News FBI details Guantanamo conditions

[Rach3]

Some new ones here.

FBI details possible detainee abuse

WASHINGTON - FBI agents documented more than two dozen incidents of possible mistreatment at the Guantanamo Bay military base, including one detainee whose head was wrapped in duct tape for chanting the Quran and another who pulled out his hair after hours in a sweltering room.

...The reports describe a female guard who detainees said handled their genitals and wiped menstrual blood on their face. Another interrogator reportedly bragged to an FBI agent about dressing as a Catholic priest and "baptizing" a prisoner.

Some military officials and contractors told FBI agents that the interrogation techniques had been approved by the Defense Department, including directly by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The documents were released in response to a public records request by the
American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing Rumsfeld and others on behalf of former military detainees who say they were abused. Many of the incidents in the FBI documents have already been reported and are summarized in the ACLU's lawsuit.

...The records were gathered as part of an internal FBI survey in 2004 and are not part of a criminal investigation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/detainee_abuse

 

[ptabor]

That's... pretty freaking awful.

I fail to see what ends could be served by these means... torture that will lead to information that would save the lives of our citizens is one thing, but torture for its own sake is quite another.

I can halfway understand the reasoning for the former, although the latter eludes me.

What do you think are the odds that old rummy will face charges over condoning such base actions?

 

[Garth]

That's... pretty freaking awful.

I fail to see what ends could be served by these means... torture that will lead to information that would save the lives of our citizens is one thing, but torture for its own sake is quite another.

Torture leads to false information, given either to simply stop the abuse or to deliberately mis-inform.

Garth

 

[devil-fire]

its not always false information, but with torture, you have to investigate the valid from the false information quite a lot. there is also the moral low standing that people who use torture are recognized for and this prevents other means from gaining human intelligence. it would be vary rare for KGB officers to be willing to operate as a double agent during the cold war if they knew they were only working for the lesser of two evils instead of 'the good guys'.

in this war where its so important to be considered the side of the moral (the one the moderates won't want to be attacked), torture is really working against us in the long run for some small, Vary short term gains.