The AP just released a story detailing treatment at Gitmo which the FBI had been investigating. The FBI's report concluded that there had been multiple violations of the Geneva Convention by personnel at Gitmo and that Army regulations had been violated. I found the report on AOL's news service, so I'm posting that link here.
Reprimand of Guantanamo Chief First Urged, Then Nixed
By LOLITA BALDOR and JOHN J. LUMPKIN, AP
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050712185809990001
Will try to find an additional posting that doesn't require AOL access. Summary follows below the fold... (there's so much more)
WASHINGTON (July 12) - A military investigation into FBI reports of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, recommended that the base's former commander be reprimanded, but a top general rejected the recommendation, according to a congressional aide familiar with the probe's findings.
Investigators recommended that Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller be reprimanded for failing to oversee the interrogation of a high-value detainee, which was found to have been abusive, said the aide.
But Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, commander of U.S. Southern Command, instead referred the matter to the Army's inspector general, said the aide said, who described the still unreleased report on the condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon has known about this investigation and its conclusions and the actions of higher ups for some time, and presumably the White House. Yes, this is the same Maj. Gen. Miller who was responsible for interrogation policies and detention facility policies first in Afghanistan, then at Gitmo, and o to Iraq. This is the same Maj. Gen. Miller whose techniques were promoted to "Gitmo-ize" Iraqi prisons once we invaded. This is the man whose policies most likely led to bad behavior at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. So many instances that I won't detail them all here, since they have been previously covered here on dKos in incredibly thorough diaries, but for the unfamiliar this is one of the military examples of promotion despite bad acts.
The investigation also found that interrogators violated the Geneva Convention and Army regulations three times at the base, the aide said.
This is where the article began to detail specifics from the report. It is chilling, but something we already know a lot about from prior leaks. The most chilling aspect for me is that there is such detail in the report according to the AP's story, and that the Pentagon brass deliberately whitewashed the conduct to avoid reprimanding one of Rumsfeld's favorites. Shameful.
FBI agents at Guantanamo alleged that interrogators placed lit cigarettes in prisoners' ears and shackled them into a fetal positions for hours, forcing them to soil themselves.
Lovely. Apparently the writers of this particular report are set to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. This was the most chilling part for me -- I've redacted the article so as not to violate copyright, so there are many more instances reported than what I have here. Just wanted to share some of them to give you an idea of the testimony for today, in case it is broadcast.
According to the congressional aide and another U.S. official, the report found:...
- Interrogators also threatened one high-value prisoner by saying they would go after his family. This was in violation of U.S. military law, the investigation found.
- Military interrogators impersonated FBI and State Department agents to prisoners. This practice was stopped after the FBI complained.
- Interrogators improperly used duct tape on a detainee. An FBI agent said a prisoner was bound on the head with duct tape, his mouth covered, because he was chanting verse from the Quran.
- Chaining a detainee to the floor in a fetal position was not authorized; however, the investigation could not confirm an FBI agent's allegation that detainees were left in this positions for long periods to soil themselves.
Will try to find a more widely available source for this article. Sorry about the lack of quote boxes -- I don't do many diaries, but thought this was an issue that needed to be out there immediately.
UPDATE: Changed title to reflect Gen. Miller, and not Judith Miller, to avoid confusion, and clarified this within my text in a couple of places as well. Also updated to add cool block quotes -- THANKS for the hints on how to do those!