WP: Abu Ghraib Tactics Were First Used at Guantanamo

[Frederik]

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 14, 2005; Page A01

Interrogators at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, forced a stubborn detainee to wear women's underwear on his head, confronted him with snarling military working dogs and attached a leash to his chains, according to a newly released military investigation that shows the tactics were employed there months before military police used them on detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The techniques, approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for use in interrogating Mohamed Qahtani -- the alleged "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- were used at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 as part of a special interrogation plan aimed at breaking down the silent detainee.

Military investigators who briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday on the three-month probe, called the tactics "creative" and "aggressive" but said they did not cross the line into torture.

The report's findings are the strongest indication yet that the abusive practices seen in photographs at Abu Ghraib were not the invention of a small group of thrill-seeking military police officers. The report shows that they were used on Qahtani several months before the United States invaded Iraq.

The investigation also supports the idea that soldiers believed that placing hoods on detainees, forcing them to appear nude in front of women and sexually humiliating them were approved interrogation techniques for use on detainees.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/13/AR2005071302380.html?sub=AR

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. "they did not cross the line into torture."

Gee whiz, why don't we just send a few of these guys down there, bind their ankles and hands, strip them naked and rub feces all over them and then let me hear what they have to say about torture.

I just hope Dante's building a new ring of hell for these bastards.

[July]

5. Yet when the captured soldiers in J. Lynch's unit were shown on TV,

we heard all about how this type of humiliation was counter to the Geneva Conventions. I think Rummy himself complained about it.

[LizW]

10. Thank you!

That has always bugged me. The very first time we heard anything about the Geneva Conventions in this war, it was because Bush and Rumsfeld were complaining that it was being violated by showing our guys on tv.

It was used to imply that the Iraqis were evil barbarians who were treating our soldiers badly. Much was made in the press of how the captive appeared frightened, and how some of them appeared to have been beaten.

After Abu Graib broke, they couldn't say anything anymore. But now it appears that at the same time Rummy was griping about our soldiers being shown on tv, captives at Guantanamo were being tortured.

[Tin Man]

2. Shear coincidence that Lyndie England...

used exactly the same techniques months later at Abu Gharib prison in Iraq. And the administration claimed that "a few rogue soldiers" were responsible for AG... Good thing that the first Court Martial rejected PFC England's original guilty plea - I imagine that she may well walk in the second trial.

The web of lies spun by this administration around their illegal war in Iraq is beginning to come undone.

[MisterP]

22. if Lovely Lynndie walks, then what do the higher-ups get? an all-expenses

paid vacation to the Antilles?

[Frederik]

3. Geoffrey Miller

"A central figure in the investigation, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who commanded the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and later helped set up U.S. operations at Abu Ghraib, was accused of failing to properly supervise Qahtani's interrogation plan and was recommended for reprimand by investigators. Miller would have been the highest-ranking officer to face discipline for detainee abuses so far, but Gen. Bantz Craddock, head of the U.S. Southern Command, declined to follow the recommendation."

Sure, Geoffrey "failed to properly supervise" the few bad apples who pulled fraternity pranks on detainees at Guantanamo under his command.

More:

"Miller traveled to Iraq in September 2003 to assist in Abu Ghraib's startup, and he later sent in "Tiger Teams" of Guantanamo Bay interrogators and analysts as advisers and trainers. Within weeks of his departure from Abu Ghraib, military working dogs were being used in interrogations, and naked detainees were humiliated and abused by military police soldiers working the night shift."

No reprimand, of course.

[leftchick]

7. That is in the Taguba report as well...

Miller obviously was the one teaching the techniques of torture.

[leetrisck]

4. So get rid of Rumsfeld and the high ranking

generals (up for promotion) or "undo" the court martials of every lower ranking military person in jail - bush has it both ways now.

[cyberpj]

6. U.S. Army rejects call for reprimand

WASHINGTON (AP) - A military investigation into FBI reports of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, recommended that the base's former commander be reprimanded, but a top general rejected the recommendation, according to a congressional aide familiar with the findings.

Investigators recommended that Maj.-Gen. Geoffrey Miller be reprimanded for failing to oversee the abusive interrogation of a high-value detainee, said the aide.

But Gen. Bantz Craddock, commander of U.S. Southern Command, instead referred the matter to the army's inspector general, said the aide, who described the still unreleased report on the condition of anonymity.

