CIA report draws fire from U.S. friends and foes
LONDON -- Nothing unites the world like the chance to lay into the United States for wrongdoing, and international condemnation over the CIA's interrogation techniques has come from allies and enemies alike.
As CBS News' Charlie D'Agata reports, it has largely come in the form of a rhetorical question; how can a country that projects freedom and the protection of human rights be involved in torture behind the scenes?
It took America's closest ally, British Prime Minister David Cameron, to even say the word the CIA has been reluctant to so far.
"Overall, we should be clear, torture is wrong," Cameron said.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called the revelations in the Senate Intelligence Committee's report "shocking" and "inhumane," and he demanded to know how many Afghans had been abused on their own soil.
Afghanistan is among a number of countries that hosted secret CIA prisons where the harsh interrogations took place. U.S. allies Thailand and Poland were also home to the so-called "black sites."
Poland's former president downplayed his country's involvement, saying the U.S. had simply asked for "a quiet place where they could effectively get information from people." In other words, he insists Poland's government had no knowledge of the techniques to be used.
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius said publication of the report has damaged crucial relationships overseas.
"The next time the U.S. asks Poland or Thailand or any other country that has been embarrassed by the disclosures in the Senate Intelligence report to do us a favor in secret, I'm sure there is going to be a lot of pushback," Ignatius said.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei took to Twitter, calling America a "symbol of tyranny against humanity."
The U.S. claims to be a "prideful nation," he argued, but the U.S. government has "debased and misguided their people, who aren't aware of many realities."
No stranger to accusations of state-sanctioned torture itself, Beijing took the moral high ground, saying "China opposes torture... we think the U.S. should reflect and correct their actions.'
Flagrant human rights abuser North Korea went even further, calling on the United Nations to take action against what it called "inhuman torture practiced by the CIA."
The United Nations' top special investigator for counterterrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, called Wednesday for the prosecution of senior U.S. officials who authorized and carried out torture as part of former President George W. Bush's national security policies.
"It is now time to take action. The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today's report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes," Emmerson said.
The U.S. Department of Justice, for its part, said it was prepared to fight any legal action taken outside of U.S. territory.
"The U.S. is committed to complying with its domestic and international obligations and we believe that allegations about conduct by U.S. officials are best handled through appropriate domestic mechanisms," Department of Justice spokesman Marc Raimondi told CBS News. "In the event of action by a foreign court or prosecuting authority against U.S. government officials, the U.S., through the Departments of Justice and State, would raise appropriate jurisdictional and other legal defenses to prevent unwarranted prosecution of U.S. officials."