The techniques used at different facilities in different countries were remarkably similar. Jamail writes:
When I interviewed Ali Abbas in Iraq, his descriptions from Abu Ghraib bore a remarkable similarity to those given by detainees released from the American prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and from the little noticed American mini-gulag in Afghanistan.
"They sh*t on us, used dogs against us, used electricity and starved us," he told me. "They cut my hair into strips like an Indian. They shaved my mustache, put a plate in my hand, and made me go beg from the prisoners, as if I was a beggar."
Lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York in a statement on the detention experiences of three men they represent who were held in both Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay reveal, for example, similarly over-the-top treatment. And such treatment long preceded anything recorded at Abu Ghraib. Starvation rations were common and, in Sherbegan Prison in Afghanistan in December, 2001, one of the detainees, Shafiq Rasul, described the situation as follows:
"We all had body and hair lice. We got dysentery and the toilets were disgusting. It was just a hole in the ground with sh*t everywhere. The whole prison stank of shit and unwashed bodies."
He would not be allowed to wash for at least six weeks. He would be transferred to a U.S. base in Kandahar and endure a "forced cavity search" while he was hooded, then go on to suffer countless beatings. When he was later transferred to Guantanamo Bay, he would witness the "Guantanamo haircut" where men would either have their heads shaved completely or have a cross shaved into their head in order to insult their faith. Denial of medical care and long stays in solitary confinement, along with sleep deprivation tactics, were the norm.
Jamail also reports on statements by former Brigadier Janis Karpinski (who believes the torture was authorized by Rumsfeld) and Criag Murray, British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004. Murray publicized information on CIA extraordinary renditions to Uzbekistan and the torture the detainees were subjected to by the Uzbek Secret Service, for which he was fired.
Murray describes the close connection between Bush and Uzbek "strong man" Islam Karimov. They go way back to Bush's days as Governor. Rumsfeld is close with Karimov as well and Karimov was Bush's guest at the White House in 2004. Jamail says Murray and many others describe Karimov as "one of the most vicious dictators on the planet, a man personally responsible for the death of thousands."
The ambassador helped uncover evidence of one detainee who "had had his fingernails extracted, he had been severely beaten, particularly about the face, and he died of immersion in boiling liquid. And it was immersion, rather than splashing, because there is a clear tide mark around the upper torso and arms, which gives you some idea of the level of brutality of this regime."
That detainee may or may not have been one turned over to the Uzbeks by the CIA. But, Murray says:
"There is no doubt that George Bush and Condoleezza Rice have been lying through their teeth about extraordinary rendition for some time." As he put it, "The United States, as a matter of policy, is willing to accept intelligence got by torture by foreign agencies. I can give direct firsthand evidence of that and back it up with documents."
Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, testifed at an Inquiry on Torture (as did Karpinski.) Ratner said,
"Let there be no doubt this administration is engaged in massive violations of the law. Torture is an international crime. What [George Bush] has done is basically lay the plan for what has to be called a coup-d'état in America. [His Presidential Signing Statement attached to the McCain anti-torture amendment] makes three points... First, speaking as the President, my authority as commander in chief allows me to do whatever I think is necessary in the war on terror including use torture. Second, the Commander in Chief cannot be checked by Congress. Third, the Commander in Chief cannot be checked by the courts. In other words... George Bush is the law."
More on the embedding of torture into CIA and Bush Administration policy can be found in Alfred McCoy's new book, A Question of Torture:
"Since the start of the war on terror, the intelligence community, led by the CIA, has revived the use of torture, making it Washington's weapon of choice," writes Alfred McCoy in his new book, A Question of Torture.
Remember this photo? McCoy says:
"In that photograph you can see the entire 50-year history of CIA torture," McCoy told Amy Goodman in a Democracy Now! interview. "It's very simple. He's hooded for sensory disorientation, and his arms are extended for self-inflicted pain. And those are the two very simple fundamental techniques" that, as his book makes vividly clear, the CIA pioneered in breakthrough research on torture, funded to the tune of billions of dollars in the 1950s. In his book, he adds: "The photographs from Iraq illustrate standard interrogation practice inside the global gulag of secret CIA prisons that have operated, on executive authority, since the start of the war on terror."
McCoy, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also explains his theory in this 2004 San Francisco Chronicle op-ed and in the somewhat longer article, The CIA's Road to Abu Ghraib. Also check out How Not to Ban Torture in Congress.
Bottom line according to Karpinski, McCoy, Murray, Ratner and others in a position to know: Torture is not only acceptable but engrained policy that has been authorized at the highest levels of our Government.
