Social Media Reacts To Torture Report

Anti-US And ISIS Sympathizer's Reactions To The Torture Report

Earlier this week the US Senate released its report on the CIA’s interrogation methods and practices. In the report, it was revealed that the CIA had carried out ‘brutal’ interrogations on al-Qaeda suspects in the years following on from 9/11.

(Source: nypost.com)

The report which can be read here highlights how people were misled about the methods the CIA were using during interrogations. There are even some cases of people being separated from their families for upwards of eight months with no warning and no prior suspicions.

I myself am half Syrian. (And half Danish. Weird, right?) Following on from the 9/11 attacks, travelling anywhere became nigh impossible with an Arabic last name, hence why I had to change it. My father was held up at an airport for an insurmountable amount of time simply due to his name. He would love to take a trip to America one day, but we are concerned about how the US would handle his passage, and rightly so based on this report.

As mortifying as this report has been to discover, so to has the backlash from Anti-US and Pro-ISIS social media users. An ISIS sympathizer tweeted: “They shoved pipes up the anus of Muslims,then shot up food through it ! [sic] AND THEN THESE FILTH HAVE THE AUDACITY OF LECTURING MUSLIMS ABOUT BRUTALITY… Getting beheaded is 100 times more humane, more dignified than what these filthy scumbags do to Muslims… May Allaah destroy these filthy bastards.May I get to see that day in my lifetime. These filthy bastards use these torture practices on Muslims because THESE BASTARDS ENJOY DOING IT.NOTHING MORE.’

Seeing ISIS sympathisers tweeting is always upsetting. I find it utterly shocking to see people condoning what is perpetrated by ISIS. Sadly, there will always be evil in the world.

With Egypt having relatively new internet freedom as well as a divided community, it has become one of the biggest Twitter users of the Arab countries. They joined in the shock the world shared as the US public image became even further tarnished. However there was also an acknowledgement of the involvement of Arab countries in collaboration with the CIA.

(Source: techli.com)

One tweet read: ‘Will those who are disturbed by the CIA torture report be equally disturbed when reports show how Arab countries helped facilitate the torture?’ Another tweet on the subject: ‘After seeing the report on CIA torture of detainees to elicit confession, I became convinced that Egypt is the professor and department chair of torture, next to America. We have more hideous things in our prisons than the CIA.’

After the report was published, US Senator John McCain who is a survivor of torture in North Korea said that: ‘From personal experience, torture was most likely to lead to unreliable intelligence. The CIA’s willingness to torture has stained our national honour, did much harm and little practical good.’

We live in an age where people seeking to insight terror have the liberty to post what they want on social media. I was shocked when I first discovered that ISIS had its own twitter page. During these times and through tweets mentioned in this article, you can see how damaging the actions of the CIA have proven to be.

US Service members have already been warned to keep a low profile on social media. I fear that this report is even more call for such precautions. 

Tom Welby

Tom has just graduated from University of East London in Creative and Professional Writing. He loves writing and is currently interning as a content writer hoping to go further. His other loves include Arnold Schwarzenegger films and his dog. Follow him @TomAtSMF

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