Senate Armed Services Committee Report on the Treatment of Detainees

Levin and McCain

The Senate Armed Services Committee, lead by Senators Carl Levin (D-Michigan) and John McCain (R-Arizona), concluded in a 2008 report that  senior US officials authorized aggressive interrogation techniques and suggested that it was acceptable to mistreat and degrade detainees.  The Committee detailed a link between the interrogation policies for the detainees and techniques used by enemies who have ignored the Geneva Conventions in the past.

Senator Levin stated that the abuses were not "the actions of a few bad apples" and felt that senior officials passed the blame to low ranking soldiers.  The report concluded that the US policies on detainee interrogations were wrong and that they must never be repeated.