December 10, 2014 11:12 AM UTC

Colorado Politicos React To Torture Report

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: National Journal reports on a fiery speech from Sen. Mark Udall today, again demanding the resignation of CIA Director John Brennan:

In a career-defining speech, Sen. Mark Udall took to the Senate floor Wednesday to discuss a largely classified internal CIA investigation into the agency's Bush-era "enhanced interrogation techniques," and call for the current CIA director's resignation.

Udall, an outbound Democrat from Colorado, began highlighting key conclusions from the CIA's so-called Panetta Review, written in 2011 and named after then-agency Director Leon Panetta. Its critical findings, in addition to the agency's attempts to prevent the Senate from seeing it, Udall said, demonstrates that the CIA is still lying about the scope of enhanced interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration.

That deceit is continuing today under current CIA Director John Brennan, Udall said.

"The refusal to provide the full Panetta Review and the refusal to acknowledge facts detailed in both the committee study and the Panetta Review lead to one disturbing finding: Director Brennan and the CIA today are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture."

Obama, Udall said, "has expressed full confidence in Director Brennan and demonstrated that trust by making no effort at all to rein him in." Udall additionally referred to Brennan's "failed leadership" and suggested that he should resign.

The Denver Post's Mark Matthews:

He also blasted President Barack Obama on Wednesday for breaking his word to shine light on what Udall has dubbed a "dark chapter of our history."

"The White House has not led on this issue in the manner we expected," the Democratic lawmaker said. "This administration, like so many before it, has released information only when forced to."

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Responses from more Colorado members of Congress to the release yesterday by the Senate Intelligence Committee of a damning report summarizing abuses committed by the Central Intelligence Agency in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and asserting for the record that the torturing of captured enemy combatants did not produce useful intelligence. The Colorado Independent has a statement from Rep. Jared Polis:

“The release of the Senate CIA torture report today reveals a dark and shameful chapter in American history,” Polis said in a release. “Under the guise of patriotism, the CIA conducted wholly un-American behavior that failed to secure our nation, but did much damage to our credibility and standing at home and abroad. The activities described in the report demonstrated a flagrant and frightening disregard for domestic and international law, offering a glimpse into the mindset of an agency that clearly believes it can play by a different set of rules.

“This report is a good first step towards bringing much needed accountability to our intelligence community, but it alone is not enough to change the culture that led to these lasting and continuous violations of international law and American values. I am calling for the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to double down on their oversight of the intelligence community to ensure that these types of activities never happen again and that those who work at the CIA and other intelligence agencies don’t trample on the very constitution they seek to protect.”

But Republican Rep. Scott Tipton, via the Durango Herald, doesn't have anything positive to say:

“Congressman Tipton is in the process of reviewing the Senate report, but shares the concerns of House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers that its release could put Americans’ lives at risk around the world,” said Josh Green, a spokesman for Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez. “He supports transparency and also believes that prudence should be exercised in terms of what sensitive national security information is released so that it doesn’t jeopardize American lives or incite violence.”

Meanwhile from Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs, a full-throated endorsement of torture. We're sorry if you naively expected any better from him:

"The partisan conclusions reached in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on CIA enhanced interrogation techniques is designed to humiliate our nation and the intelligence community.  It also has the potential to endanger the lives of Americans.  I believe in transparent government, but I also believe in a government that is able to use all the tools at its legal disposal to protect American citizens.  There should be no doubt that harsh interrogation techniques produced actionable intelligence from a handful of terrorists that could not have been obtained any other way." [Pols emphasis]

We haven't seen any statement yet from GOP Reps. Mike Coffman or Cory Gardner about the release of the torture report. Gardner's view is of particular interest, since he just unseated one of the U.S. Senate's leading critics of intelligence excesses post-9/11, Sen. Mark Udall. It's hard to imagine Gardner being anything like the force on civil liberties and human rights in wartime that Udall has been his entire career in Congress, but some kind of statement from Sen.-elect Gardner would give us an idea of just what has been lost on these issues with Udall's defeat.

Our guess is, more than the Denver Post's editorial board will want to admit.