Details emerged yesterday about the seven interrogation techniques the CIA is seeking to be allowed to apply to terror suspects. Newsweek magazine reported that a New York lawyer, Scott Horton, who has acted as an adviser to the US senate on interrogation methods, had acquired a list of the techniques. The details were corroborated by information obtained by the charity Human Rights Watch.
The techniques sought by the CIA are: induced hypothermia; forcing suspects to stand for prolonged periods; sleep deprivation; a technique called "the attention grab" where a suspect's shirt is forcefully seized; the "attention slap" or open hand slapping that hurts but does not lead to physical damage; the "belly slap"; and sound and light manipulation.
How does any of that mesh with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions? Not that well, obviously, and that's why Bush is trying to rewrite the treaty. These are, of course, some of the very torture techniques decried since it was revealed that they were being used at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib. While Bush keeps lying to the world when he says 'the US does not torture' or that torture is the fault of 'a few bad apples', continually denying that torture by the CIA and the US military is obviously institutionally mandated, more information is leaking out that contradicts his administration's lies.
Americans deserve to know what is being done in their name. Let's hope more whistleblowers come forward.
Note: In case you missed it, Frontline's documentary 'The Torture Question' is available for free, online viewing.
Democracy Now! has a 2005 interview with Scott Horton about the issue of torture.
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