The Senate Armed Services Committee Report on Treating of Detainees in December 2008

In December 2008, Carl Levin and John McCain released the conclusions of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the treatment of detainees. The committee found that SERE tactics, originally conceived as tests to prepare United States troops for possible interrogation by enemies, were wrongfully used to interrogate detainees. However, the important part of the findings were that this wrongdoing was a direct consequence of policies put in place by senior government officials, approving an atmosphere of pushing the boundaries of what constituted torture. Levin said, “The message from top officials was clear; it was acceptable to use degrading and abusive techniques against detainees.” The report pointed the finger directly at Rumsfeld and other members of the Bush administration, while simultaneously denying their claims that their use of harsher techniques had been effective in the War on Terror, saying instead the techniques “damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority.” The committee emphasized that what happened at Abu Ghraib and other places of torture was not the result of a few twisted, rogue soldiers, but an overall policy backed by the highest-ranking officials in America.