US general authorized illegal methods: HR body on Iraqis’ interrogation
WASHINGTON, March 30: The former US military chief in Iraq authorized the use of dogs and other illegal techniques during interrogation, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Tuesday. In a memorandum, Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez authorized 29 methods of interrogation, including 12 that “far exceeded” US military regulations as well as the Geneva Convention covering prisoners of war, the ACLU said. The Sept 14, 2003, memo bearing Gen Sanchez’ signature approved using muzzled army dogs in a way that “exploits Arab fear of dogs”, and placing detainees in painful “stress positions”.
The memo also authorized techniques of isolation and sleep and food deprivation and sensory manipulation to break down prisoners.
“Gen Sanchez authorized interrogation techniques that were in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and the army’s own standards,” Amrit Singh, an ACLU lawyer, said in a statement. Amrit Singh called for Gen Sanchez and other high-ranking US officials to be held accountable.
Gen Sanchez stepped down from his job leading US forces in Iraq in July last year following revelations of torture in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison. The Sanchez memo’s existence had been known for some time, but it was only obtained by the ACLU from the Defence Department on Friday following multiple court-supported requests. The department had refused to release the memo on national security grounds.
Rejecting suggestions that the memo’s release was stalled to avoid embarrassment, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insisted Tuesday that the department maintains “full transparency,” mitigated only by the demands of national security. Mr Rumsfeld told reporters he could not say how national security had been harmed by releasing the documents.
“The lawyers go through all of that, and they make the decisions,” he said at a Pentagon press conference. He denied, however, that the Pentagon’s resistance was motivated by fear of embarrassment.
The Sanchez memo, which was sent to the commander of the US Central Command, lays out an “interrogation and counter-resistance policy” modelled after one conducted at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba but modified for use in a theatre of war where the Geneva Conventions apply.
The Sept 14 memo was superseded by another memo on October 12, 2003 that dropped a dozen of the techniques that Sanchez initially permitted. Among the 29 interrogation techniques the September memo allowed were seven that required Gen Sanchez’ personal approval before being used.
Earlier in March, the ACLU and Human Rights First filed a lawsuit asserting Mr Rumsfeld held direct responsibility for the torture and abuse of prisoners held by the United States in Iraq, Cuba, Afghanistan and elsewhere.—AFP
