Red Cross report says detainees at CIA 'black sites' were tortured

The Post added that the accounts that the 14 detainees gave to the Red Cross were "remarkably uniform" and included reports of "beatings, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures. and, in some cases, waterboarding or simulating drowning."

"Such maltreatment of detainees is expressly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions," the Post wrote.

The Post reports that the CIA declined to comment on the Red Cross report, but quoted a "US official familiar with the report" as saying: "It is important to bear in mind that the report lays out claims made by the terrorists themselves."

The Post also reported reaction from the Red Cross:

ICRC officials did not dispute the authenticity of the excerpts, but a spokesman expressed dismay over the leak of the material. "We regret information attributed to the ICRC report was made public in this manner," spokesman Bernard Barrett said.

"The ICRC has been visiting the detainees formerly held by the CIA," he added, "at Guantánamo since 2006. Any concerns or observations the ICRC had when visiting the detainees are part of a confidential dialogue."

The Red Cross report has surfaced just as former US Vice President Dick Cheney is publicly criticizing President Obama's terror policies for making the US less safe, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

The Red Cross report's conclusion appears to directly contradict former US President George W. Bush's claim that the methods used against terror suspects were permissible under international law, Reuters reports:

Former U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged the use of coercive interrogation tactics on senior al-Qaeda captives detained by the CIA in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Bush certified in 2007 that the CIA's interrogation program complied with the Geneva Conventions.

The anti-terrorism policies of the Bush administration drew worldwide condemnation as violations of human rights and international law.

As this Cox & Forkum political cartoon shows, however, some in the US ridiculed the idea of providing legal or humanitarian protection for terror suspects.

NPR interviewed Mr. Danner about his article on Sunday's "All Things Considered" program. (Listen to the report here.)

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