thedrifter
07-22-04, 09:21 AM
Torture as an Interrogation Technique
By: Maj. Anthony F. Milavic, USMC (Ret.)
Over the past eight-ten months, the manner in which the American Armed Forces handle detainees has been called into question: the LTC West incident in August of last year, photographs from a place called Abu Ghraib, and reports of Afghans/Iraqis dying while in U.S. custody. Overarching these events, there has been an almost worldwide accusation that "Americans are torturing detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan!" In the arena of public opinion, all these have been called "torture" regardless of judicial definition. Recently, I had the pleasure of addressing the faculty and students of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the staff of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, OSD on torture as an interrogation technique. This presentation is intended to share with a still larger audience some of the observations made with those two groups.
The Third Geneva Convention, which covers prisoners of war, says in part, "no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion may be inflicted" to secure information and prisoners who refuse to answer, "may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind." The Fourth Geneva Convention, which covers persons held under foreign occupation, has less precise rules on interrogation but
still bans all "physical or moral coercion" to obtain information. The U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which covers ALL people under a states jurisdiction, attempts to define torture by stating in part: "the term 'torture' means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person . . .." This Convention also "distinguishes between torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture . . .." The United States Congress has ratified the two Geneva Conventions cited above, but has yet to ratify our commitment to the U.N. Convention. There was also some confusion as to who was a Prisoner of War in our war on terror; all that was put to rest with the following 7 Feb. 2002 directive from President Bush:
"Our values as a nation, values that we share with many nations in the world, call for us to treat detainees humanely, including those who are not legally entitled to such treatment. As a matter of policy, the U.S. armed forces shall continue to treat detainees humanely, and to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva."
In addition to being illegal, these acts are usually ineffective and frequently counter-productive. The Romans threatened the early Christians with crucifixion, being burned at the stake, or being thrown to the lions if they did not reject their new religion and embrace the many gods of Roman: Thousands chose death. Joan of Arc was tried before an ecclesiastical tribunal accused of witchcraft and heresy because she claimed to be guided by divine voices. She was told to admit that she heard no such voices or be burned at the stake: She was not dissuaded by death. William Wallace, of "Braveheart" popularity, was hanged, drawn and quartered because he refused to swear allegiance to "Longshank." The threat of certain and excruciating death was ineffective in dissuading these and their deaths had opposite effects: the slaughter of Christians contributed to the conversion of Rome; Joan of Arc is widely remembered today while few remember the name of the French king who caused her to be tried; and, the death of William Wallace invigorated the Scots to successively ejected the English from Scotland.
This is not to say that coercive techniques fail to influence or prompt action. Four days after the war started and two days after he was captured, an American lieutenant has heard broadcasting over Radio Seoul on behalf of his North Korean "liberators." He was followed by others making similar statements and even confessions of using "germ warfare" weapons against the North Koreans and their Chinese allies. It wasn't long before an American journalist stepped forward and explained what was happening to America's sons, husbands and fathers: "Americans are being Brainwashed in Korea." Although these men were not "tortured," they were coerced into saying what the Koreans/Chinese wanted them to say. Some, faced with disciplinary action upon returning to the United States, argued that they said those things because they knew that no one would believe them. During the Vietnam War, Americans were tortured into making confessions of using bacteriological weapons against the North Vietnamese and other acts considered to be criminal by the world community.
Since its advent, criminals have been exonerated by DNA science. Some of these convictions were even based on confessions to capital crimes such as rape and murder. How could an innocent man confess to such a crime? One plausible explanation is that they were coerced into making the confessions.
On 27 May 2004, The New York Times reported that on 30 August 2003, LTC Alvin B. West, an artillery battalion commander, detained an Iraqi police officer named Yehiya Kadoori Hamoodi because he believed the officer knew about threats on his life. The Interrogation of Hamoodi, that included hitting him and threatening his life, failed to produce the desired answers. West the forced the man's head into a container and fired his pistol next to his head. Hamoodi gave West the names of several men who were purportedly involved in an effort to kill him. One man was picked up and shortly thereafter released; none of the named men were determined to be involved in a plot to kill West and Hamoodi later stated that he gave those names because he feared for his life.
According to a 12 June 2004 Navy Times story, two Marines, during "motion hearings" held on 28 & 29 June 2004, faced charges in connection with the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, a 52-year-old Baath party member who was being held in a makeshift detention center outside Nasiriya. Reportedly, Hatab had been struck and kicked on 4 June 2003 and the following day was lethargic and had defecated on himself. On 6 June, he was found dead.
