NYT: Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/politics/30gitmo.html?ei=5094&en=6bddf8afb85e06e9&hp=&ex=1101790800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=

The International Committee of the Red Cross has charged in confidential reports to the United States government that the American military has intentionally used psychological and sometimes physical coercion "tantamount to torture" on prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The finding that the handling of prisoners detained and interrogated at Guantánamo amounted to torture came after a visit by a Red Cross inspection team that spent most of last June in Guantánamo.

The team of humanitarian workers, which included experienced medical personnel, also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at Guantánamo were participating in planning for interrogations, in what the report called "a flagrant violation of medical ethics."

Doctors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners' mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators, the report said, sometimes directly, but usually through a group called the Behavioral Science Consultation Team, or B.S.C.T. The team, known informally as Biscuit, is composed of psychologists and psychological workers who advise the interrogators, the report said.

The United States government, which received the report in July, sharply rejected its charges, administration and military officials said.

[oldhat]

1. Paging Sy Hersh...

What's disturbing is Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are only the tip of the iceberg.

Sy Hersh reported in "Chain of Command" that there is an extensive network of prison camps in Kabul, aboard naval brigs and in states like Singapore.

[Lefta Dissenter]

2. read the whole article at the link.

this is simply shameful. :(

[NYC Liberal]

3. Well knock me over with a feather. I'm so surprised.

:eyes:

[99Pancakes]

6. Yeah, you're a bull' s eye tonight.

That's a "Duh!"

[Just Me]

4. Hey,...isn't Red Cross a "conservative" organization?

*giggle*

Sorry,...just,...never mind.

This is serious. And the problem is a moral disintegration pouring down (rather than that economic trickling effect) from the top.

The neocon disease must be stopped and all prevention must be immediately put in place!!!

[Seabiscuit]

8. NYT - stop pussyfooting around - these are "war crimes" being described

by the International Red Cross (an independent organization, not to be confused with the "conservative" American Red Cross) with such phrases as "sleep deprivation", exposure to cold", "beatings", "abuse" and "tantamount to torture".

When Bush is finished wrecking havoc in the world four years from now, I just pray some new shining star on the political horizon will win the election, and appoint an attorney general who will take the Bushistas to task for their grotesque and brazen criminality, human rights abuses, corruption, and war crimes and imprison them all for life.

[alfredo]

5. this paragraph tells the tale

The man who came up with this is bush's candidate for Att General.

That document provides tightly constructed definitions of torture. For example, if an interrogator "knows that severe pain will result from his actions, if causing such harm is not his objective, he lacks the requisite specific intent even though the defendant did not act in good faith," it said. "Instead, a defendant is guilty of torture only if he acts with the express purpose of inflicting severe pain or suffering on a person within his control."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. and because we're the biggest baddest bully on the block

we can thumb our nose at any international organization and go ahead and do whatever we want? This is scary, folks. The only reason these tactics haven't been unleashed here is fear of backlash from the courts. With Rhenquist probably out and others retiring, how long do you suppose it will be before we have a complete neocon takeover of the government and the suppression of dissent? Somehow I feel that the Nazis have come back to life and are living in the US....

[Maven]

9. Look at this paragraph:

The team of humanitarian workers, which included experienced medical personnel, also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at Guantánamo were participating in planning for interrogations, in what the report called "a flagrant violation of medical ethics."

Doctors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners' mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators, the report said, sometimes directly, but usually through a group called the Behavioral Science Consultation Team, or B.S.C.T. The team, known informally as Biscuit, is composed of psychologists and psychological workers who advise the interrogators, the report said.

Why doesn't the AMA/APA do something about these people?

Not to be overly dramatic, but doesn't this remind anyone of the medical experiments done by the Germans in WWII?

[Supersedeas]

10. To the back pages with your Confidential Reports - will FOX report this?

Or is it time for a full scale assault on the credibility of the Red-Cross?

[Javaman]

11. When we have Abu Gonzalez as SOS, one has to expect this

type of stuff to be revealed. Expect more little nuggets like this in the coming years.
Nothing like a little torture to put the fear into the prisoners to spill the info.
Fucking bastards.

[Kellis]

12. The US is no better than Sadam Hussiens

Regime was.The next thing we'll hear is we are gassing people in Fallujah.
CRIMINALS are running our country!