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U.S. Military Bars Some Iraq Interrogation Methods
The U.S. military, embroiled in a scandal over the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail, has prohibited several interrogation methods from being used in Iraq, including sleep and sensory deprivation and body "stress positions," defense officials said on Friday. The officials said these techniques previously required high-level approval from the U.S. military leadership in Iraq, but now will be banned completely. They said the decision was made on Thursday by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, on the same day Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with him on a surprise trip to the country and visited Abu Ghraib on the outskirts of Baghdad.A senior Central Command official said the U.S. military leadership in Iraq never actually approved a request from prison personnel to use any of the techniques that now are forbidden, although these methods had been listed as among those for which approval could be requested. Officials refused to say the methods were barred because they were onerous or violated the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of prisoners of war. The interrogation methods that Sanchez has prohibited were among a list of techniques U.S. military jailers holding thousands of prisoners were permitted to use if they gained the approval of the top American military leadership in Iraq, the officials said. From that list, Sanchez decided to continue to allow jailers to seek the option of isolating a prisoner for more than 30 days, officials said. All the other items on the list -- none of which Sanchez ever approved for use -- have been prohibited, the officials said, including sleep and sensory deprivation, "dietary manipulation," forcing a prisoner to assume body "stress positions" for longer than 45 minutes, and threatening him with guard dogs... So what is "allowed" when interrogating POWâs? What bunk. Expect more body bags as a result of this PC posturing. Iraqi unlawful insurgents are not covered by the 1977 Protocol I that beefed up Geneva Convention III because the USA and Iraq never ratified the Protocol. Ronald Reagan refused to ratify Protocol I. Hereâs a good 10/23/03 article written by Bruce Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down on POW interrogation techniques used for years and years. "The Dark Art of Interrogation" Posted by: rex 2004-05-15 |
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