CIA interrogation report: Battle lines being drawn

The public has yet to see the Senate Intelligence committee report on the rendition, detention and interrogation practices of the George W Bush administration, so its actual contents are currently the province of rumours and leaks.

With the release of its 480-page executive summary said to come on Tuesday, however, the arguments over its implications are already in full swing.

In an article in Monday's New York Times, Peter Baker says that the two-year-old report details the "brutal techniques" - considered torture by critics - the government employed on suspected al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants, and questions their effectiveness. It also reportedly contends that Central Intelligence Agency field operatives misled Congress and Bush Administration senior officials as to the extent of the programme.

The sharpness of the criticism, Baker says, has Bush Administration officials who devised and implemented the policies banding together to justify their actions.