Posted on 12/25/2002 10:39:28 PM PST by Cinnamon Girl
WASHINGTON - CIA interrogators have been using "stress and duress" techniques on captured enemies in Afghanistan that blur the line between legal and inhumane, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The Post described a cluster of metal shipping containers it said constituted a secret CIA interrogation center at Bagram Air Base, headquarters of U.S. forces hunting al Qaeda operatives and commanders of the ousted Taliban militia.
Captives who refused to cooperate were sometimes kept standing or kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles, the Post said, citing intelligence specialists said to be familiar with CIA interrogation methods.
At times they were held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights - subject to what are known as "stress and duress" techniques, the report said.
Those who cooperated were rewarded with "creature comforts" as well as feigned friendship, respect, cultural sensitivity and, in some cases, money, from their interrogators, it said.
On the other hand, some who did not cooperate were turned over - "rendered," in official parlance - to foreign intelligence services whose practice of torture has been documented by the U.S. government and human rights organizations, the Post said.
"In the multifaceted global war on terrorism waged by the Bush administration, one of the most opaque - yet vital - fronts is the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects," the paper said.
U.S. officials have said little publicly about the captives' names, numbers or whereabouts, and virtually nothing about interrogation methods.
But the Post said it had gained insights thanks to interviews with several former intelligence officials and 10 current U.S. national security officials - including several people who said they had witnessed the handling of prisoners.
"The picture that emerges is of a brass-knuckled quest for information, often in concert with allies of dubious human rights reputation, in which the traditional lines between right and wrong, legal and inhumane, are evolving and blurred," the Post reported.
The U.S. government publicly denounces the use of torture. But each of the current national security officials interviewed for the article defended the use of violence against captives as just and necessary, the Post said.
"They expressed confidence that the American public would back their view," it added. The CIA had no comment on the article, Mark Mansfield, a spokesman, said late on Wednesday night.
The off-limits patch of ground at Bagram was described by the Post as one of a number of secret detention centers overseas where U.S. due process does not apply, where the CIA undertakes or manages the interrogation of suspected terrorists. Another was reported to be Diego Garcia, a British-owned island in the Indian Ocean.
According to U.S. officials, nearly 3,000 suspected al Qaeda members and their supporters have been detained worldwide since Sept. 11, 2001. About 625 are at the U.S. military's confinement facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Some officials estimated that fewer than 100 captives had been rendered to third countries. Thousands had been arrested and held with U.S. assistance in countries known for brutal treatment of prisoners, the officials were quoted as saying.
HMMMMPH!!! Does ashcanistan honor/live under the US Constitution? ANNNND, if an American citizen goes 'visiting' a foreign country, doesn't that American have to abide by that country's laws/rules/etc? Sooooo, MAYBE 'our guys' are just observing the local customs/ways. (wah)
The Post described a cluster of metal shipping containers it said constituted a secret CIA interrogation center at Bagram Air Base, headquarters of U.S. forces hunting al Qaeda operatives and commanders of the ousted Taliban militia.
Maybe 'the com-post' is complaining because the interrogation center is SECRET. So here is what should be done to 'remedy' that....put the interrogation center in PLAIN view. Have it set up so that the 'non-talkers' are publicly rewarded with some nice, spiffy comforts/$$$/food/babes/etc. Then make a 'big show' of the 'talkers' being booted out unceremoniously. (of course, the CIA would be the ONLY ones privy to that set-up)
Personally, I'd much rather see the CIA taking all those metal shipping containers, cutting teeny little 'windows' in them, stacking them up as HIGH as they can, putting the 'suspects' inside and then have an RC drone with a fuel tank strapped to it, buzzing that 'container' tower.
Oh, CRY ME A RIVER Compost. Perhaps you hadn't noticed that we're fighting a war. What a buncha pansies and girly boys!!
Perhaps you've forgotten what President Bush said, "You're either with the terrorists or you're with us." I'm beginning to wonder about you.
Because, in this war, we aren't the ones who send suicide bombers to intentionally kill innocent civilians. In fact, we go out of our way to avoid it. Our enemy considers civilians as targets.
Are you suggesting that given atrocities from past wars we have no moral altitude, or that it scarcely matters what we do now? And I thought I was a cynic . . .
No, it's that you seemed to have a misplaced nostalgia for past conflicts.
What is your solution to the problem of preventing future horrible terrorist attacks? We have the people who know what's going to happen in our hands. What do you suggest we do to them in order to extract information on future plans from them? If we pull out some fingernails and get info that prevents another 9/11 (or worse), do you consider that to be immoral?
Quite aside from the article being discussed, the question is whether governments should torture non-military combatants (e.g., terrorists) who threaten to and do randomly murder that government's citizens.
Your premise is a false one.
When we become as aggressive in interogating them as they would us if the tables were turned I will be much happier.
see post #23
I guess if I wrote a piece of crap like this I wouldn't want my name on it either
If there is some way to get the terrorists to do it, I say let's give it a try
If at first you don't succeed, try try again.
The CIA has come a long way rather quickly. Its seems like just a few years ago they were making "diversity quilts". - tom
Boo frickin' hoo. Go preach to the terrorists about how mean they are and then you'll have the moral authority to preach to us. War is hell. I suppose its our fault that we were attacked?
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