U.S. embassies, military bases and law enforcement have been placed on high alert, according to Threat Journal, following the release of the Senate’s damning Torture Report. This is no surprise to political scietists who’ve warned that torture puts every American at high-risk.

The absurdity that “torture makes Americans safer” is being clarified once again in real time, as the latest threat or potential threat against Americans is being warned.

“Potential for anti-U.S. protests and violence against U.S. citizens and interests due to the release of declassified versions of a study by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on the CIA’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation program,” reports Threat Journal.

Studies have shown that torture increases terrorist attacks and make Americans less, not more safe. It creates enemies.  Americans have created thousands and thousands of enemies by torturing people, widely supported – in fact, by most Americans.

According to Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren, the Defense Department has directed U.S. combatant commands worldwide to brace for the possibility of violence directed at U.S. personnel and facilities and to take necessary force-protection measures.

Commanders in the Middle East and Africa stepped up security, including putting Marine crisis response teams on heightened alert.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the chiefs of all U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide have conducted security reviews “given the range of possible reactions overseas.”

Several U.S. embassies abroad including in Thailand, Egypt and other countries which reportedly hosted secret U.S. detention centers in the months immediately following the attack of 9/11 have issued emergency messages to U.S. citizens warning of the need to avoid demonstrations, confrontational situations and an overall increased level of vigilance.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers indicated that foreign leaders have told the United States the release of the report is likely to spark violence, and Secretary of State John F. Kerry has issued a similar warning.

Embassies of Britain and Canada in Cairo, Egypt had already closed earlier this week due to a heightened threat of terrorist attacks. Thus far, the U.S. Embassy remains open.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security Department this week also issued a bulletin to law enforcement agencies nationwide related to releasing the Torture Report.

Torture is a war crime weapon. It is used by anti-democratic forces to destroy political opposition and maintain power through fear.

Since long before George W. Bush became president, torture or complicity in torture has been a crime, a felony under U.S. law. The U.S. has been party to treaties requiring that it prosecute whenever there is sufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction.

The U.S. Senate has made a huge volume of evidence public. Senator Mark Udall has added a bit more. Top officials involved in the torture reported on, including George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, have repeatedly and shamelessly admitted to authorizing acts of torture and asserted that they would do so again. They’ve made these confessions on national television.

Ask President Obama to appoint a special prosecutor now.
 

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