As these examples show, the use of torture/abusive techniques frequently fails to elicit the desired response, at times, produces a false response, and, can result in the death of a potential source of information: A dead source is no source of information!
Practitioners of torture have frequently been described as being antisocial, bullies or products of a culture of violence; this is not always the case.
In the summer of 1991, Stanford University conducted a psychology experiment in prison life. College students that had been screened for normalcy were broken down into two groups, one of prisoners and the other guards, and placed in a prison environment for a scheduled two weeks. The experiment "had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress." In other words, people given extraordinary power quickly turn sadistic.
On 1 June 2004, the Washington Post reported that: "On May 1, a U.S. Army investigator took the stand in a criminal proceeding in Baghdad against one of the seven military police soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. There was, he said, 'absolutely no evidence' that military intelligence officers or the military police chain of command had authorized the abuse to aid interrogations. 'These individuals were acting on their own,' said Army special agent Tyler Pieron, who investigated the case for the Criminal Investigation Division. 'The photos I saw, and the totality of our interviews, show that certain individuals were just having fun at the expense of the prisoners. Taking pictures of sexual positions, the assaults and things along that nature were done simply because they could. It all happened after hours.'"
A 14 July 2004 Denver Post editorial reported that in January 2004, members of the Army's 3rd Brigade Combat team detained two Iraqi civilians. After first telling the men they could go, the soldiers forced the pair to jump from a bridge into the Tigris River. One survived, the other didn't. The survivor told The Associated Press the soldiers laughed while the pair struggled for their lives in the river's strong current.
Lastly, MG Antonio Taguba, USA, was tasked with investigating reports of improprieties at detention facilities in Iraq. Conclusion #1 of his report entitled, "ARTICLE 15-6 INVESTIGATION OF THE 800th MILITARY POLICE BRIGADE," reads:
"Several US Army Soldiers have committed egregious acts and grave breaches of international law at Abu Ghraib/BCCF and Camp Bucca, Iraq. Furthermore, key senior leaders in both the 800th MP Brigade and the 205th MI Brigade failed to comply with established regulations, policies, and command directives in preventing detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib (BCCF) and at Camp Bucca during the period August 2003 to February 2004."
During his public testimony, MG Taguba said that these guards were untrained and unsupervised.
continued.......
By: Maj. Anthony F. Milavic, USMC (Ret.)
Over the past eight-ten months, the manner in which the American Armed Forces handle detainees has been called into question: the LTC West incident in August of last year, photographs from a place called Abu Ghraib, and reports of Afghans/Iraqis dying while in U.S. custody. Overarching these events, there has been an almost worldwide accusation that "Americans are torturing detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan!" In the arena of public opinion, all these have been called "torture" regardless of judicial definition. Recently, I had the pleasure of addressing the faculty and students of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the staff of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, OSD on torture as an interrogation technique. This presentation is intended to share with a still larger audience some of the observations made with those two groups.
The Third Geneva Convention, which covers prisoners of war, says in part, "no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion may be inflicted" to secure information and prisoners who refuse to answer, "may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind." The Fourth Geneva Convention, which covers persons held under foreign occupation, has less precise rules on interrogation but
still bans all "physical or moral coercion" to obtain information. The U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which covers ALL people under a states jurisdiction, attempts to define torture by stating in part: "the term 'torture' means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person . . .." This Convention also "distinguishes between torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture . . .." The United States Congress has ratified the two Geneva Conventions cited above, but has yet to ratify our commitment to the U.N. Convention. There was also some confusion as to who was a Prisoner of War in our war on terror; all that was put to rest with the following 7 Feb. 2002 directive from President Bush:
"Our values as a nation, values that we share with many nations in the world, call for us to treat detainees humanely, including those who are not legally entitled to such treatment. As a matter of policy, the U.S. armed forces shall continue to treat detainees humanely, and to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva."
In addition to being illegal, these acts are usually ineffective and frequently counter-productive. The Romans threatened the early Christians with crucifixion, being burned at the stake, or being thrown to the lions if they did not reject their new religion and embrace the many gods of Roman: Thousands chose death. Joan of Arc was tried before an ecclesiastical tribunal accused of witchcraft and heresy because she claimed to be guided by divine voices. She was told to admit that she heard no such voices or be burned at the stake: She was not dissuaded by death. William Wallace, of "Braveheart" popularity, was hanged, drawn and quartered because he refused to swear allegiance to "Longshank." The threat of certain and excruciating death was ineffective in dissuading these and their deaths had opposite effects: the slaughter of Christians contributed to the conversion of Rome; Joan of Arc is widely remembered today while few remember the name of the French king who caused her to be tried; and, the death of William Wallace invigorated the Scots to successively ejected the English from Scotland.
