Pentagon Interrogation Guidelines Eyed in Prison Scandal

U.S. Officials OK'ed Rules in 2003 for Guantanamo Bay Detainees
By Dana Priest and Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 8, 2004; 6:45 PM


In April 2003, the Defense Department approved a list of interrogation techniques for use at the Guantanamo Bay prison that permits making a detainee disrobe entirely for questioning, reversing normal sleep patterns and exposing them to heat, cold and "sensory assault," including loud music and bright lights, according to defense officials.




The more aggressive techniques require approval from senior Pentagon officials, and in some cases, the secretary of defense. Interrogators must justify that harshest treatment is "militarily necessary," according to the document, parts of which were cited by an official who possessed the document. Once approved, harsher treatment must be accompanied by "appropriate medical monitoring."

"We wanted to find a legal way to jack up the pressure," said one lawyer who helped write the guidelines. "We wanted a little more freedom than in a U.S. prison, but not torture."

The classified list of roughly 20 techniques was approved at the highest levels of the Pentagon and Justice Department and represents the first known documentation of an official policy permitting interrogators to use physically and mentally stressful methods during questioning.

more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11017-2004May8.html

Locked Inside A Nightmare

May 2000

(CBS) When 14-year-old Sara Lowe was arrested, her parents thought it was a blessing. They thought she was going to a new kind of juvenile detention facility - a private prison offering counseling that could turn her life around.

Many parents cling to the hope of rehabilitation. For Sara and others that hope was offered by the Wackenhut Corrections Corp. And Wackenhut is the leader of a trend in America putting prisons in the hands of private companies. Wackenhut says it can run the prisons for less money than a state can - and provide better rehabilitation.

<snip> Scott Pelley reports:

-------------------------------------------------------

Desperate, the Lowes knew Sara needed professional help. A judge sentenced Sara to six months of detention, and the family was actually relieved because a probation officer said Sara would get intensive counseling at a new private prison: Wackenhut's Coke County Juvenile Justice Center.

"(The probation officer) told me all the staff was very qualified," Gayle Lowe remembers. "They would all have bachelor's degrees in either juvenile justice or psychology, child psychology. It just sounded wonderful."

The center was also expensive: Texas was paying Wackenhut $118 per girl per day, because of the high level of counseling and education.

<snip>

But Sara didn't find the promised counseling at the Coke County facility. Some counseling sessions were being run by the guards. It didn't seem there was much concern for the education of the girls either; Sara was promoted through three grades of high school in just six months. Even worse, Wackenhut's all-girl prison was mostly staffed by men.

Sara eventually told her sister, Jenny, that one of the guards raped her almost every night. "He would take her in the next cell and molest her every night," Jenny says. "She was in fear for (her) life, because he would tell her, 'I will, I'm going to kill your sister and your mom if you tell anybody.'"

In time, Sara's mother found out. The Lowes filed suit against Wackenhut, alleging widespread, systematic sexual assault of the girls in the Texas detention center. The suit would launch an investigation, pitting the story of a deeply troubled teen-age girl against a $2 billion company.

<snip>

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/05/09/60II/main193636.shtml

The Geneva Convention says its illegal to humilate a prisoner.

It doesn't says that its ok to humiliate a prisoner if a high-ranking officers approves.

someone posted earlier about this, but I've since lost where the thread was posted.

"The more aggressive techniques require approval from senior Pentagon officials, and in some cases, the secretary of defense. Interrogators must justify that harshest treatment is "militarily necessary," according to the document, parts of which were cited by an official who possessed the document. Once approved, harsher treatment must be accompanied by "appropriate medical monitoring."

Also, not the part about approval being needed from senior Pentagon official or the secretary of defense (i.e. Rummy). I think Rummy is going down.

After briefing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on the limited training the intel soldiers had to obtain critical information from Al Qaeda, the Intelligence Center devised a new course to help support the global war on terrorism.

"We're working with new doctrine everyday," Guin said. "We're basically writing our own doctrine on how to do this type of business. A lot of the things we do have never been done before and we're discovering new and better ways to improve the instruction here at the school house for the soldiers who are eventually going to go out and fight this global war on terrorism."

With so much information being taught in a short span, the focus is to get the soldiers ready to go so when they hit Guantanamo, the learning curve will be dramatically decreased. Slavin pointed out two main goals needed to accomplish the mission and keep the learning curve down.

"First, they have to work as teams," Slavin said. "The analysts must support the interrogators. Normally the analysts support the commander, but now they're supporting an interrogator so he can go off and ask the right questions."

He added intel soldiers have done this type of teamwork approach before, but it's specific for Guantanamo because it needed to be reinforced.

"Secondly, for all the analytical work that has to be done, it takes an analyst with a different mindset to go after and find different data," he said. "And for the interrogator, different kinds of approaches are needed for these folks."

As far the future of the course, Slavin said the course will be more global oriented because, "the threat is not just in Afghanistan, it's also in the Philippines and the Middle East."

Also, much of the training in the course will be incorporated in the Warrant Officer Course, Officer Basic Course and other military intelligence specialty courses, officials said. The next ISCT is scheduled for July and will be five weeks long.

http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/18207.php

Slavin mentioned the three-week course is based upon some shortcomings Custer identified at the camp holding Al Qaeda detainees.

Custer is that Custer Battles? ya think

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x49554

thanks to the OP...I just don't want it to get lost.

it was the POLITICAL PEOPLE at the Pentagon, who were in favor of the harsher treatment of prisoners.

The military people were opposed, knowing it could be done to our troops, if captured.

Is there any doubt who is behind this entire tragedy?

I have also heard a few times that the Israelis have been involved, in training Americans for interrogations in Iraq. Is this correct?

I would not be suprised in the least, if this is so.

"We wanted to find a legal way to jack up the pressure."

Whoops! Civilians do not have such things.

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