Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: Harsh Techniques Appear to Have Continued Even After Abu Ghraib Scandal

 
 
Special Ops Task Force Threatened Government Agents Who Saw Detainee
Abuse in Iraq, Documents Obtained by ACLU Reveal 
 
December 7, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: 
me...@aclu.org
 
Iraqi Detainees Had Burn Marks and Bruises; Harsh Techniques Appear to
Have Continued Even After Abu Ghraib Scandal 
NEW YORK - Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties
Union reveal that a special operations task force in Iraq sought to
silence Defense Intelligence Agency personnel who observed abusive
interrogations and that the Department of Defense adopted questionable
interrogation techniques at Guantanamo over FBI objections. 
"The more the government is forced to reveal, the more we learn that
individuals in U.S. custody, many of whom have not been accused of
wrongdoing, were tortured and abused," said ACLU Executive Director
Anthony D. Romero. "These documents tell a damning story of sanctioned
government abuse -- a story that the government has tried to hide and
may well come back to haunt our own troops captured in Iraq." 
The release of these documents follows a federal court order that
directed the Defense Department and other government agencies to
comply with a year-old request under the Freedom of Information Act
filed by the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians
for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace.
The New York Civil Liberties Union is co-counsel in the case. 
The documents the ACLU released today, posted online at
www.aclu.org/torturefoia
, include: 
A June 25, 2004 memo from Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, Defense
Intelligence Agency chief, entitled "alleged detainee abuse by TF
62-6," describing how DIA personnel who complained about abuses were
threatened, had their car keys confiscated and e-mails monitored, and
were ordered "not to talk to anyone in the U.S." or leave the base
"even to get a haircut." 
The June 25 memo also describes how the task force’s officers punched
a prisoner in the face "to the point he needed medical attention,"
failed to record the medical treatment, and confiscated DIA photos of
the injuries. The date of the incident is unclear. 
FBI emails showing a rift between the Department of Defense and the
FBI on the use of harsh interrogation techniques on detainees. One
email notes that Major General Miller "continued to support
interrogation strategies [the FBI] not only advised against, but
questioned in terms of effectiveness." Another e-mail to Thomas
Harrington, an FBI counterterrorism expert who led a team of
investigators to Guantanamo, records "somewhat heated" conversations
with Pentagon officials in which they admitted that DOD’s harsh
interrogation methods did not yield any information not obtained by
the FBI. A December 2003 e-mail notes that the FBI’s Military Liaison
and Detainee Unit (MLDU), which "had a long standing and documented
position against use of some of DOD’s interrogation practices," had
requested certain information "be documented to protect the FBI." 
Notes describing 15 interviews of FBI personnel who were at Abu Ghraib
prison between Oct.-Dec. 2003, some of whom observed nudity, sleep
deprivation and humiliation of detainees. A summary of these
interviews was previously released. 
E-mail from an FBI Behavioral Analysis Advisor who observed
"aggressive" and "extreme interrogation practices" at GTMO,  noting
that he and his colleagues had summarized these observations in
communications between October and May of 2002. 
These and other documents were released by the ACLU one day after the
Associated Press reported on a detailed letter from FBI
counter-terrorism expert Thomas Harrington to Maj. Gen. Donald J.
Ryder describing "highly aggressive" interrogations and mistreatment
of terror suspects at Guantanamo as far back as 2002. The AP also
reported on the Harrington e-mail indicating a rift between DOD and
the FBI over interrogation methods. 
"While these documents confirm the systemic nature of detainee abuse,
it appears that the government is still withholding many more
documents that shed light on which high-ranking officials are
responsible for that abuse," said ACLU attorney Amrit Singh. "The
public must know the full truth about the U.S. government’s
involvement in this scandal." 
The disclosures come in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and
other civil liberties and human rights organizations after the Defense
Department and other federal agencies failed to release records in
response to FOIA requests. The requests sought records concerning the
interrogation and treatment of detainees and the extrajudicial
"rendition" of detainees to countries known to use torture. 
Singh said the ACLU is continuing to press the government to disclose
more documents and will return to court if necessary to ensure that
every relevant document is released. 
The lawsuit is being handled by Lawrence Lustberg and Megan Lewis of
the New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger &
Vecchione, P.C. Other attorneys in the case are Singh, Jameel Jaffer,
and Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU; Art Eisenberg and Beth Haroules of
the NYCLU; and Barbara Olshansky and Jeff Fogel of CCR. 
 
 
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=17156&c=206

                  S'omine non si medit' a prammos
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