This is not to say that coercive techniques fail to influence or prompt action. Four days after the war started and two days after he was captured, an American lieutenant has heard broadcasting over Radio Seoul on behalf of his North Korean "liberators." He was followed by others making similar statements and even confessions of using "germ warfare" weapons against the North Koreans and their Chinese allies. It wasn't long before an American journalist stepped forward and explained what was happening to America's sons, husbands and fathers: "Americans are being Brainwashed in Korea." Although these men were not "tortured," they were coerced into saying what the Koreans/Chinese wanted them to say. Some, faced with disciplinary action upon returning to the United States, argued that they said those things because they knew that no one would believe them. During the Vietnam War, Americans were tortured into making confessions of using bacteriological weapons against the North Vietnamese and other acts considered to be criminal by the world community.
Since its advent, criminals have been exonerated by DNA science. Some of these convictions were even based on confessions to capital crimes such as rape and murder. How could an innocent man confess to such a crime? One plausible explanation is that they were coerced into making the confessions.
On 27 May 2004, The New York Times reported that on 30 August 2003, LTC Alvin B. West, an artillery battalion commander, detained an Iraqi police officer named Yehiya Kadoori Hamoodi because he believed the officer knew about threats on his life. The Interrogation of Hamoodi, that included hitting him and threatening his life, failed to produce the desired answers. West the forced the man's head into a container and fired his pistol next to his head. Hamoodi gave West the names of several men who were purportedly involved in an effort to kill him. One man was picked up and shortly thereafter released; none of the named men were determined to be involved in a plot to kill West and Hamoodi later stated that he gave those names because he feared for his life.
According to a 12 June 2004 Navy Times story, two Marines, during "motion hearings" held on 28 & 29 June 2004, faced charges in connection with the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, a 52-year-old Baath party member who was being held in a makeshift detention center outside Nasiriya. Reportedly, Hatab had been struck and kicked on 4 June 2003 and the following day was lethargic and had defecated on himself. On 6 June, he was found dead.
As these examples show, the use of torture/abusive techniques frequently fails to elicit the desired response, at times, produces a false response, and, can result in the death of a potential source of information: A dead source is no source of information!
Practitioners of torture have frequently been described as being antisocial, bullies or products of a culture of violence; this is not always the case.
In the summer of 1991, Stanford University conducted a psychology experiment in prison life. College students that had been screened for normalcy were broken down into two groups, one of prisoners and the other guards, and placed in a prison environment for a scheduled two weeks. The experiment "had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress." In other words, people given extraordinary power quickly turn sadistic.
On 1 June 2004, the Washington Post reported that: "On May 1, a U.S. Army investigator took the stand in a criminal proceeding in Baghdad against one of the seven military police soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. There was, he said, 'absolutely no evidence' that military intelligence officers or the military police chain of command had authorized the abuse to aid interrogations. 'These individuals were acting on their own,' said Army special agent Tyler Pieron, who investigated the case for the Criminal Investigation Division. 'The photos I saw, and the totality of our interviews, show that certain individuals were just having fun at the expense of the prisoners. Taking pictures of sexual positions, the assaults and things along that nature were done simply because they could. It all happened after hours.'"
A 14 July 2004 Denver Post editorial reported that in January 2004, members of the Army's 3rd Brigade Combat team detained two Iraqi civilians. After first telling the men they could go, the soldiers forced the pair to jump from a bridge into the Tigris River. One survived, the other didn't. The survivor told The Associated Press the soldiers laughed while the pair struggled for their lives in the river's strong current.
Lastly, MG Antonio Taguba, USA, was tasked with investigating reports of improprieties at detention facilities in Iraq. Conclusion #1 of his report entitled, "ARTICLE 15-6 INVESTIGATION OF THE 800th MILITARY POLICE BRIGADE," reads:
"Several US Army Soldiers have committed egregious acts and grave breaches of international law at Abu Ghraib/BCCF and Camp Bucca, Iraq. Furthermore, key senior leaders in both the 800th MP Brigade and the 205th MI Brigade failed to comply with established regulations, policies, and command directives in preventing detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib (BCCF) and at Camp Bucca during the period August 2003 to February 2004."
During his public testimony, MG Taguba said that these guards were untrained and unsupervised.
continued.......