R2I (resistance to interrogation) techniques

[Tinoire]

((McCain did his best to bring this up at the hearings))

======================

The techniques devised in the system, called R2I - resistance to interrogation - match the crude exploitation and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.

<snip>

He said British and US military intelligence soldiers were trained in these techniques, which were taught at the joint services interrogation centre in Ashford, Kent, now transferred to the former US base at Chicksands.

<snip>

"Most people just laugh that off during mock training exercises, but the whole experience is horrible. Two of my colleagues couldn't cope with the training at the time. One walked out saying 'I've had enough', and the other had a breakdown. It's exceedingly disturbing," said the former Special Boat Squadron officer, who asked that his identity be withheld for security reasons.

<snip>

When the interrogation techniques are used on British soldiers for training purposes, they are subject to a strict 48-hour time limit, and a supervisor and a psychologist are always present. It is recognised that in inexperienced hands, prisoners can be plunged into psychosis.

The spectrum of R2I techniques also includes keeping prisoners naked most of the time. This is what the Abu Ghraib photographs show, along with inmates being forced to crawl on a leash; forced to masturbate in front of a female soldier; mimic oral sex with other male prisoners; and form piles of naked, hooded men.

The full battery of methods includes hooding, sleep deprivation, time disorientation and depriving prisoners not only of dignity, but of fundamental human needs, such as warmth, water and food.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1212197,00.html

[Tinoire]

1. And who authorized this? None other than Doug Feith

riverwalker (406 posts)
Fri May-07-04 07:46 PM
Original message
JAG: it reaches Douglas Feith



Torture Sanctioned by Pentagon

Bar Association: Torture Sanctioned by Pentagon Appointees
Salon is reporting that a report compiled by the Committee on International Law of the New York City Bar Association has found that the American military's treatment of detainees and prisoners of war in Afghanistan, Cuba and Iraq violates international law — and the compilers of the report say that the techniques employed by interrogators at prisons such as Abu Ghraib were "sanctioned by Pentagon political appointees."

Joe Conason of Salon reports that Scott Horton, a partner at Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler and chair of the Committee on International Law was told by "senior" members of the Judge Advocate General Corps that high ranking political appointees were behind the abuse. Says Conason:

http://www.warblogging.com/

Lack of protection

<snip>

Indeed, Horton says that the JAG officers specifically warned him that Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith,one of the most powerful political appointees in the Pentagon, had significantly weakened the military's rules and regulations governing prisoners of war. The officers told Horton that Feith and the Defense Department's general counsel, William J. Haynes II, were creating "an atmosphere of legal ambiguity" that would allow mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Douglas Feith, President Bush's Undersecretary of Defense for Policy — and number three man at the Pentagon — reportedly summed up Protocol One of the Geneva Conventions of 1977 as "law in the service of terrorism".

In the past, Conason writes, all interrogations conducted by military personnel were monitored by a member of the Judge Advocate General corps from behind a two-way mirror. All interrogations were monitored, and the JAG officer was "emplowered to stop any misconduct". But senior Pentagon officials removed that requirement. :wow: Not only did JAG officers no longer monitor interrogations, but private military contractors were allowed to conduct interrogations.

<snip>

After hearing the complaints of the JAG officers, Horton and his bar colleagues wrote to Haynes and the CIA's general counsel in an effort to clarify U.S. policy on the treatment and interrogation of detainees. Those inquiries, he recalls, "were met with a firm brushoff. We then turned to senators who had raised the issue previously, and assisted their staff in pursuing the issue directly with the Pentagon. These inquiries met with a similar brushoff." The Bush administration wanted no meddling by human rights lawyers as it brought democracy and human rights to the benighted region.

<snip>

Horton says that career military officers at the Pentagon were "greatly upset" by what they regarded as the deliberate destruction of traditions and methods that have long protected soldiers as well as civilians. Those officers, and others who may have evidence to offer, are obviously reluctant to step forward and speak because they fear reprisal from the Pentagon and the White House. They have been instructed not to talk to anyone about these issues. It is to be hoped that in the investigations to come -- whether or not Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld and Undersecretary Feith keep their jobs -- those conscientious officers will be able to tell what they know about the decisions that led to this national disaster.


<snip>

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/05/07/rights/index.html

They're going down. The entire house of cards is CRASHING down.

[Imalittleteapot]

3. Rummy didn't know? Mr. Bush didn't know? HA

They never talk to Feith? They just can't stop telling lies and I agree, they're going down.

[Tinoire]

5. It's kind of amusing watching them lie

because the stuff is coming out faster than they ca coordinate their lies & get on the same sheet of music. A bunch of crooks busted in action.