Craddock concluded that Miller did not violate any U.S. laws or policies, the report said, according to the aide.

The investigation also found that interrogators violated the Geneva Convention and army regulations three times at the base, the aide said.


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/07/12/1128467-ap.html

[grytpype]

8. Can't wait for the new Abu Ghraib pics to come out.

They're supposed to be so bad they make the first wave of pics look like nothing. Rapes of young boys, etc.

[dArKeR]

9. Ethical and moral questioning. So why not for Rove, Cheney, aWol, Novak

Miller, Russert, Cooper, Abrams...? America needs to get to the bottom of this treason! We could also find out about a GOP conspiracy to spread terror across America and the world so that they and defense contractors and oil companies profit.

[maquisard]

11. So help me out here...

We've got a secretary of defense who approves of torture, an attorney promoted to attorney general for writing legal justifications for torture, a national security advisor promoted to secretary of state for misleading Congress into war, a traitor in the White House who leaks the names of covert operatives and imperils US intelligence networks for personal ideological reasons... can someone, anyone, please explain to me why the public isn't outraged and calling for the shrub's head on a platter?

I just don't get it...

[AlCzervik]

12. i'm sure GITMO was used as a testing ground.

[dArKeR]

13. What about the confirmed reports of "burning" a person in a room?

This has already been confirmed. Putting people in a room and turning up the temp to 130F degrees. (Have you even been in a sauna for more than 10 minutes?)


What about putting people in rooms and drop the temp to 0F.

[Moderator]

14. Kick

[quaoar]

15. Abu Ghraib Tactics Were First Used at Guantanamo

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/13/AR2005071302380.html

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 14, 2005; Page A01

Interrogators at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, forced a stubborn detainee to wear women's underwear on his head, confronted him with snarling military working dogs and attached a leash to his chains, according to a newly released military investigation that shows the tactics were employed there months before military police used them on detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The techniques, approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for use in interrogating Mohamed Qahtani -- the alleged "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- were used at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 as part of a special interrogation plan aimed at breaking down the silent detainee.

Military investigators who briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday on the three-month probe, called the tactics "creative" and "aggressive" but said they did not cross the line into torture.

The report's findings are the strongest indication yet that the abusive practices seen in photographs at Abu Ghraib were not the invention of a small group of thrill-seeking military police officers. The report shows that they were used on Qahtani several months before the United States invaded Iraq.

[krkaufman]

16. Filed under "F"...

... for Frickin' DUH!

Thanks for the news flash, Josh White.

Anyone with their eyes open knows Gitmo was torture central, and that Geoffrey Miller was at the root.

[joemurphy]

17. I think they were specifically authorized by Rumsfeld.

The Pentagon has always claimed they only applied to Qahtani. They were in effect for a fairly lengthy period of time (I think several months) and then Rumsfeld rescinded the order if I'm not mistaken.

The lengthy interrogations and sleep deprivation sounded like torture to me. Qahtani got irregular heartbeats and was suicidal as a result. He was breaking down enough physically that the interrogators had to have a doctor present to check Qahtani's vitals and decide whether the interrogations could continue.

I don't see how any of this could produce reliable intelligence.

[Chicago Democrat]

18. THIS IS NEWS?@!!///!!! Oh its the (used to be credible, but now just

used) Washington Post


Oh 1972 I miss you!

[0007]

19. Isn't this common knowledge?

[Theduckno2]

20. I heard this earlier today on the radio (MSM) and had the thought

that maybe the tide is turning in the MSM. Just a couple of other thoughts; those applicants that were 'creative and aggressive' were probably hired by the Inquisition too, and although they maintain that the tactics were approved with ONE detainee in mind Sec'y Rumsfeld still should have known better. Its pretty hard getting the genie back in the bottle or toothpaste back in the tube, isn't it Rummy? :grr:

[drhilarius]

21. What torture at gitmo?

As I understand it, the detainees, or rather, "guests of the state", get to play soccer w/ David Beckham, then sit down for a meal of Beluga Caviar, Duck al'orange, and Bananas Foster. They've got it pretty darn good. :sarcasm:

[WhiteTara]

23. I hope that bushcos jailers are just

as creative and agressive in their methods on them. Personally, I don't really want to waste the jail space and pay to feed these bastards. Traitors are to receive the death penalty. A firing squad at dawn on the wh lawn.