Rumsfeld Okayed Harsh Interrogation Techniques

WASHINGTON, June 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved the use of aggressive interrogation techniques, such as the use of stress positions, forced nudity and dogs in the infamous detention prison in Guantanamo Bay, de-classified White House documents unveiled.

The techniques were detailed in a series of memos released by the White House on Tuesday, June 22, that tracked exchanges between commanders, Rumsfeld and the Pentagon's general counsel over interrogation techniques to be used on detainees held at Guantanamo, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Among the techniques requested and subsequently approved by Rumsfeld in December 2002 were the use of stress positions (like standing) for a maximum of four hours, the use of isolation facility for up to 30 days and "deprivation of light and sensory stimuli."

In signing off on the request, the defense secretary scribbled a note in his own hand initialed DR: "However, I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to four hours.

The use of 20-hour interrogations, removal of clothing, "using detainees' individual phobias (such as the fear of dogs) to induce stress" were also okayed by Rumsfeld, said the declassified memos.

He also gave the nod to the "use of mild, non injurious physical contact such as grabbing, poling in the chest with the finger and light pushing."

The question of how far interrogators could go came up in October 2002 when commanders at Guantanamo asked for permission to use more aggressive techniques on a detainee who was alleged to be the 20th hijacker in the 9/11 attacks.

A review ordered by Rumsfeld concluded in April 2003 that the Pentagon had even broader leeway to conduct interrogations than contained in army field manuals and recommended a list of 35 techniques, including those initially approved by the defense secretary.

But in issuing a new authorization to commanders in Guantanamo on April 16 after the review, Rumsfeld approved a softer set of 24 techniques, dropping the harsher techniques that had been initially approved.

The interrogation techniques, which Rumsfeld rescinded the following month after complaints from military officers, were eerily reminiscent of some of the abuse, including sexual humiliation, of Iraqi detainees that surfaced earlier this year at Abu Ghraib.

American press reports have indicated the torture was okayed by senior Pentagon officials, including Rumsfeld.

The Washington Post also veiled earlier in June that the Justice Department had advised the Pentagon that torturing detainees outside the US "may be justified."

A US soldier making her presence in most of the Iraqi abuse photos had said she was "instructed" by her commanders to pose for photographs with naked Iraqi detainees.

Suicide Attempts

The de-classified documents came as military records have shown at least 14 suicide attempts by Guantanamo detainees in the five months after a get-tough general took command.

Those cases amounted to almost half the 31 suicide attempts at the prison since it was opened in January 2002.

Human rights groups say the suicide attempts at Guantanamo might be evidence that conditions there amounted to torture.

"Our concern is that the totality of the conditions at Guantanamo may have contributed to an atmosphere that pushed people to attempt suicide," said Alistair Hodgett of the human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

Amnesty representatives said they had found a "worrisome deterioration" in prisoners' mental health.

Also, contrary to the repeated assertions of senior administration officials, none of the detainees at the US naval base ranked as leaders or senior operatives of Al-Qaeda, the New York Times reported Tuesday, citing interviews with high-level military, intelligence and law-enforcement officials in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

The newspaper said only a relative handful of the 600 detainees at Guantanamo were sworn Al-Qaeda members or other militants able to elucidate the organization's inner workings.

The Los Angeles Times quoted military sources in December 2002 as saying the US is holding dozens of prisoners at Guantanamo although they have no meaningful connection to Al-Qaeda or Taliban.

Routinely

In a related development, the Guardian said Wednesday, June 23, that detainees in Afghanistan "have been routinely tortured and humiliated as part of the interrogation process" by American forces.

A Guardian investigation has found that five detainees have died in custody, three of them in suspicious circumstances, citing first-hand testimonies of "beatings, strippings, hoodings and sleep deprivation."

The British daily said the nature of the abuse indicates that what happened at Abu Ghraib was part of a pattern of interrogation that has been common practice since the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic member of the Senate subcommittee on foreign operations, told the Guardian that prisoners in Afghanistan "were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment, and some died from it".

He described the abuses as "part of a wider pattern stemming from a White House attitude that 'anything goes' in the war against terrorism, even if it crosses the line of illegality."