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The CIA Offered Terror Suspects Tylenol After Torture Sessions

But at least one medical officer didn't think dunking prisoners in water caused any pain.
​Image: Debs, Flickr

Terrorism suspects imprisoned by the US Central Intelligence Agency were offered Tylenol and Aleve to ease their pain after enduring intense interrogation sessions that included techniques such as beating, shackling, and being dunked into tanks of ice water.

According to ​a 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects, medical officers were instructed to monitor prisoners and look for signs of pain, for which they could offer a couple of Tylenol.

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The information was revealed to acting Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury in May of 2005 after he sent the CIA's associate general counsel a list of questions about the pain prisoners were experiencing. The CIA's Office of Medical Services responded, saying "all pain is subjective, not objective."

The OMS also stated that sleep deprivation—something most prisoners were subjected to—would not, in the CIA's opinion, affect the severity of the pain experienced by prisoners.

Suspects would be shackled in a standing position in order to force sleep deprivation, often leading to edema, a swelling of extremities.

According to the summary, the CIA noted that "shackles are maintained with 'appropriate slack' and 'interrogators follow medical officers' recommendation to end standing sleep deprivation and use an alternate technique when the medical officer judges that edema is significant in any way." However, the investigation found this was often not the case.

You can read the full executive summary ​here.