Wash Post: Pentagon Okayed Tough Questioning Methods

[ringmastery]

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

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

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

The use of any of these techniques requires the approval of senior Pentagon officials -- and in some cases, of the defense secretary. Interrogators must justify that the harshest treatment is "militarily necessary," according to the document, as cited by one official. Once approved, the 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."

[Kanary]

1. Little by little, the odor escapes

I'm sick to death that the Iraqi people had to pay such a high price before the truth started coming out.

Completely sick.

Kanary

[dArKeR]

2. 'stressful methods' = torture? How hot and how cold? Including suffocation

I'm telling you Bush personally watched the torture in Guantanamo and Iraq. Via live web cams or satellite feeds. I can sense this deep in my bones!

[MadProphetMargin]

3. Well, when you have a concentration camp (Gitmo), these things happen.

I think we KNEW this, we just didn't WANT to know it.

[paulie5]

4. the shame of being American

Those criminals have shamed the American people. Why is it when I travel outside the US that I have to apologise for the incompetent chimp in the commander's chair. Mr. Bush talks the talk but fails to walk the walk. He is no more in touch with God than Ted Bundy. This scandal is not caused by just a few bad apples. The blame can be traced all the way to the top. The only excuse chimp can use is that he is too incompetent to control the people under his direct command. Either that or he's just as bad of a tyrant as Saddam was. Meet the new boss (same as the old boss).

I am truly sorry for the tormented lives we have affected as well as the lives we ended in the so-called name of freedom. We are now the "Butchers of Baghdad" and convincing the rest of the world otherwise is going to be an extremely hard-sell. We have totally lost the moral high ground and in doing that, we have lost the war (a war we deserved to lose).

You just don't attack countries that have not attacked you. And you don't lie about the threat and security of the United States. We as Americans were lied to and good folks on both sides have died or been seriously maimed for life.

Around every corner you turn you can count on the Bush regime to make the worst possible decision on any given issue. That's their official policy. That doesn't even include the criminal content that their lying ensues. Bad enough to F--K up, worse not to admit your mistakes.

And saying I',m sorry to those poor souls that were at the receiving end of our brutal torture seems to be beyond their comprehension. At this point saying sorry is just not good enough.