WP: Abu Ghraib Tactics Were First Used at Guantanamo

[sabra]

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

Abu Ghraib Tactics Were First Used at Guantanamo

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.


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[reality based]

1. To the Hague with them. No pardons there.

[Hissyspit]

2. Well, of course they were... n/t

[sabra]

3. This is A01 of WP, hopefully it will open some people's eyes...

[Hissyspit]

4. Some people will never have their eyes open, Sabra, but...

every little bit helps.

Of course, as soon as I heard about we were doing with prisoners after Afghanistan, it was clear that this stuff would be happening. WP should not be surprised.