The Washington Post reported in January 2009 that Susan J. Crawford, convening authority of military commissions, stated in response to the interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani, one of the so-called “20th hijacker” of the September 11 attacks: “The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent…. Shaking: The interrogator forcefully grabs the front of the prisoner’s shirt and shakes them. Top US Government officials including Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Ashcroft discussed at length whether or not the CIA could legally use harsh techniques against Abu Zubaydah.Condoleezza Rice specifically mentioned the SERE … The memos were made public by the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the three CIA-related documents under Freedom of Information Act requests. so we can fix the link as soon as possible. Dietary Manipulation — This technique involved switching from solid foods to liquid. The working group based its new guidelines on a legal memo from the United States Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel written by John Yoo and signed by Jay S. Bybee, which would later become widely known as the “Torture Memo.” General Counsel Mora led a faction of the Working Group in arguing against these standards, and argued the issues with Yoo in person. Many other techniques developed by the CIA constitute inhuman and degrading treatment and torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Army Field Manual 2.22.3 Section 513 is the current basis for all legal interrogations carried out by the - United States. many of the interrogation methods used in SERE training seem to have been applied at Guantánamo..”. §§ 2340A renders illegal the act of torture or conspiracy to commit torture by a U.S. national or any individual within the United States. How to Build Trust in a Relationship Using CBT? ABC stated further that the last use of waterboarding was in 2003. American interrogators called the brutal practices "enhanced interrogation techniques" and they were used at secret "black site" prisons — and at … Enhanced interrogation techniques " or " enhanced interrogation " is a euphemism for the program of systematic torture of detainees by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and various components of the U.S. Armed Forces at black sites around the world, including Bagram, … Law professor Dietmar Herz explained Novak’s comments by saying that under U.S. and international law former President Bush is criminally responsible for adopting torture as interrogation tool. This information was discovered through other intelligence means. And that’s important for people around the world to understand.” The administration adopted the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 to address the multitude of incidents of detainee abuse. According to Danner, the report contains sections on “methods of ill-treatment” including suffocation by water, prolonged stress standing, beatings by use of a collar, beating and kicking, confinement in a box, prolonged nudity, sleep deprivation and use of loud music, exposure to cold temperature/cold water, prolonged use of handcuffs and shackles, threats, forced shaving, and deprivation/restricted provision of solid food. Former Washington Post writer Peter Carlson notes that when it became known U.S. troops were waterboarding Filipino guerrilla fighters in 1898, author Mark Twain remarked, “To make him confess what? Abdomen strikes: A hard, open-handed slap is dealt to the prisoner’s abdomen. The CIA was unaware of Mohammed’s stature before the Abu Zubayda interrogation, the former agent said. The road to torture: How the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques” became legal after 9/11 The CIA’s torture techniques—10 in total—increased in severity as one went down the list The congressmen involved in calling for such an investigation included John Conyers, Jan Schakowsky, and Jerrold Nadler. Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room. Covered are Attention Grasp, Walling, Facial Hold, Facial Slap (Insult Slap), Cramped Confinement, Wall Standing, Stress Positions, Sleep Deprivation, Water Board, Use … In addition, many other elements of the ill-treatment, either singly or in combination, constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”, Investigation of enhanced interrogation techniques and calls for prosecution, Request for Special Counsel Probe of Harsh Interrogation Tactics. And coercive. Report… is a record of interviews with black site detainees, conducted between October 6 and 11 and December 4 and 14, 2006, after their transfer to Guantánamo. He said, “Unless Congress overrides the veto, it will go down in history as a flagrant insult to the rule of law and a serious stain on the good name of America in the eyes of the world.”