Buried on page A11, of course, but still disturbing and contrary to everything we've been told previously by the administration and the military.
Fresh Details Emerge on Harsh Methods at Guantánamo
This article is a companion piece (by the same reporter) to this piece on the front page:
Justice Dept. Toughens Rule on Torture
Regardless of the government's justifications for torture techniques, the Guantanmo article makes clear the numbers just don't work out...
(more)
How many prisoners were subject to these torture techniques?
While all the detainees were threatened with harsh tactics if they did not cooperate, about one in six were eventually subjected to those procedures, one former interrogator estimated. The interrogator said that when new interrogators arrived they were told they had great flexibility in extracting information from detainees because the Geneva Conventions did not apply at the base.
Were there really that many true "suspects" at Guantanamo? Hey! Maybe we hit the motherlode of intelligence!
Not quite...
The officials who spoke about the detainees' treatment said, however, that very few of the other prisoners had much value. "So much of the questioning was about Afghanistan," one intelligence official said. "Most of it was dated. Information about facilitators and recruiters was useful only in style, not in facts."
Even the FBI wnated no part of these harsh techniques. (Much of this has been detailed in the FOI memos recently unearthed by the ACLU.)
The clearest indication that senior commanders at Guantánamo were aware of and supported what was occurring may be in some F.B.I. memorandums. One, dated May 10, 2003, and written by an unidentified agent, describes a sharp exchange between bureau officials and General Miller and Maj. Gen. Michael Dunlavey, who was in charge of the intelligence operations at Guantánamo then.
"Both sides agreed that the bureau has its way of doing things and the D.O.D. has their marching orders from SecDef," the memorandum said, using abbreviations for the Department of Defense and the secretary of defense. "Although the two techniques differed drastically, both generals believed they had a job to do."
Nevermind the forced enemas, the sexual taunts from female officers, the use of a prisoner's medical records to play with needed treatments...
Spreading democracy and freedom. A nation of laws. Justice for all.
And we're going to roll over and approve Alberto Gonzales?
I think I'm going to be sick... and it's not the result of a hangover.