But We Don't Do That

It is not publicly known how many people, overwhelmingly but not exclusively men, were caught in the CIA’s web of so-called “extraordinary renditions”, extra-judicial transfers of detainees to foreign countries, many of which practiced even more brutal forms of torture than the US came to adopt. Human rights groups over the years have identified at least 50 people the CIA rendered, going back to Bill Clinton’s presidency.

  Guardian

Not publicly known in this country anyway.

It is also unclear how many of those rendition targets the CIA photographed naked.

[...]

The Senate investigation revealed that the CIA “routinely” stripped its own detainees nude, although Justice Department officials did not formally approve the practice until 2005. Often the nudity occurred in tandem with other torture techniques, such as shackling and frigid conditions, leading in at least one case to a detainee’s death.

So, yeah. Legal. Problem solved.

Stripping the victims of clothing was considered necessary to document their physical condition while in CIA custody, distinguishing them at that point from what they would subsequently experience in foreign custody – despite the public diplomatic assurances against torture that the US demonstrably collected from countries with a record of torturing detainees.

[...]

[Dr Vincent Iacopino, the medical director of Physicians for Human Rights] has not seen the nude photographs but raised grave concerns. “It’s cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment at a minimum and may constitute torture,” he said.

[...]

“Photographing or videotaping detainees in US custody unrelated to the processing of prisoners or the management of detention facilities can constitute a violation of the laws of war, including the Geneva conventions, in some cases,” said Nathaniel Raymond, a researcher at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and an expert on detainee abuse.

“Any evidence that the CIA or any other US government agency intentionally photographed naked detainees should be investigated by law enforcement as a potential violation of domestic and international law.”

Sure. But let's talk about sending people to countries where we can be reasonably certain they are going to be brutally tortured. No one  has been held accountable for that, which is surely a violation of pretty much everything, much less for the many cases of  torture - and murder - that went on in American prisoner camps (with the exception of a few morally bankrupt scapegoats).  So I'm guessing naked photographing won't get anyone into much trouble.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.