Error blamed in use of unauthorized interrogation tactics

US special operations soldiers in Iraq used unauthorized interrogation tactics on detainees after receiving an outdated policy from commanders in Baghdad, a Pentagon report said... The tactics included feeding detainees only bread and water when they were uncooperative, allowing only minimal sleep and making them kneel for long periods of time in stress positions. The inquiry also determined that some detainees were stripped naked, sprayed with water and then interrogated in air-conditioned rooms or in cold weather... Pentagon officials released a heavily redacted version of the report on Friday as part of its response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. The final report was issued on November 8, 2004.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/June/focusoniraq_June123.xml§ion=focusoniraq

means they did lots of war crimes and are covering it up, as usual,
as necessary for national defense; defending us from the reality
that the armed forces are become dangerous felons.

The abuse was sanctioned -codified, even!- but a bureaucratic goof led to torturous treatment by people who who really were "just following orders"? What, now they'll be WAY more careful in the issuance of MANUALS?

Sorta lets *everyone* off the hook. (except maybe a clerk somewhere, but hey they'd be deep within the bowels of the system somewhere)

A secretive military Special Operations group in Iraq used several unauthorized interrogation tactics on detainees in early 2004 after it erroneously received an outdated policy from commanders in Baghdad, according to a high-level military investigative report released yesterday at the Pentagon.

As a result of the error, interrogators at temporary holding facilities washed down detainees and questioned them in overly air-conditioned rooms, fed them only bread and water when they were uncooperative, and made them kneel for long periods of time as part of an approach using "stress positions." The tactics also included giving detainees minimal amounts of sleep and using loud music and yelling to keep them from sleeping or communicating
...
But Formica concluded that the soldiers using the tactics were not responsible for violating policy or the law from February to May 2004 because they believed what they were doing had been approved.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061602042.html

Yet crimes are intentional acts, not mistakes.

Also it is obvious that these torture techniques are the result of the deliberate policy of this adminstrations repudiation of the international law of armed conflict, including the Geneva Conventions.

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2342253>