{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e8f730c3-43c8-4931-94f6-c478f25d8bbb", "Fact Check: CIAs Use of Rectal Rehydration, Feeding Not Medical Procedures", "2014-12-12", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "CA", "Dianne Feinstein", "F000062", "www.feinstein.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington\u2014As documented in the Senate Intelligence Committee study of the CIA\u2019s detention and interrogation program, coercive interrogation techniques included the use of rectal rehydration and rectal feeding of CIA detainees.\r\n\r\nContrary to some claims, this is not a medical procedure, nor was it ever approved by the Justice Department\u2019s Office of Legal Counsel as an authorized interrogation technique. On December 10, 2014, the New York-based Physicians for Human Rights stated that \u201cContrary to the CIA\u2019s assertions, there is no clinical indication to use rectal rehydration and feeding over oral or intravenous administration of fluids and nutrients.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe report includes ample information about the uses of these procedures, including:\r\n\r\n \r\nPage 73: One detainee, al-Nashiri, launched a short lived hunger strike that resulted in the CIA force feeding him rectally. (Source: CIA cable, May 23, 2004.)\r\nPage 82: CIA\u2019s chief of interrogations ordered the rectal rehydration of Khalid Shaykh Mohammed without a determination of medical need, a procedure that the chief of interrogations would later characterize as illustrative of the interrogator\u2019s \u201ctotal control over the detainee.\u201d (Source: CIA cable, March 5, 2003; interview by the CIA inspector general, March 27, 2003.)\r\nPage 83: In March 2003, Khalid Shaykh Mohammed was also subjected to additional rectal rehydration (Source: CIA cable, date redacted), which a CIA officer from the Office of Medical Services \u201cdescribed as helping to \u2018clear a person\u2019s head\u2019 and effective in getting KSM to talk.\u201d (Source: CIA email, March 6, 2003, names of sender and recipients redacted.)\r\nPage 100, footnote 584: According to CIA records, listed in this footnote, the CIA rectally rehydrated and/or rectally fed al-Nashiri, Khalid Shaykh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Marwan al-Jabbur. Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khallad bin Attash and Adnan al-Libi were threatened with rectal rehydration. CIA medical officers discussed rectal rehydration as a means of behavior control. As one officer wrote, \u201c[w]hile IV infusion is safe and effective, we were impressed with the ancillary effectiveness of rectal infusion on ending the water refusal in a similar case.\u201d (Source: multiple CIA cables, dates redacted; CIA email, February 2004, names of sender and recipients redacted.)\r\nPage 100, footnote 584: The CIA\u2019s June 2013 response to the study does not address the use of rectal feeding with CIA detainees, but defends the use of rectal rehydration as a \u201cwell acknowledged medical technique.\u201d CIA leadership, including General Counsel Scott Muller and DDO James Pavitt, was also alerted to allegations that rectal exams were conducted with \u201cexcessive force\u201d on two detainees at DETENTION SITE COBALT. A CIA attorney was asked to follow up, although CIA records do not indicate any resolution of the inquiry. (Source: multiple CIA emails, dates and names of sender and recipients redacted.)\r\nPages 114-115: Although Majid Khan cooperated with the nasogastric tube and the provision of intravenous fluids, he was subjected to rectal feeding and rectal rehydration without any evidence he was resisting other feeding methods. The rectal feeding included the rectal infusion of the \u201cpureed\u201d contents of Majid Khan\u2019s \u201clunch tray,\u201d including hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts and raisins. (Source: two CIA cables on September 23, 2004.)\r\n \r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e8f730c3-43c8-4931-94f6-c478f25d8bbb"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6172800678759813, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}