 --> 00:00:41.016
to prepare them to resist
the brutality of others.
00:00:42.016 --> 00:00:44.084
If we did it to ourselves,
how bad could it be?
00:00:46.999 --> 00:00:48.056
When I started,
I was a human intelligence officer.
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Movie Summary
Follows the story of Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee subjected to the CIA's program, later identified as torture by those outside the agency.
