RIGA (Sputnik) — There is nothing new and sensational about the US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) torturing those suspected of perpetrating terror-related crimes, former US State Department official William Blum said Wednesday.
Earlier this week, CIA’s former executive director, Buzzy Krongard, told the BBC that the agency tortured terror suspects under a program of "enhanced interrogation" a definition allowing the government to not be required to call the actions torture.
"The CIA admitted that they had tortured people. This is nothing new. You can find the official statements made by the CIA in the past, on torture which they performed. It has long been known worldwide," Blum told the Lithuanian Baltkom Radio.
In 2009, newly-elected President Barack Obama officially put an end to CIA torture practices, but did not prosecute Bush-era senior officials running such programs.
Last year, the Senate released the so-called CIA torture report which revealed that the agency lied to the government about its torture practices, including subjecting detainees to low temperatures, simulated drowning, sexual humiliation, forced rectal feeding and sleep deprivation.
