CIA Inspector General's Report = WHITEWASH: Strangulation = "Pressure Points"

[kpete]

CIA OIG Whitewash: Strangulation= "Pressure Points"

Mon Aug 24, 2009 at 02:42:31 PM PDT

Today's release of the CIA Inspector General's report on the Bush Administration's "enhanced interrogation program" tells us that CIA personnel carried out mock executions and threatened detainees that their children would be killed and mothers sexually assaulted.

It also adds a bit more detail to the "poignancy" of waterboarding, which was applied in a manner inconsistent with approval by DOJ lawyers. But as a physician, one passage caught my eye, as I believe it clearly illustrates that this long sought "Holy Grail" criticism of the Bush Administration torture program was as much a whitewash as the DOJ legal opinions that came before and after it.

This post is not about waterboarding, about which not much new is found in the OIG report, rather it is about one passage on page 69-70 of the Report, Items 166-167.

Pressure Points

166. In July 2002, (redacted) operations officer, participated with another operations officer in a custodial interrogation of a detainee (redacted) reportedly used a "pressure point" technique: with both of his hands on the detainee's neck, (redacted) manipulated his fingers to restrict the detainee's carotid artery (sic).

167. (Redacted) who was facing the shackled detainee, reportedly watched his eyes to the point that the detainee would nod and start to pass out, then, the (redacted) shook the detainee to wake him. This process was repeated for a total of three applications on the detainee. The (redacted) acknowledged to OIG that he laid hands on the detainee and made him think he was going to lose consciousness. The (redacted) also noted that he has (redacted) years of experience debriefing and interviewing people and until recently had never been instructed how to conduct interrogations.

To call this technique utilizing a "pressure point" is a gross misrepresentation of what took place. It obfuscates the nature of the physiological process and hides the fact that this agent or contractor strangulated a detainee to unconciousness.

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/24/771577/-CIA-OIG-Whitewash:-StrangulationPressure-Points

[redqueen]

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[redqueen]

2. ...

:kick:

[Chemisse]

3. Holy crap - what evil have we spawned - nt