Report Detailing Torture Under Bush Administration May Be Approved By Senate

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday is expected to approve a report detailing the use of torture under former President George W. Bush. However, the findings of the highly anticipated report will not be released to the public.

Instead, the release of the 6,000-page tome outlining “enhanced interrogation techniques” in place under the Bush administration will likely move torture to the forefront of the political debate, as the White House and the intelligence community grapple over which details -- if any -- can be declassified.

According to The Hill, which first reported that the findings would not be released, the Senate Intelligence Committee initially told the publication the panel would vote on whether to approve the report this past summer.

Shortly after his inauguration, President Barack Obama banned the use of some contentious interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, that were used under the Bush administration. But some Republicans and intelligence officials, as well as Bush, argue that those techniques provided valuable information that, among other things, gave Obama the ability to order the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Although Obama had promised to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, where the U.S. holds many of its detainees captured abroad, he ultimately faltered on that policy. The Center for Constitutional Rights reports the detention facility has subjected to violent interrogation techniques that include beatings, sexual harassment or the threat of rape, deprivation of medical treatment and solitary confinement.

The Senate Intelligence Committee in 2009 launched its first probe into whether certain controversial interrogation methods were useful in gathering pertinent information. According to Reuters, the committee is expected to conclude that those methods did not produce any considerable intelligence scoops.