14 Marines killed in Wed. attack. Our tactics put them at greater risk

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Our tactics put our soldiers at a greater risk of retaliation by resistance forces.


WP: Documents tell of brutal tactics by U.S. military interrogators

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8803972/

Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was being stubborn with his American captors, and a series of intense beatings and creative interrogation tactics were not enough to break his will. On the morning of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a military guard grabbed a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped him in an electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work. Again.

It was inside the sleeping bag that the 56-year-old detainee took his last breath through broken ribs . . .

>>>>The circumstances that led up to Mowhoush's death paint a vivid example of how the pressure to produce intelligence for anti-terrorism efforts and the war in Iraq led U.S. military interrogators to improvise and develop abusive measures, not just at Abu Ghraib but in detention centers elsewhere in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mowhoush's ordeal in Qaim, over 16 days in November 2003, also reflects U.S. government secrecy surrounding some abuse cases and gives a glimpse into a covert CIA unit that was set up to foment rebellion before the war and took part in some interrogations during the insurgency.

The sleeping-bag interrogation and beatings were taking place in Qaim about the same time that soldiers at Abu Ghraib, outside Baghdad, were using dogs to intimidate detainees, putting women's underwear on their heads, forcing them to strip in front of female soldiers and attaching at least one to a leash. It was a time when U.S. interrogators were coming up with their own tactics to get detainees to talk, many of which they considered logical interpretations of broad-brush categories in the Army Field Manual, with labels such as "fear up" or "pride and ego down" or "futility."

>>>>"The interrogation techniques were known and were approved of by the upper echelons of command of the 3rd ACR," Cassara said in a news conference. "They believed, and still do, that they were appropriate and proper."

[Greeby]

1. Grr

The fact they go out on these patrols at all is utterly mindless, I mean, what is it meant to achieve except getting them killed?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. When all else fails, resort to sadism. aka: frat boy pranks

They love us for our freedoms.

[livvy]

3. I read this article this morning.

It made me absolutely sick. I do not understand how anyone could do these things to another human being. Hell, I capture spiders in my house to release outside, and I can't stand the darn things! This type of interrogation is just perverted and sick. Not only does it endanger our troops, it is immoral IMO. It makes me feel ashamed of my country, and royally PO'd, too.

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4. you have to wonder about a society that harbors and supports this

type of vile abuse. Not to mention what non-Americans must think of us.

And we condemned Hussein for his regime's torture of dissidents and prisoners. This is about as sickening as violence gets.

"Investigators believed a "long straight-edge instrument" was used on Mowhoush, as well an "object like the end of an M-16" rifle."

Someone tell me that the bulk of our troops don't tolerate this type of abuse. I want to hear it said that our soldiers abhor these maniacal tactics as I mourn the recent killings of our own troops. But, I'm afraid to ask for fear that a negative answer may alienate me from the young men and women for whom I so very much wish the very best and pine for their safe return home.

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5. .