. Key Factors Determining our Emotional Health. Many of the interrogation techniques used in the SERE program, including waterboarding, cold cell, long-time standing, and sleep deprivation were previously considered illegal under U.S. and international law and treaties at the time of Abu Zubaydah’s capture. That’s an honorable position. '” A United Nations report denounced the US abuse of prisoners as tantamount to torture. It is of note that in a 2007 report by investigator Dick Marty on secret CIA prisons, the phrase “enhanced interrogations” was stated to be a euphemism for torture. In the letter CIA Director Panetta wrote Senator McCain that. Condoleezza Rice specifically mentioned the SERE program during the meeting stating “I recall being told that U.S. military personnel were subjected to training to certain physical and psychological interrogation techniques…”. A report by Human Rights First (HRF) and Physicians for Human Rights (PFH) stated that these techniques constitute torture. Covered are Attention Grasp, Walling, Facial Hold, Facial Slap (Insult Slap), Cramped Confinement, Wall Standing, Stress Positions, Sleep Deprivation, Water Board, Use of Diapers, Insects and Mock Burial. The program subjected trainees to torture techniques such as “waterboarding . Stephen Soldz, Steven Reisner and Brad Olson wrote an article describing how the techniques used 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”. In early 2002, immediately following Abu Zubaydah’s capture, top US Government officials including Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Ashcroft discussed at length whether or not the CIA could legally use harsh techniques against Abu Zubaydah. Unable to get satisfaction from the army commanders running the detainee camp, they took their concerns to David Brant, director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), who alerted Navy General Counsel Alberto J. Mora. Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures were terms adopted by the George W. Bush administration in the United States to describe interrogation methods used by US military intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to extract information from individuals captured in the “War on Terror” after the September 11 attacks in 2001. A bipartisan report in released 2008 stated that: a February 2002 memorandum signed by President George W. Bush, stating that the Third Geneva Convention guaranteeing humane treatment to prisoners of war did not apply to al-Qaeda or Taliban detainees, and a December 2002 memo signed by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, approving the use of “aggressive techniques” against detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, as key factors that lead to the extensive abuses. Senior law enforcement agents with the Criminal Investigation Task Force told MSNBC.com in 2006 that they began to complain inside the U.S. Department of Defense in 2002 that the interrogation tactics used in Guantanamo Bay by a separate team of military intelligence investigators were unproductive, not likely to produce reliable information, and probably illegal. A March 22, 2005, sworn statement by the former chief of the Interrogation Control Element at Guantánamo said instructors from SERE also taught their methods to interrogators of the prisoners in Cuba. We appreciate your help. They’re appropriate, they’re in conformity with our international requirements and with US law.” During the discussions John Ashcroft is reported as saying “Why are we talking about this in the White House? The national security orders mandate that interrogation techniques in the Army Field Manual be used by all intelligence and law enforcement services; call … We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. On December 14, 2005, the Detainee Treatment Act was passed into law, specifically clarifying that interrogations techniques be limited to those explicitly authorized by the Army Field Manual. Euphemism for program of systematic torture by U.S. government. " The psychologists relied heavily on experiments done by American psychologist Martin Seligman in the 1970s on learned helplessness. The eventual exposure of the CIA's black sites and euphemistically named "enhanced interrogation techniques," or EITs, triggered worldwide horror, condemnation and … It has been replaced by … A report by Human Rights First (HRF) and Physicians for Human Rights (PFH) stated that these techniques constitute torture. Slapping: An open-handed slap is delivered to the prisoner’s face, aimed at causing pain and triggering fear. Former President Bush in his published memoirs defends the utility of “enhanced interrogation” techniques and asserts that they are not torture. The memo is signed by then-CIA director George Tenet and dated January 28, 2003. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. In fact, the United States had prosecuted Japanese military officials after World War II and American soldiers after the Vietnam War for waterboarding and as recently as 1983. In addition, in 2002 and 2003, several Democratic congressional leaders were briefed on the proposed “enhanced interrogation techniques.” These congressional leaders included Nancy Pelosi, the future Speaker of the House, and Representative Jane Harman. It was that medical impact that pushed me over the edge”, i.e., to call it torture. On March 8, 2008 President Bush vetoed this bill. In 1963, the Central Intelligence Agency compiled the historical understanding of such non-invasive interrogation techniques into a how-to guide titled KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation, informally known as the KUBARK manual. This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him, that hurt his health. I can live with the person who makes that tradeoff. Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures were terms adopted by the George W. Bush administration in the United States to describe interrogation methods used by US military intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to extract information from individuals captured in the “War on Terror” after the September 11 attacks in 2001. Following the release of the CIA documents and now released from non disclosure agreements he had signed Philip Zelikow, a former State Department lawyer and adviser to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, stated that he had argued it was unlikely that “any federal court would agree (that the approval of harsh interrogation techniques) … was a reasonable interpretation of the Constitution.” He was told to destroy copies of his own memo and claimed that the Bush Administration had ordered that other dissenting legal advice be collected and destroyed. (A water temperature of 10 °C (50 °F) often leads to death in one hour.). That’s mine. The less redacted version of the August 1, 2002 memo signed by Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee (regarding Abu Zubaydah) and four memos from 2005 signed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury addressed to CIA and analysing the legality of various specific interrogation methods, including waterboarding, were released by Barack Obama administration on April 16, 2009. That, after all, is the teaching of United States v. Altstötter, the Nuremberg case brought against German Justice Department lawyers whose memoranda crafted the basis for implementation of the infamous “Night and Fog Decree.”. The recommendation was overruled by General Bantz J. Craddock, commander of US Southern Command, who referred the matter to the army’s inspector general. Please use the links below or the search form to find the information you seek. A bill on interrogation techniques was passed on February 13, 2008 in the US Senate, in a 51 to 45 vote, limiting the number of techniques allowed to only “those interrogation techniques explicitly authorized by the 2006 Army Field Manual.” After Abu Faraj al-Libbi was captured, he provided bogus information, denying that he knew al-Kuwaiti and making up another name instead. In an interview with AP on February 14, 2008 Paul Rester, chief military interrogator at Guantanamo Bay and director of the Joint Intelligence Group, said most of the information gathered from detainees came from non-coercive questioning and “rapport building,” not harsh interrogation methods. You may have used an outdated link or typed the address (URL) incorrectly. The Obama administration in 2009 stated it would abide by the Geneva Convention and described some of the techniques as torture. The Washington Post described the report by the Intelligence Science Board: There is almost no scientific evidence to back up the U.S. intelligence community’s use of controversial interrogation techniques in the fight against terrorism, and experts believe some painful and coercive approaches could hinder the ability to get good information, according to a new report from an intelligence advisory group. According to Jane Mayer, during the transition period for then President-elect Barack Obama, his legal, intelligence, and national-security advisers had met at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley to discuss “whether a ban on brutal interrogation practices would hurt their ability to gather intelligence,” and among the consulted experts: There was unanimity among Obama’s expert advisers… that to change the practices would not in any material way affect the collection of intelligence. What it prevents: The Army Field Manual specifically prohibits most of the so-called “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” that the CIA used in its post-9/11 interrogation program, as well as any other techniques that do not comply with domestic or international law. Jane Mayer, author of the Dark Side, quotes Zelikow as predicting that “America’s descent into torture will in time be viewed like the Japanese internments,” in that “(f)ear and anxiety were exploited by zealots and fools.”. Browse the Collections | Advanced Search | Search Help. That requires you going out to the American people and saying, ‘We’re looking at a tradeoff here folks, and I want you to understand the tradeoff. A Congressional bipartisan report in December 2008 established that: harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA and the U.S. military were directly adapted from the training techniques used to prepare special forces personnel to resist interrogation by enemies that torture and abuse prisoners. The U.S. military used the President George W. Bush has said in a BBC interview he would veto such a bill after previously signing an executive order that allows “enhanced interrogation techniques” and may exempt the CIA from Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Material is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over them, asphyxiating the prisoner. Stop. He warned that criminalizing the process could cause policymakers to second-guess themselves and “harm our national security well into the future.”. The FBI agents wrote in memorandums that were never meant to be disclosed publicly that they had seen female interrogators forcibly squeeze male prisoners’ genitals, and that they had witnessed other detainees stripped and shackled low to the floor for many hours.”