CIA torture report: US braces for international backlash

American embassies around the world are preparing for a backlash as the US Senate releases a report into the CIA's brutal interrogation of terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.

Despite heavy redactions, the long-delayed report is expected to be a damning indictment of a secret programme in which around 100 terror suspects were detained between 2001 and 2009.

The 'Rendition, Detention and Interrogation' programme was authorised by George W Bush after the terror attacks on 11 September 2001.

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Sources familiar with the document told Reuters that the report includes graphic details about sexual threats and other harsh interrogation techniques used against militants.

One senior al-Qaeda operative – suspected of masterminding the suicide attack against US Navy missile destroyer USS Cole that killed 17 sailors in 2000 – was apparently threatened with a buzzing power drill, although it was never actually used against him.

At least one other detainee was sexually threatened with a broomstick, the sources said. Other suspects were interrogated using methods such as waterboarding, slapping, humiliation, exposure to cold, and sleep deprivation.

The Justice Department had authorised some techniques, such as sleep deprivation, but the report is likely to show that controls and supervision were sometimes lax when the spy agency began interrogating militants in August 2002.

Bush ended many aspects of the programme before leaving office, and Obama banned the programme when he took office in 2009, acknowledging that some of the methods amounted to torture.

This week the US has stepped up security at its facilities worldwide, fearing the possibility of a violent response to the report overseas. The Pentagon has reportedly warned field commanders they should take appropriate steps to protect US troops and bases abroad.

The report, which took years to produce, is set to conclude that the harsh interrogations did not produce any critical intelligence that would not have been obtained through less brutal measures.

However, this is disputed by many intelligence and counter-terrorism officials.

Publication of the report was delayed because of disagreements in Washington over what should be made public. The Senate Intelligence Committee, which has a majority of Democrats, has produced a 6,000-page report, but only a 480-page summary will be published. Republicans on the committee are due to publish a separate report.