CIA, Senate contrast claims of effectiveness of torture of al-Qaida detainees

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA program that included torturing al-Qaida detainees provides eight “primary” examples in which the CIA said it obtained good intelligence as a result of what it called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” and the Senate panel’s conclusions that the information was available elsewhere and without resorting to brutal interrogations.

A look at those examples of the CIA’s claims and the Senate’s counterclaims, according to the Senate report:

JOSE PADILLA

THE CIA SAID U.S. citizen Jose Padilla was implicated in the so-called Dirty Bomb/Tall Buildings plotting. Terror leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tasked Padilla in 2002 with conducting an operation using natural gas to explode tall buildings in the United States, later known as the “Tall Buildings Plot.” Over the next few years, the CIA cited the capture of Padilla before he could pull off such a plot as a prime example of how “key intelligence collected from (High Value Detainee) interrogations after applying interrogation techniques” had “enabled CIA to disrupt terrorist plots” and “capture additional terrorists.” It also said the information was otherwise unavailable and saved lives.

THE SENATE REPORT SAYS the CIA first received reporting on the threat posed by Padilla from a foreign government. Eight days later, al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah gave the FBI information on the plot without names, four months before the CIA began using its harsh interrogation techniques on Zubaydah, and after the intelligence community had concluded that Padilla’s plots were infeasible.

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US brutalized terrorist suspects for no gain in security, says Senate’s torture report

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States brutalized scores of terror suspects with interrogation tactics that turned secret CIA prisons into chambers of suffering and did nothing to make America safer after the 9/11 attacks, Senate investigators concluded Tuesday.

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report, years in the making, accused the CIA of misleading its political masters about what it was doing with its “black site” captives and deceiving the nation about the effectiveness of its techniques.

The report was the first public accounting of tactics employed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and it described far harsher actions than had been widely known.

Tactics included confinement to small boxes, weeks of sleep deprivation, simulated drowning, slapping and slamming, and threats to kill, harm or sexually abuse families of the captives.

The report produced revulsion among many, challenges to its veracity among some lawmakers and a sharp debate about whether it should have been released at all.

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Obama health adviser Gruber apologizes for ‘glib, thoughtless’ remarks now under attack by GOP

WASHINGTON (AP) — MIT economist Jonathan Gruber — an often-quoted adviser on the president’s health care law — told Congress on Tuesday he was glib and “inexcusably arrogant” when he said it was “the stupidity of the American voter” that led to the law’s passage. Democrats tried to limit the damage as Republicans raked Gruber at a four-hour hearing, but acknowledged he gave the GOP a political gift “wrapped in a bow.”

Gruber told groups in 2012 and 2013 that voter stupidity and a “lack of transparency” were important to passing the hard-fought legislation. Appearing before the House Oversight committee Tuesday, Gruber expanded on earlier apologies, repeatedly saying “I was conjecturing in areas beyond my expertise.”

Enduring one fierce lecture after another, Gruber said his earlier comments were uninformed, “glib, thoughtless and sometimes downright insulting.” He said he was showing off before various groups, and “trying to be something, I’m not, which was a political expert.”

He said the law’s passage was actually transparent and heavily debated in public, despite his earlier comments. And Gruber said he was not the “architect” of the law, as some press accounts had claimed.

But Republican Committee Chairman Darrell Issa of California called Gruber a crucial player in the legislation. Issa grilled Gruber repeatedly in what might be his last committee probe of what he calls “Obamacare.” Republican term limits will force Issa — whose bare-knuckled attacks on administration programs sometimes annoy GOP leaders — to surrender the committee chairmanship in the next Congress.

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French hostage held for 3 years is freed by al-Qaida after 2 alleged kidnappers freed in Mali

PARIS (AP) — A Frenchman held for more than three years by al-Qaida’s North African branch was freed Tuesday, days after two of the men implicated in his abduction were reportedly released from a prison in Mali.

Negotiations among the governments of Niger, Mali and France led to freedom for Serge Lazarevic, 51, who was described by the French president as in “relatively good health” despite his long captivity.

Tuesday’s release, greeted with joy among many in France, stands in contrast to the attempted rescue in Yemen last weekend that ended in the deaths of two hostages —an American and South African — held by al-Qaida.

Lazarevic was now en route to Niamey, the capital of Niger, French President Francois Hollande said as he thanked Niger’s president for helping to free the Frenchman.

“We no longer have any hostages in any country of the world and we should not have any,” Hollande added.

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No terrorism link seen in stabbing of Jewish student in Brooklyn; assailant was mentally ill

NEW YORK (AP) — A man with a history of mental illness slipped into the headquarters of a major Jewish organization in Brooklyn in the middle of the night and stabbed an Israeli student in the head as he was studying in the library.

Then, as the screaming, bloody victim was taken away, the attacker lunged at police with his knife and was shot and killed, authorities said.

Calvin Peters, 49, could be seen on amateur video waving the knife inside the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday after the attack on 22-year-old Levi Rosenblat. Rosenblat, wounded in the side of the head, was listed in stable condition.

