WASHINGTON, December 16 (Sputnik) – US President Barack Obama does not agree with former US Vice President Dick Cheney’s praise for the CIA officials involved in the agency’s harsh interrogation techniques outlined in a recently declassified report, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has told reporters.
“I can say unequivocally that the [US] president certainly believes that the former vice president’s assessment [of the CIA torture report] is wrong,” Earnest said aboard Air Force One Monday.
On Sunday, Cheney said that the CIA officials who had been involved in enhanced interrogation techniques, should be praised and “deserve to be decorated” because the agency’s methods were effective.
Earnest argued Monday that the CIA interrogation program has damaged the United States’ reputation and “moral credibility around the globe”.
On December 9, the US Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that included over 500 pages of detailed investigation summary, outlining the interrogation techniques that were used by the CIA on alleged al-Qaeda agents after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.
The Senate report covered CIA activity between 2001 and 2006, revealing that US intelligence subjected detainees to waterboarding, threats of sexual assault, prolonged sleep deprivation and mock executions, as well as many other torture techniques.
