James Elmer Mitchell and John Bruce Jessen are not the first
Americans to employ waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation
techniques” against our enemies. But they are almost certainly the only ones to get rich doing it.
They
did so by employing what is widely dismissed as “voodoo science” based
on misapplied principles in a program that CIA records suggest produced
little, if any, intelligence of significant value.
And they might
have gotten even richer. The Senate Intelligence Committee report says
they secured a contract with the CIA in 2006 valued “in excess of $180
million.”
The CIA canceled the deal three years later, but by then
the duo had received $81 million. They had more than enough to build
fabulous new domiciles that surely at least equal their wildest dreams.
Mitchell’s
pied a torture is in Florida. Records describe a waterfront residence
on six-tenths of an acre and appraised at more than $880,000, with 4,233
square feet of living space, four bathrooms, a three-car garage, a
pool, central air-conditioning, and a wooded walkway leading to a
lakeside combination dock and gazebo.
Jessen’s is in the state of
Washington, situated on 15 acres and appraised at $1,599,900. Records
describe this house as 6,916 square feet, with six bedrooms and eight
bathrooms. An aerial image shows what appears to be a spa, roiling water
apparently carrying no nasty connotations.
“We are proud of the work we have done for our country,” Mitchell and Jessen have said in a joint statement.
The
Senate report notes that in addition to the $81 million, the CIA
accorded the two a “multi-year indemnification agreement” to shield
them, their firm, and its employees from any “legal liability arising
out of the program.”
“The CIA has since paid out more than $1 million pursuant to the agreement,” the report notes.
taken from here
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