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Idaho Senator Blasts Release of CIA Torture Report

Idaho Senator Jim Risch angrily blasted the Senate report on CIA interrogation and detention practices, even before it was released. Risch, who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, denounced the nearly 600-page executive summary of the torture report as one-sided, partisan and unconscionable.

He and Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio issued a scathing criticism Monday evening. They wrote: " simply put, this release is reckless and irresponsible."

While Congress, they said, has an oversight responsibility for intelligence agencies and capabilities, the report does not qualify as either serious or constructive. They went on to say "as a nation at war, we need a coherent detention and interrogation policy to extract valuable intelligence from captured operatives."

But the report, which took years to produce, concluded that harsh interrogations did not produce any intelligence which could not have been obtained by non-coercive means.

Former President Bush authorized the CIA Rendition, Detention and Interrogation program after the September 11th 2001 terror attacks, but he ended many of the aspects before he left office.

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