Republicans blast ‘troubling’ CIA report

Multiple Republican lawmakers are criticizing leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee for releasing an extensive and critical report about the CIA’s use of waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other “enhanced interrogation” methods. [READ THE REPORT].

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the report “troubling for a variety of reasons.”

{mosads}He asserted that the interrogation techniques “saved American lives, and Senate Democrats should thank these brave men and women who worked to protect us — not vilify them.”

Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, decried the report as “an unconstructive, partisan account of the last decade’s counterterrorism efforts.”

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the retiring head of the House Intelligence Committee, on Tuesday said releasing the report “will only inflame our enemies, risk the lives of those who continue to sacrifice on our behalf, and undermine the very organization we continuously ask to do the hardest jobs in the toughest places.”

That concern matches precautions the Obama administration has taken at embassies and military facilities around the globe in anticipation of possible violence and unrest following the report’s release.

Though Angus King (I-Maine) and three Republicans on the Intelligence Committee voted in favor of releasing the 500-page summary of a much longer classified report, the release had been propelled by Democrats on the Intelligence Committee. The report found that the controversial tactics used during the Bush administration sometimes amounted to torture and that the CIA mislead its overseers about its use of the methods.

Republicans on the Intelligence Committee have released their own report about the CIA’s practices, which is harshly critical of the majority’s version.

The Republican analysis released accused the report of “lack of objectivity,” “inadequate context” and claimed that it comes to “erroneous” conclusions.

While many Republicans criticized the report, however, some supported its release.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) both gave speeches on the Senate floor on Tuesday heralding the report’s release.

McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and has been a vocal critic of harsh interrogation methods, said that the CIA’s methods “ damaged our security interests as well as our reputation as a force for good in the world.”