Is the BushAdministrationrunning an AbuGhraib in SouthCarolina?
Undisclosed Pentagon Report Cited Further Detention ConcernsBy Cliff Montgomery – Jan. 5th, 2007According to the summary of a previously undisclosed 2004 Pentagon report obtained by The Washington Post, at least three terrorism suspects held at a brig in Charleston, South Carolina were subjected to months of isolation, and warned that such “unique” solitary confinement could be viewed as violating U.S. detention standards.The report records that interrogators attempted to deprive one detainee, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari citizen and former student in Peoria, Ill., of sleep and religious comfort by taking away his Koran, warm food, mattresses and pillow as part of an interrogation plan approved by the high-level Joint Forces Command.Interrogators also prevented the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting at least one detainee, according to the report, and further noted evidence of other unspecified, unauthorized interrogation techniques.The Red Cross has previously exposed possible Bush Administration excesses in its detention of terrorist suspects. On May 7, 2004, The Wall Street Journal published excerpts of a separate confidential report by the ICRC on detentions in Iraq, concluding that abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military intelligence personnel was widespread there, and in some cases “tantamount to torture.”Details found in the report obtained by The Washington Post concerning conditions at the S.C. Navy brig in 2004 could prove fateful to two of the “enemy combatant” detainees who spent years in the prison: Marri, the only one of the three who remains there and who may face a special military trial, and Jose Padilla, a Brooklyn-born U.S. citizen now facing criminal charges in Miami.Marri remains at the brig awaiting an appeals court decision on whether he will be tried in a U.S. court or by a military commission, as the government requested in November 2006. In 2005, Marri sued the government over the conditions of his confinement, alleging that for 16 months from 2003 to 2004, he had been barred from contact with anyone but guards delivering food, causing his mental state to deteriorate.Attorneys for Padilla have argued in recent court filings that any abusive interrogation methods used on their client may mean that his statements to interrogators were coerced and, therefore, inadmissible in his trial. The attorneys claim Padilla spent 1,307 days in a 9-by-7-foot cell in an isolated unit, was regularly chained to the ground for hours by his wrists and torso, and was also kept awake at night by guards using bright lights and loud noises.The summary confirms the Joint Forces Command had approved that “one detainee in Charleston has Koran, mattress, and pillow removed and is fed cold MRES as part of interrogation plan.”The report also noted concerns about isolation: “Limited number and unique status of detainees in Charleston precludes interaction with other detainees. Argument could be made that this constitutes isolation.”Extended solitary confinement is often considered a form of inhumane treatment. In 2003, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld allowed the use of isolation as an interrogation tactic, but he cautioned that its use required detailed plans and approvals from superiors regarding its intended length of time. His memo further warned that isolation of detainees for more than 30 days was atypical, and that nations that consider detainees subject to prisoner-of-war protections may view this technique as “inconsistent with the requirements of Geneva [Article] III.””What you’re describing confirms what we said in our complaint,” Jonathan Hafetz of the Brennan Center for Justice and an attorney for Marri told the Washington Post, when asked to review the summary findings.”There were periods of time when al-Marri felt he was losing his mind. He went months without hearing a human voice…And these weren’t rogue officers, but it was part of a deliberate violation of the laws of the U.S. by the top levels of the administration,” Hafetz added.The report, prepared by the Navy‘s inspector general, was presented to Rumsfeld in May 2004 and was declassified in 2005. It was the first to raise the question of mistreatment of detainees held inside the United States.A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, claimed to the Post that multiple reviews of detention operations have not found policies which condoned abuse, and have led to more consistent policies to prevent such happenings.”The reviews have resulted in numerous recommendations which have been implemented and have improved our detention operations,” he said. “The Department of Defense policy is clear: We treat detainees humanely.”Yet as the examples of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay indicate, such words are often wishful thinking. The same claims were made in these previous cases, too; yet in each the facts speak for themselves. They stand as examples of torture and inhumane treatment to all–except those who insist on believing otherwise.
