Snicker:
US acknowledges torture at Guantanamo; in Iraq, Afghanistan - UN
forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/06/24/afx2110388.html
Same incident, different source:
political-news.org/breaking/12501/us-acknowledges-torture-at-guantanamo-and-iraq-afghanistan-un-source.html
From there:
“They haven’t avoided anything in their answers, whether concerning prisoners in
Iraq, in
Afghanistan or Guantanamo, and other accusations of mistreatment and of torture,” the Committee member said. “They said it was a question of isolated cases, that there was
nothing systematic and that the guilty were in the process of being punished.”
The US report said that those involved were low-ranking members of the military and that their acts were not approved by their superiors, the member added.
I don’t think anyone would deny that such cases happen but I do not believe for a minute they are sanctioned and neither does the UN.
The definition you gave for torture is below.
Torture is the infliction of severe physical or psychological pain as an expression of cruelty, a means of intimidation, deterent or punishment, or as a tool for the extraction of information or confessions. Sometimes torture is practiced even when it appears to have little or no functional purpose beyond the gratification of the torturer or because it has become the norm within the context.
It isn’t bad but still reasonable people could disagree on what “severe” means. We would obviously agree on some things being outright torture as well as some things just being uncomfortable. As always, its the “gray area” that comes into play.
However, here is my somewhat educated view on what happens in GITMO. I have never been there but one of my Sailors was sent there TAD for six months to work with the prisoners and I myself have had ample training in being a prisoner of war include extended “field work”.
Do I believe the prisoners are subjected to things to make them uncomfortable? Absolutely. We have all heard about the loud music, temperature extremes, sleep deprivation and such. Not torture by any means but an attempt to throw off the individual psychologically and give the captors the advantage. I will tell you such tactics are effective even if you know they are coming but do not harm you as there is only a limited window of opportunity to exploit them.
Use of outright torture though is not an effective means of gathering information. Can it be used to coerce people into making statements or taking certain actions for propagande purposes? Yes. But it has been proven to be ineffective at gaining useful intelligence as the victim will say anything to make it stop. This point was hammered home multiple times by my instructors (who were DOD interrogators). Instead, there are other more subtle ways of getting people to open up. The most effective German interrogator of WWII used nothing but “friendship” and good treatment to get information. That is a fact.
Those assigned to GITMO cannot all be perfect and given the ground rules there it can be difficult to maintain your composure. My Sailor told me that she personally had blood, urine, feces, mucus and semen all thrown at her by the prisoners at different times. Even knowing that you are not supposed to lash out against someone because you are in a position of authority honestly ask yourself what your reaction would be if someone threw semen on you? It’s human nature, you would want to clean his clock.
