- The sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib
prison was not an invention of maverick guards, but part of a system of
ill-treatment and degradation used by special forces soldiers that is now
being disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors who do not know
what they are doing, according to British military sources.
-
- The techniques devised in the system, called R2I - resistance
to interrogation - match the crude exploitation and abuse of prisoners
at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.
-
- One former British special forces officer who returned
last week from Iraq, said: "It was clear from discussions with US
private contractors in Iraq that the prison guards were using R2I techniques,
but they didn't know what they were doing."
-
- He said British and US military intelligence soldiers
were trained in these techniques, which were taught at the joint services
interrogation centre in Ashford, Kent, now transferred to the former US
base at Chicksands.
-
- "There is a reservoir of knowledge about these interrogation
techniques which is retained by former special forces soldiers who are
being rehired as private contractors in Iraq. Contractors are bringing
in their old friends".
-
- Using sexual jibes and degradation, along with stripping
naked, is one of the methods taught on both sides of the Atlantic under
the slogan "prolong the shock of capture", he said.
-
- Female guards were used to taunt male prisoners sexually
and at British training sessions when female candidates were undergoing
resistance training they would be subject to lesbian jibes.
-
- "Most people just laugh that off during mock training
exercises, but the whole experience is horrible. Two of my colleagues couldn't
cope with the training at the time. One walked out saying 'I've had enough',
and the other had a breakdown. It's exceedingly disturbing," said
the former Special Boat Squadron officer, who asked that his identity be
withheld for security reasons.
-
- Many British and US special forces soldiers learn about
the degradation techniques because they are subjected to them to help them
resist if captured. They include soldiers from the SAS, SBS, most air pilots,
paratroopers and members of pathfinder platoons.
-
- A number of commercial firms which have been supplying
interrogators to the US army in Iraq boast of hiring former US special
forces soldiers, such as Navy Seals.
-
- "The crucial difference from Iraq is that frontline
soldiers who are made to experience R2I techniques themselves develop empathy.
They realise the suffering they are causing. But people who haven't undergone
this don't realise what they are doing to people. It's a shambles in Iraq".
-
- The British former officer said the dissemination of
R2I techniques inside Iraq was all the more dangerous because of the general
mood among American troops.
-
- "The feeling among US soldiers I've spoken to in
the last week is also that 'the gloves are off'. Many of them still think
they are dealing with people responsible for 9/11".
-
- When the interrogation techniques are used on British
soldiers for training purposes, they are subject to a strict 48-hour time
limit, and a supervisor and a psychologist are always present. It is recognised
that in inexperienced hands, prisoners can be plunged into psychosis.
-
- The spectrum of R2I techniques also includes keeping
prisoners naked most of the time. This is what the Abu Ghraib photographs
show, along with inmates being forced to crawl on a leash; forced to masturbate
in front of a female soldier; mimic oral sex with other male prisoners;
and form piles of naked, hooded men.
-
- The full battery of methods includes hooding, sleep deprivation,
time disorientation and depriving prisoners not only of dignity, but of
fundamental human needs, such as warmth, water and food.
-
- The US commander in charge of military jails in Iraq,
Major General Geoffrey Miller, has confirmed that a battery of 50-odd special
"coercive techniques" can be used against enemy detainees. The
general, who previously ran the prison camp at Guant·namo Bay, said
his main role was to extract as much intelligence as possible.
-
- Interrogation experts at Abu Ghraib prison were there
to help make the prison staff "more able to garner intelligence as
rapidly as possible".
-
- Sleep deprivation and stripping naked were techniques
that could now only be authorised at general officer level, he said.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1212197,00.html
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