. It is as yet unclear when US government officials first adopted the term enhanced interrogation, and there is no evidence they were aware of its antecedents in Gestapo terminology. In early 2002, following Abu Zubaydah's capture, assertedly Jose Rodriguez head of the CIA's clandestine service, asked his superiors for authorization for what Rodriquez called an "alternative set of interrogation procedures." The Court reaffirmed that those involved in mistreatment of detainees violate US and international law. Condoleezza Rice ultimately told the CIA the harsher interrogation tactics were acceptable, In 2009 Rice stated, “We never tortured anyone.” And Dick Cheney stated “I signed off on it; so did others.” In 2010, Cheney remained unrepentant, saying, “I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program.” Pressed on his personal view of waterboarding, Karl Rove told the BBC in 2010: “I’m proud that we kept the world safer than it was, by the use of these techniques. Shortly before the end of Bush’s second term newsmedia in other countries were opining that under the United Nations Convention Against Torture the US is obligated to hold those responsible to account under criminal law. This creates an intense amount of pressure on the legs, leading first to pain and then muscle failure. Subsequent disclosures in 2010 revealed that Jose Rodriguez Jr., head of the directorate of operations at the CIA from 2004 to 2007, ordered the tapes destroyed because what they showed was so horrific they would be “devastating to the CIA,” and that “the heat from destroying is nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes ever got into public domain.” The New York Times reported that according to “some insiders” an inquiry into the C.I.A.’s secret detention program which analysed these techniques “might end with criminal charges for abusive interrogations.” In an Op-ed for the New York Times Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, chair and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission stated: As a legal matter, it is not up to us to examine the C.I.A.’s failure to disclose the existence of these tapes. US prevention of disclosure by English courts of allegations of torture. The CIA came to learn that Mitchell and Jessen’s expertise in waterboarding was probably “misrepresented” and thus, there was no reason to believe it was medically safe or effective. The steadfast, ongoing refusal of our leading media institutions to refer to what the Bush administration did as “torture” — even in the face of more than 100 detainee deaths; the use of that term by a leading Bush official to describe what was done at Guantanamo; and the fact that media outlets frequently use the word “torture” to describe the exact same methods when used by other countries –reveals much about how the modern journalist thinks. Dick Cheney stated: “I know specifically of reports… that lay out what we learnt through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country”, however the only examples publicly released that attempt to support this claim are: The claim that the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed helped prevent a planned attack on Los Angeles in 2002 – which ignores the fact that he wasn’t captured until 2003, and Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi who had confessed that Iraq had trained al Qaeda in the use of weapons of mass destruction which was then used as justification for the subsequent invasion of Iraq – a confession now known to be false. Debates concerning effectiveness or reliability of techniques. How can one know which it is they are telling? Upon reading the August 1, 2002 memo which justified the torture, Zelikow authored his own memo contesting the Justice Department’s conclusions, believing them wrong both legally and as a matter of policy. For under unendurable pain a man confesses anything that is required of him, true or false, and his evidence is worthless.”. However, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was not the first one providing this information: U.S. officials said that already shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, detainees in CIA secret prisons told interrogators about the courier’s pseudonym “al-Kuwaiti”. In response, on January 15, 2003, Rumsfeld suspended the approved interrogation tactics at Guantánamo Bay until a new set of guidelines could be produced by a working group headed by General Counsel of the Air Force Mary Walker. While Jane Mayer reported for The New Yorker: According to the sere affiliate and two other sources familiar with the program, after September 11th several psychologists versed in SERE techniques began advising interrogators at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere. In an article on the euphemisms invented by the media that also criticized NPR, Glenn Greenwald discussed the enabling “corruption of American journalism”: This active media complicity in concealing that our Government created a systematic torture regime, by refusing ever to say so, is one of the principal reasons it was allowed to happen for so long. General Counsel Mora and Navy Judge Advocate General Michael Lohr believed the detainee treatment to be unlawful, and campaigned among other top lawyers and officials in the Defense Department to investigate, and to provide clear standards prohibiting coercive interrogation tactics. Or lies? The US Army Field Manual on Interrogation, sometimes known by the military nomenclature FM 34-52, is a 177-page manual describing to military interrogators how to conduct effective interrogations while conforming with US and international law. 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