General Pace, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted the President knew.



General Pace Interview with Hannah Storm, CBS "Early Show"

<snip>

STORM: General, this report which detailed these abuses was completed at the beginning of March. Why didn’t the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Myers, see this report? And why wasn’t the president made aware of what was going on?

PACE: Well, two different parts need to be understood. One is the reporting up the chain of command, which was done immediately. On the 13th of January, the allegations by the soldier inside the unit were reported to his Army chain of command. On the 14th of January, the Criminal Investigative Division team was sent to do the investigation. The phone calls were made up the chain of command. I know I knew about it within hours of the 14th of January. And everyone was kept apprised orally of the ongoing investigation.

The major general completed the investigation. And what happens with the paperwork itself is that each commander in the chain looks at the work, reads it in detail, does his analysis of what he or she should be doing with it, makes their decisions, and then sends it up the chain. So the fact that the paperwork did not get to Washington DC did not mean that the information did not. In fact, it did.

STORM: So you’re saying that General Richard Myers was well aware of the situation and that the president was well aware of the situation as well?

PACE: Yes.

<snip>

http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040505-1427.html

[Shadder]

12. Confirmed

Don't have the link in front of me but I did read somewhere that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush are informed of the allegations in general terms on 14 January. I've added this into the timeline

[Tinoire]

13. Hey

:hi: Good to see you. Check out the story in post 11. It's not very helpful for your timeline but good info nonetheless.

Quote from one of those soldiers:

"I have an obligation to the Army, and I have an obligation to follow my orders," one of the soldiers said. "I also have an obligation to be a decent person and do what's right and to do what I can to get the truth out."

Dear US soldier who said that,

Thank you. :loveya:

[Shadder]

15. Thanks

So much stuff coming out so fast that it's getting hard to keep the timeline updated. But I'm still plugging away with it.

[Karenina]

8. The Danish Defense Minister resigned

COPENHAGEN -- Denmark's coalition government has come under sharp attack from opposition parties and the media over allegations that political leaders exaggerated or misused intelligence claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify joining the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year.

The controversy, which has forced the resignation of the defense minister, echoes similar ones in Washington and London. It began when a Danish military intelligence analyst leaked classified documents that appeared to show that the country's intelligence agency had doubts about Iraq's military power.

Slam Rummy onto the ropes and he may decide he's not going down alone. I can dream, can't I?

[Tinoire]

9. Hi Karenina! Do you have a link?

This is what I'm looking for at the very least MASS RESIGNATIONS & not just for what happened on their watch but what they DID on their watch.

[Karenina]

14. WaPo

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11393-2004May8.html

[Darranar]

2. So much for...

this being "unintended"...

They knew. And they didn't care. Or even worse, they brought it about.

[doni_georgia]

4. Let's keep this kicked! n/t

[Junkdrawer]

6. Maybe this is why they're going to try these people "In Theater"...

I mean, how would it look if Lynndie England pulls out her training manual?

[Junkdrawer]

16. Kick

:kick:

[jonnyblitz]

7. good stuff tinoire!

as usual! :hi:

[Tinoire]

11. Thanks / here's another. Soldiers spilling their guts. A "Made-Up" List

:hi:

A made up list, cow-boy techniques, civilians telling soldiers that they don't report to them and can do what they like.

ARGGGHHH!

Soldiers' warnings ignored

Failures: The blame for what happened at Abu Ghraib goes far beyond the military police, intelligence soldiers say.

By Todd Richissin
Sun Foreign Staff
Originally published May 9, 2004

WIESBADEN, Germany - The two military intelligence soldiers, assigned interrogation duties at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, were young, relatively new to the Army and had only one day of training on how to pry information from high-value prisoners.

<snip>

They said in interviews Friday and yesterday that the abuses were not caused by a handful of rogue soldiers poorly supervised and lacking morals but resulted from failures that went beyond the low-ranking military police charged with abuse.

The beatings, the two soldiers said, were meted out with the full knowledge of intelligence interrogators, who let military police know which prisoners were cooperating with them and which were not.

<snip>

"There was like a big disconnect at every level," said the other. "Guys were given jobs they had never done, contractors acting like they're in the movies. The whole operation was like a chicken with its head cut off."

The soldiers spoke on the condition that they not be identified because of concern that their military careers would be ruined, and because their unit was given a written directive not to speak to the press.

<snip>

"Everybody knew what was going on, but when we complained, we were ignored," said one of the soldiers. "We knew some were getting some blame, but what we were complaining about went way beyond them."

<snip>

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-te.guard09may09,0,2180279.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Junkdrawer]

17. Kick

:kick: