Enhanced interrogation techniques

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"Enhanced interrogation techniques" or Professional interrogation techniques" are the terms used by United States Intelligence agencies for the secret techniques used to extract information from prisoners held in the War on terror. It is suspected, but denied by government agents, that the techniques amount to torture. [1]

File:Waterboard3-small.jpg
Painting of waterboarding from Cambodia's Tuol Sleng Prison

Enhanced Interrogation Techniques refers to means of aggressively extracting information from detainees the Bush administration advocated as necessary in the War on Terror.

Despite the name experts consider this to be torture and ineffective.[2][3][4][5] The techniques were first authorized for use in mid-March 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush. Only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use the techniques.

Contents

History

Verschärfte vernehmung

H. Candace Gorman (a civil rights attorney in Chicago), Andrew Sullivan and Lou Dubose pointed out that "enhanced interrogation" bares remarkable resemblance to techniques the Gestapo called "verschärfte vernehmung," which were found to be war crimes.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

  1. Simplest rations
  2. Hard bed
  3. Dark cell
  4. Deprivation of sleep
  5. Exhaustion exercises
  6. Blows with a stick

Sullivan continues to state that a 1948 Norwegian court case[12] described the use of hypothermia identical to the reports from Guantanamo Bay. He further contends that the defense used by the Nazis for apllying the techniques "is almost verbatim that of the Bush administration." Most notably the concept of unlawful enemy combatant is invoked avant la lettre to justify its implementation on "insurgent prisoners out of uniform." Citing the Nazi defense:

That the acts of torture in no case resulted in death. Most of the injuries inflicted were slight and did not result in permanent disablement.[8]

Sullivan, like Candace Gorman, notes the identical logic propagated by John Yoo today .[6] The now familiar ticking time bomb scenario, as rationale for allowing torture, had its precursor in the Gestapo's "Third degree" measures.[9][10]

SERE program

Main article: SERE

Stephen Soldz, Steven Reisner and Brad Olson wrote an article describing how these techniques mimic what was taught in the SERE-program: "the military's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape program that trains US Special Operations forces, aviators and others at high risk of capture on the battlefield to evade capture and to resist 'breaking' under torture, particularly through giving false confessions or collaborating with their captors."[3] They cite the following examples:

  1. Prolonged isolation,
  2. Prolonged sleep deprivation,
  3. Sensory deprivation,
  4. Extremely painful "stress positions,"
  5. Sensory bombardment (such as prolonged loud noise and/or bright lights),
  6. Forced nudity,
  7. Sexual humiliation,
  8. Cultural humiliation (such as disrespect to holy books),
  9. Being subjected to extreme cold that induces hypothermia,
  10. Exploitation of phobias,
  11. Simulation of the experience of drowning (waterboarding).

Technique details under the Bush administration

  1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.
  2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.
  3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.
  4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.
  5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.
  6. Waterboarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

Legality

Main article: International law

In April 2006, in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez[13], more than 100 U.S. professors stated unequivocally that waterboarding is torture, and is a criminal felony punishable under the U.S. federal criminal code.

The enhanced interrogation techniques may also fall under the definition of torture, as defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, though Bush administration officials deny that this is the case.

Criticism

According to Stephen Soldz et al. medical and psychological literature shows that torture may have "profound long-term negative effects upon individuals, including psychosis, depression, suicidal ideation and/or post-traumatic stress disorder."[3] They also cite the Office of the Inspector General report which concluded that

SERE-type interrogation techniques constitute "physical or mental torture and coercion under the Geneva conventions."[3]

Also, according to the New York Times:

Experts advising Bush administration on new interrogation rules warn that harsh techniques used since 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable.[5]

See also

External links

Articles


Notes

  1. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8534-2004Jun26.html "CIA Puts Harsh Tactics On Hold: Memo on Methods Of Interrogation Had Wide Review", article by Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, June 27, 2004; Page A01
  2. ^ Whatever it takes. The politics of the man behind “24.” by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, Februari 12, 2007
  3. ^ a b c d The Pentagon's IG Report Contradicts What the APA Has Said About the Involvement of Psychologists in Abusive Interrogations - A Q&A on Psychologists and Torture By Stephen Soldz (Director, Center for Research, Evaluation, and Program Development & Professor, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis; University of Massachusetts, Boston), Steven Reisner (Senior Faculty and Supervisor, International Trauma Studies Program, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical School), and Brad Olson (Assistant Research Professor, at Northwestern University), Counterpunch, June 7, 2007
  4. ^ ‘Fill The Jails’, Part II by Sean Gonsalves, CommonDreams, May 26, 2007
  5. ^ a b Advisers Fault Harsh Methods In Interrogation By SCOTT SHANE AND MARK MAZZETTI, New York Times, May 30, 2007
  6. ^ a b Torture By Another Name - The origins of “enhanced interrogation techniques” can be traced to the German Gestapo by Candace Gorman, In These Times, June 14, 2007
  7. ^ Coming to a Theater Near You: Five Years in Guantánamo by Lou Dubose, Washington Spectator, July 1, 2007
  8. ^ a b "Verschärfte Vernehmung" by Andrew Sullivan, May 29, 200
  9. ^ a b How The Nazis Defended "Enhanced Interrogation" Andrew Sullivan, June 14, 2007
  10. ^ a b Defending Enhanced Interrogation Techniques by Scott Horton, Harper
  11. ^ One of Those Rare Instances in Which the Nazi Analogy is Unavoidable Marty Lederman, Balkinization, May 29, 2007
  12. ^ CASE No. 12 - Trial of Kriminalsekretär RICHARD WILHELM HERMANN BRUNS and two others BY THE EIDSIVATING LAGMANNSRETT AND THE SUPREME COURT OF NORWAY, 20TH MARCH AND 3RD JULY, 1946 - Torturing as a War Crime. The Legal Status of the Norwegian Underground Military Organisation. The Defences of Legitimate Reprisals, Superior Orders and Duress
  13. ^ letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.

Further reading

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Enhanced interrogation techniques.
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