story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20050127/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_sex_vs_faith_7
Top Stories - AP By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detain ees at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearin g a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man's face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider's written accou nt.
web sites) review for a planned bo ok that details ways the US military used women as part of tougher phy sical and psychological interrogation tactics to get terror suspects to talk. It's the most revealing account so far of interrogations at the secretive detention camp, where officials say they have halted some controversial techniques. "I have really struggled with this because the detainees, their families and much of the world will think this is a religious war based on some o f the techniques used, even though it is not the case," the author, form er Army Sgt. Saar didn't provide the manuscript or approach AP, but confirmed the auth enticity of nine draft pages AP obtained. He requested his hometown rema in private so he wouldn't be harassed. Saar, who is neither Muslim nor o f Arab descent, worked as an Arabic translator at the US camp in easte rn Cuba from December 2002 to June 2003.
Saar said he witnessed about 20 interrogations and about three months aft er his arrival at the remote US base he started noticing "disturbing" practices. One female civilian contractor used a special outfit that included a mini skirt, thong underwear and a bra during late-night interrogations with p risoners, mostly Muslim men who consider it taboo to have close contact with women who aren't their wives. Beginning in April 2003, "there hung a short skirt and thong underwear on the hook on the back of the door" of one interrogation team's office, h e writes. "Later I learned that this outfit was used for interrogations by one of the female civilian contractors ... on a team which conducted interrogations in the middle of the night on Saudi men who were refusing to talk." Some Guantanamo prisoners who have been released say they were tormented by "prostitutes." In another case, Saar describes a female military interrogator questionin g an uncooperative 21-year-old Saudi detainee who allegedly had taken fl ying lessons in Arizona before the Sept. The female interrogator wanted to "break him," Saar adds, describing how she removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt and began taunting the detainee, touching her breasts, rubbing them against the pr isoner's back and commenting on his apparent erection. The detainee looked up and spat in her face, the manuscript recounts. The interrogator left the room to ask a Muslim linguist how she could bre ak the prisoner's reliance on God. The linguist told her to tell the det ainee that she was menstruating, touch him, then make sure to turn off t he water in his cell so he couldn't wash. Strict interpretation of Islamic law forbids physical contact with women other than a man's wife or family, and with any menstruating women, who are considered unclean. "The concept was to make the detainee feel that after talking to her he w as unclean and was unable to go before his God in prayer and gain streng th," says the draft, stamped "Secret." The interrogator used ink from a red pen to fool the detainee, Saar write s "She then started to place her hands in her pants as she walked behind th e detainee," he says. "As she circled around him he could see that she w as taking her hand out of her pants. When it became visible the detainee saw what appeared to be red blood on her hand. He shouted at the top of his lun gs, spat at her and lunged forward" so fiercely that he broke loose fr om one ankle shackle. "He began to cry like a baby," the draft says, noting the interrogator le ft saying, "Have a fun night in your cell without any water to clean you rself." Events Saar describes resemble two previous reports of abusive female int errogation tactics, although it wasn't possible to independently verify his account. In November, in response to an AP request, the military described an Apri l 2003 incident in which a female interrogator took off her uniform top, exposed her brown T-shirt, ran her fingers through a detainee's hair an d sat on his lap. That session was immediately ended by a supervisor and that interrogator received a written reprimand and additional training, the military said. In another incident, the military reported that in early 2003 a different female interrogator "wiped dye from red magic marker on detainees' shir t after detainee spit (cq) on her," telling the detainee it was blood.
web sites), which complained in a letter obtained by AP last month that US defense officials hadn't acted on complaints by FBI observers of "highly aggressive" interrogation techniques, including one in which a female interrogator grabbed a detainee's genitals. About 20 percent of the guards at Guantanamo are women, said Lt. He wouldn't say how many of the interrogators were female. Marshall wouldn't address whether the US military had a specific strate gy to use women. "US forces treat all detainees and conduct all interrogations, wherever they may occur, humanely and consistent with US legal obligations, an d in particular with legal obligations prohibiting torture," Marshall sa id late Wednesday. But some officials at the US Southern Command have questioned the forma tion of an all-female team as one of Guantanamo's "Immediate Reaction Fo rce" units that subdue troublesome male prisoners in their cells, accord ing to a document classified as secret and obtained by AP. In one incident, dated June 19, 2004, "The detainee appears to be genuine ly traumatized by a female escort securing the detainee's leg irons," ac cording to the document, a US Southern Command summary of videotapes s hot when the teams were used.
web sites), where the Abu Ghraib scanda l shocked the world with pictures revealing sexual humiliation of naked prisoners. Several female troops have been charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Saar said he volunteered to go to Guantanamo because "I really believed i n the mission," but then he became disillusioned during his six months a t the prison. After leaving the Army with more than four years service, Saar worked as a contractor briefly for the FBI. The Department of Defense has censored parts of his draft, mainly blackin g out people's names, said Saar, who hired Washington attorney Mark S Z aid to represent him. Saar needed permission to publish because he signe d a disclosure statement before going to Guantanamo. The book, which Saar titled "Inside the Wire," is due out this year with Penguin Press. Guantanamo has about 545 prisoners from some 40 countries, many held more than three years without charge or access to lawyers and many suspected of links to al-Qaida or Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, which harb ored the terrorist network.
The informati on contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewr itten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associ ated Press.
|
http://csua.com/feed/