Police said the stabbing was not believed to be connected to terrorism. But it shook the Jewish community, still reeling over an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue by two Palestinian cousins last month that left four worshippers and an officer dead.

“The entire Jewish community is impacted by these cruel and senseless attacks,” said New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose Brooklyn constituents are largely Orthodox Jews. “How can we help but be reminded of the recent, horrible tragedy … which left five innocent people dead?”

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Lawmakers struggling to reach deal on $1.1 trillion spending bill ahead of shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON (AP) — Time running short, Republicans and Democrats reached for elusive agreement Tuesday on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and delay a politically-charged struggle over President Barack Obama’s new immigration policy until the new year.

As obstacles to a deal dwindled, officials said the outcome was uncertain for an emerging plan that would permit benefit cuts for as many as 1.5 million retirees at economically distressed multiemployer pension plans.

“The federal government’s going to run out of money in two days. … We’ve been trying to work with Republican leaders to avoid a shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in midafternoon as final negotiations dragged on.

The GOP high command said they wanted nothing of the kind, and Speaker John Boehner said he expected a vote in the House on the spending bill by Thursday. Failing that, officials said they would prepare a short-term measure to assure uninterrupted operations of government for a day or two to provide enough time for the larger bill to clear both houses.

The events coincided with the end of an era of Democratic control of the Senate. Republicans will have a majority in January after gaining nine seats in midterm elections, and newly elected GOP senators-elect participated in closed-door strategy sessions during the day.

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Widespread police protests draw old, young, white and black: ‘a movement or a moment?’

The mostly white crowd that gathered outside Salt Lake City’s federal building hoisted signs reading “Black Lives Matter,” and chanted for justice before wading into downtown traffic. In the historic Boston suburb of Lexington, Massachusetts, protesters with children in tow stood alongside others in their 80s.

Across the country, protesters angered at the killing of unarmed black men by white police officers have turned out in recent days, many in cities far removed from where the most highly publicized cases have played out. They are students and grandmothers, experienced protesters as well as novices, often as many white as black.

But while marchers speak emotionally about being galvanizing by this cause, both they and experts on the fiery history of U.S. social protest are hard-pressed to figure where the demands for change will lead.

“Is this a movement or a moment?” said Marshall Ganz, a Harvard University lecturer whose perspective was shaped by participation in the 1964 Freedom Summer civil rights drive in Mississippi and then by 16 years working to organize migrant farm workers.

Following grand jury decisions not to indict police officers in the killing of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York, he said the widespread protests are “kind of remarkable, all the different cities involved.”

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Joaquin Phoenix announces ‘engagement’; says it’s all a joke hours later

NEW YORK (AP) — Chalk up another oddball appearance with David Letterman for actor Joaquin Phoenix, who announced his “engagement” on the CBS late-night host’s talk show only to say hours later on Tuesday that it was a joke.

Before he came clean on “Good Morning America,” news of Phoenix’s supposed impending wedding to his yoga instructor spread widely on several legitimate news sources.

“I can get engaged again if you like,” Phoenix told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos after telling him he wasn’t really ready to get hitched.

Phoenix’s oddball appearance on Letterman’s “Late Show” in February 2009, punctuated by several moments of uncomfortable silence, became one of late-night TV’s first viral videos. Letterman memorably called that session to a close by saying, “I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight.”

By using Letterman’s stage to announce a false engagement five years later, was Phoenix enacting a little revenge?

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Sheep wearing red-and-green holiday sweater found wandering through Omaha neighborhood

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A sheep wearing a festive red-and-green sweater was found wandering around Omaha over the weekend.

The Nebraska Humane Society is caring for the sheep while it tries to find its owner and learn the animal’s name. The sheep was found Sunday evening in an Omaha neighborhood.

Humane Society spokeswoman Pam Wiese says the sheep will be held for at least three days before being put up for adoption. The animal appears healthy, and Wiese says it may have been a pet or someone’s 4-H project.

The sheep is used to walking on a leash and doesn’t seem to mind that the holiday apparel it donned appears to have been designed for a dog.

Wiese says the sheep has a thick coat, so it likely didn’t need the sweater for warmth.

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Panthers QB Cam Newton suffers fractures to his lower back in two-car crash in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Panthers quarterback Cam Newton suffered fractures to his lower back in a two-car crash Tuesday and will spend the night in the hospital, a team spokesman said Tuesday.

Newton was in fair condition, had no other internal injuries and would not need surgery, team spokesman Charlie Dayton said during a news conference outside a Charlotte hospital. It was unclear if Newton would be able to practice or play Sunday against the Buccaneers, Dayton said.

“Right now we have thought about Cam’s well-being and we understand there was someone else in the other car who was injured,” Dayton said. “We just hope that they’re all OK.”

He was expected to be released from the hospital on Wednesday after undergoing tests.

Television footage showed Newton on a stretcher being placed in an ambulance after the crash. Photos from The Charlotte Observer showed the 25-year-old smiling as an officer attended to him on the ground.

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