Preserved Topic: Rumsfeld Approved Methods For Guantanamo Interrogations (Page 1 of 1)

Rumsfeld Approved Methods For Guantanamo Interrogations

By JESS BRAVIN and GREG JAFFE
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 10, 2004; Page A3

U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could put prisoners in "stress positions" for as long as four hours, hood them and subject them to 20-hour-long interrogations, "fear of dogs" and "mild non-injurious physical contact," according to list of techniques Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved in December 2002.

The list, contained in a Jan. 8, 2003, memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, was in effect for about one month until complaints about the severity of the techniques from some military officers prompted Mr. Rumsfeld to request a high-level review of interrogation policy Jan. 17, 2003. The Defense Department has refused to disclose how many of the methods remained on a new list Mr. Rumsfeld approved in April 2003, a list that officials say is still in use at the offshore prison.

It isn't clear whether the rules were applied to military prisons in Iraq or elsewhere. But some of the practices disclosed this year at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where prisoners were hooded and apparently menaced with dogs, resemble methods on the December 2002 Guantanamo list.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the December list was prompted by intelligence reports during the summer and fall of 2002 suggesting that a new al Qaeda attack on the U.S. might be imminent. The national threat level was raised to "Orange," and commanders at the Guantanamo prison camp asked for official clearance to use techniques outside traditional Army doctrine in interrogations.

"Several of the detainees at Guantanamo were high-profile, high-value detainees who were assessed to have important intelligence," Mr. Whitman said.

Guantanamo officials, working with senior military officials at U.S. Southern Command, compiled a list of 20 new techniques that were forwarded to Mr. Rumsfeld's office and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for their approval, Mr. Whitman said.

In early December 2002, Mr. Rumsfeld approved 17 of the techniques for use at Guantanamo, a Pentagon official said. The Jan. 8, 2003, memo appears to include the same 17 techniques approved by Mr. Rumsfeld for use at Guantanamo in early December.

Only 10 of those techniques were ever used -- all of them on a single detainee of Saudi nationality suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11 conspiracy, according to a Pentagon official. Officials declined to say which techniques were used on the detainee, but Gen. James T. Hill, the senior commander with authority over Guantanamo Bay, said recently that interrogators at Guantanamo haven't used dogs.

Other military officials have said, however, that additional methods not described on the list, including placing underwear on prisoners' heads and, in at least one instance, threatening a recalcitrant prisoner with the deaths of his relatives, were employed before Mr. Rumsfeld ordered the January 2003 review.

The December 2002 interrogation methods ranged from "comfortable, allowed to sit" and "use of direct approach, rewards and cigarettes," to others that required approval from superiors. "Physical contact such as grabbing, poking in the chest with the finger and light pushing" could be used with approval from the commander of the Guantanamo prison and with the knowledge of Gen. Hill, who as head of the U.S. Southern Command oversees Guantanamo.

Interrogators faced with uncooperative prisoners could disguise themselves as linked "to a country with a reputation for harsh treatment," according to the list, or yell at them, although "not directly in ear or to the level it would cause physical pain."

Another set of methods required permission of the officer in charge of Guantanamo interrogations. Those methods included "use of stress positions (like standing) for a maximum of four hours," "isolation facility for up to 30 days unless [commanding general] approves extension" and "20-hour interrogations." Other such techniques were "deprivation of light and sound," "use of hood as long as it does not restrict breathing and under direct observation," "removal of clothing" and "forced grooming (i.e., shaving of facial hair)."

The interrogation group's commander also would have to approve "using individual phobias (e.g., fear of dogs) to induce stress" and "removal of comfort items, including religious items."

Mark Jacobson, a former Pentagon official who worked on the interrogation policy, said that "fear of dogs does not mean dogs attacking, it means a properly muzzled dog with a handler." He said that officials later decided not to remove religious items and that several harsh methods weren't included in the April 2003 list.

A military intelligence official said that "humiliation techniques" were a longstanding part of interrogations, where "domination is the name of the game."

Portions of a March 2003 draft of the Pentagon's April interrogation report, disclosed by the Journal on Monday, also included a legal analysis contending that President Bush had the constitutional authority to disregard laws prohibiting torture if he believed national security was in jeopardy. Mr. Whitman described that portion as a "scholarly" exercise and said that currently used interrogation methods are humane.

Write to Jess Bravin at jess.bravin@wsj.com and Greg Jaffe at greg.jaffe@wsj.com

Bandwagon American Since 9/11/01

I think this really puts the Bush Administration in a difficult position. With memos circulating that show Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld giving the order in Guantanamo Bay to use similar interrogation tactics I think its going to be difficult for the Administration to suggest that they had nothing to do with Iraq. I suppose, fortunately for them this is coming out during the Reagan funeral. Nothings going to make mainstream news for another week.

Bandwagon American Since 9/11/01

sleep deprivation and using threatening techniques are quite different than stacking naked people on top of each other and taking pictures imo.

chris


KAIROSinteractive | tangent oriented

quote:

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sleep deprivation and using threatening techniques are quite different than stacking naked people on top of each other and taking pictures imo.

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Perhaps, but is using dogs, physical contact, and hooding prisoners and subjecting them to 20-hour-long interrogations very different?

Bandwagon American Since 9/11/01

Is that a surprise? We all knew (or should have, as I pointed out back then during the actual conflict phase of Iraq) that Rumsfeld was incompetent - his disasterous "plan" of attack proved this without a shadow of a doubt.

Wanna bet that Mr. Bush still sticks with him? Wanna bet he will get away with this?

The sad fact is, that NOTHING will be done. It doesn't look like anyone really cares, Jester.

WebShaman | Asylum D & D | D & D Min Page

A few interesting articles:

This is something I've mentioned but is little discussed - the US maintains a torture network so they can ship prisoners to places with less controls over torture - useful for when 'torture lite' isn't producing results:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1237589,00.html

And that Guantanamo prisoners thought they were going to be killed as ornage is the sign of condemned men in the Middle East (possibly a coincindence but they should have been aware of cultural hurdles like this):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5197894/

[edit: Also these artciles about the general being actively invovled in authorising torture and the hiding of prisoners from the Red Cross:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35612-2004Jun11.html

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040621/usnews/21abughraib.htm ]
___________________
Emps

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(Edited by Emperor on 06-14-2004 14:59)

More on the US' torture network:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040617/ts_nm/security_detainees_dc_4

___________________
Emps

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Why am I not surprised about anything of this?
These are the logical consequences of an ideology that claims good and evil are independent of what is actually done in their respective names.

What just dawned to me is that, as a german, I share the guilt of these horrible deeds, as long as numerous US bases in my own country contribute to this infrastructure of terror and injustice...

Hmmm...

That list of approved interrogation techniques reads more like the regime of a health farm in comparison to what really goes on, in all probability. I should think that this list represents the very worst that anyone wants you to think of their practices - a case of managing expectations with mis-information.

I've seen worse interrogation techniques practiced on Catholic school children...

And a long investigation into the torture network here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1244961,00.html

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Emps

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Just another example of the many crimes committed by Bush&Company, crooks and theives, the whole administration. Now Americans' are guilty of war crimes as defined by the Geneva Convention. Just what we needed. Additionally, I am truely more embarrassed than the Iraqi prisioners were. They were sexually tortured by a pregnant American female soilder. So, why would she need to see Iraqi penises? Didn't the American man who got her pregnant have a penis? With our American soldiers being so anxious to see the genitals of their prisioners, it looks like WE are the sexually repressed and frustrated ones, not the Iraqi's. This was sure a great idea. Shrub MUST be smarter than he looks, otherwise, how could he multi-task so many crimes?