“The torture that has taken place has been a breeding ground for more terrorism,” Juan Mendez said as quoted in a statement published on the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights official website.
According to Mendez, the United States' employing controversial interrogation techniques has emboldened other countries with respect to torture. “We had a sense of moral condemnation of torture that was truly universal. The nations that tortured denied that they did,” Mendez said.
Mendez noted, that being a UN Special Rapporteur on torture, he travels extensively and "can attest to the fact that many states either implicitly or explicitly tell you: "Why look at us? If the US tortures, why can't we do it?"
According to Mendez, some moral high ground has been lost regarding the use of torture, but it can and should be regained.
On December 9, the US Senate Select Intelligence Committee released an executive summary of the 6,300 page report, detailing its investigation into the CIA's interrogation techniques used on alleged al-Qaeda members after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The report describes interrogation techniques used by the agency including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and threatening prisoners' families.
