Posted on 06/12/2005 11:26:34 PM PDT by ambrose
Guantanamo captive treated like dog
By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 13/06/2005)
An insight into the shocking, banal and often frustrating world of the interrogators at Guantanamo Bay emerged yesterday with the publication of the log of their treatment of a prominent detainee.
In what is the first detailed, official record of how America extracts information from terrorist suspects the document chronicles 50 days of questioning of Mohammed al-Qahtani, a diehard follower of Osama bin Laden.
Among its more eye-catching disclosures is the account of how al-Qahtani had water poured on his head and pop music blared into his cell to keep him awake during all-night sessions.
The log, stamped "Secret Orcon", the acronym for ultra-confidential documents, highlights a range of bizarre psychological approaches used to try to make "Detainee 063" crack.
On Dec 20, 2002, al-Qahtani was taught how to "stay, come and bark" to "elevate his social status up to that of a dog" after he was told that a dog was held in higher esteem because it knew right from wrong. The Pentagon played down the leaked document yesterday. It said "professionals" were carrying out the interrogations and were following a "very detailed plan". It had previously said that al-Qahtani's treatment was always "humane".
The log records that, following months without progress, the interrogators toughened their tactics in December 2002 after the Pentagon approved harsher techniques.
His questioning often started at midnight. When he dozed off, the hits of the pop star Christina Aguilera were piped into the interrogation chamber to wake him up. At 7am on Dec 4 he was put to bed for four hours after a 12-hour session.
On other occasions he was strip-searched, briefly made to stand nude, told to bark like a dog and growl at pictures of terrorists, and had pictures of scantily-clad women draped around his neck.
When he threatened to go on a hunger strike and refused to drink, interrogators poured water on his head in a "game" dubbed "Drink Water Or Wear It". Approval for the new tougher tactics was removed in early 2003.
The leak will fuel the debate in Washington over the future of Guantanamo Bay and the age-old dilemma of when the ends, in this case the need for intelligence on al-Qa'eda, justify the means. Yesterday Democratic and Republican politicians called for the base in Cuba to be closed down.
The 84-page document, extracts of which are published in today's edition of Time magazine, confirms many of the accounts of detainees who have been released from Guantanamo Bay. It also underlines the frustrations experienced by the Americans as they try and seemingly frequently fail to gain meaningful intelligence from the detainees. About 540 of them, including al-Qahtani, are still held on the base.
While the CIA and the Pentagon say the detainees have yielded priceless intelligence, United States diplomats counter that reports of abuse of prisoners have been a disaster for America's reputation.
Last week President George W Bush indicated for the first time that a debate was under way about what to do with the detainees.
Al-Qahtani is suspected of being the "missing 20th hijacker" from the September 11 attacks. He was captured in Afghanistan.
Lets take up a collection and ship some designer collars down there to help out the effort!
Seriously, can anyone imagine this kind of ignorant hue and cry over nazi or japanese prisoners?
Ship the frigging liberal whiners off to live in Pakistan and see how they enjoy modern Muslum culture.
I doubt the veracity of ANY of the 'documents' used to generate this article.
Now he knows how to 'fetch', 'shake' and 'roll over' and he also got that cool collar.
The best way to end war and ensure peace is to kill the enemy.
Treating him like a dog is too good. My dog lives the good life.
What is so shocking? Seriously, can someone tell me what's so terrible about the details about the treatment of Gitmo prisoners? I read the article yesterday that listed specific tactics used in an attempt to extract info from Gitmo inmates, and I didn't see anything so terrible. Am I missing something?
Those poor dogs. Now that's abuse. LOL!
"When he dozed off, the hits of the pop star Christina Aguilera were piped into the interrogation chamber to wake him up"
Sorry guys but thats one of the most perverse tortures I have ever heard of.
Tortured by Christina Aguilera! Phase two is Madonna on video.
We're no longer using these "tough" techniques. It's a 2+ year old story. Are these anti-Americans going to insist that we stop this "torture," and that Americans are bad because we "torture" prisoners?
Carolyn
There's no way one of these subhuman mass murderers should be treated as well as my neighbors and I treat our dogs. Dogs are decent, loyal, loving creatures, not the hideous things these monsters are.
BTTT
What's the problem? I like dogs and treat 'em well. This guy was scum-sucking terrorist. They should hanged him up by his thumbs...
Woof! Woof!
Seriously though, have you ever gone to a movie and sat there waiting for the plot to emerge, and you sit there for a couple of hours, still waiting, and the movie ends and you're still waiting for that plot to come together?
That's how I felt reading that Time article about torture and abuse at Gitmo. I read through the entire article looking for the promised instances of torture and abuse and found only that the prisoners are occasionally made uncomfortable for a short period of time in an attempt to extract valuable information.
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