One year after the release of scandalous photographs of US personnel torturing Iraqi detainees at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a new report provides extensive evidence that psychological torture was systematic and central to the interrogation process of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo.
The 135-page report, Break Them Down: Systematic Use of Psychological Torture by US Forces , by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR),is the first comprehensive review of the use of psychological torture by US forces. The report also examines the devastating health consequences of psychological coercion and explains how a regime of psychological torture was put into place in the US "war on terror."
"What the now infamous images from Abu Ghraib do not show is that psychological torture has been at the center of treatment and interrogation of detainees," said Leonard Rubenstein, PHR's Executive Director. "The Bush Administration decided to 'take the gloves off' in interrogations and 'break' prisoners."
Techniques of psychological torture used have included sensory deprivation, isolation, sleep deprivation, forced nudity, the use of military working dogs to instill fear, cultural and sexual humiliation, mock executions, and the threat of violence or death toward detainees or their loved ones. A source familiar with conditions at Guantánamo told PHR that deprivation of sensory stimulation and over-stimulation led to self-harm and suicide attempts.
Shockingly, there is strong evidence that psychological torture remains in use today. The recent announcement by the Defense Department that a new interrogation manual will eliminate techniques like stripping prisoners, keeping them in stressful positions for prolonged periods, using military dogs to intimidate prisoners, and sleep deprivation is a welcome sign but it remains unclear whether other techniques, including isolation and severe humiliation, remain permitted, and whether there are exceptions either at the behest of commanders or for certain detainees. And while the December 2004 opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel of the Justice Department largely restored individual accountability for engaging in physical torture, it essentially immunized military and intelligence officials from liability for psychological torture.
The report also demonstrates that official Pentagon investigations, including the report by Vice Admiral Church, do not take into account evidence reported here.
A Regime of Psychological Torture
Prolonged Isolation
The use of prolonged isolation took place in all three theaters of operation throughout the war on terror and most likely is continuing today. A source with knowledge of detainee operations at Guantánamo told PHR that in mid-2004 up to a quarter of the over 500 detainees were kept in isolation and that a new isolation facility, Camp Five, at Guantánamo opened in May 2004, modeled after a US "supermaximum" prison. It apparently has over 100 isolation units where lights are kept on for 24 hours a day.
Sleep Deprivation
The use of sleep deprivation was a common interrogation tactic in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantánamo. Detainees held at various locations in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003 describe routinely being deprived of sleep. Similarly, at Guantánamo, sleep deprivation was regularly employed, and continued in 2004. Detainees held in January, March and April 2004 in Mosul and Tikrit, Iraq reported being subject to sleep deprivation.
Humiliation/sexual abuse
Severe humiliation through nakedness, violations of Muslim customs, and other methods have been pervasive. According to a PHR source familiar with conditions in Guantánamo, female interrogators sat on detainees' laps and fondled themselves or detainees, opened their blouses and pushed their breasts in the faces of detainees, kissed detainees and if rejected, accused them of liking men, and forced detainees to look at pornographic pictures or videos. Although the use of female interrogators appeared to decline in 2004, a source told PHR that humiliation and violation of cultural and religious taboos, including forced shaving, persisted.
Use of Threats and Dogs to Induce Fear of Death or Injury
There is evidence that that the use of dogs to instill fear and threaten detainees was used as an interrogation technique in all three theaters of operation, not only Abu Ghraib. Aside from the use of dogs, mock executions and death threats were prevalent in Afghanistan and Iraq. A detainee in Kandahar, Afghanistan says that in 2002, a 9mm pistol was held to his temple. In Iraq in 2003, several "staged executions" of detainees were observed with reports of US personnel holding guns to detainees' heads in Karbala and Taji, Iraq in the summer of 2003. Threats were extended to family members, particularly the wives and daughters of detainees.
A source familiar with conditions at Guantánamo in 2004 told PHR that US personnel there had devised a system to break people through a combination of humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, and use of forced positions.
Health Consequences of Psychological Torture
The PHR report reviews extensive clinical experience and studies that have revealed the destructive health consequences of psychological torture such as memory impairment, severe depression with vegetative symptoms, somatic complaints of headache and back pain, nightmares, feeling of shame and humiliation, and reduced capacity to concentrate. One of the PHR's sources familiar with Guantánamo said that detainees there suffer from incoherent speech, disorientation, delusions, and paranoia.
Prolonged Isolation
Studies have demonstrated that short-term isolation caused an inability to think or concentrate, anxiety, temporal and spatial disorientation, hallucinations and loss of motor skills. The ICRC, government reports and documentation of individual detainees, who have been subjected to long-term isolation, all substantiate the severe health effects of solitary confinement.
Sleep Deprivation
Total sleep deprivation can cause impairments in memory, learning and logical reasoning. Sleep restriction can also result in hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Two detainees held in Afghanistan said that several weeks of sleep deprivation left them terrified and disoriented.
Sexual Humiliation
Victims of sexual torture forever carry a stigma and will often be ostracized by the community. Sexual humiliation often leads to symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), major depression and multiple physical complaints such as headaches, eating disorders and digestive problems. Suicides may also occur unless a strong religious conviction forbids otherwise.
"The administration has created a regime of torture," said Rubenstein. "Decisions by civilian and military leaders, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, have permitted these types of techniques. It is a drastic departure from values, laws and practices long enshrined and embraced by military and civilian investigative traditions."
Compiled in this report are witness accounts, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, official investigations, leaked reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross, media reports and investigative reporting by PHR.
To end the use of psychological torture, the PHR report recommends that the Executive Branch and the Congress do the following:
To the Executive Branch
1. End and Prohibit the Use of Psychological Torture
2. Withdraw Legal Opinions That Permit Psychological Torture and Replace with Interpretation Faithful to Statute
3. Publicly Disclose Interrogation Rules
4. Hold Perpetrators Accountable
5. Rehabilitate and Compensate Victims of Torture
6. Permit Ongoing Monitoring
7. Promote Ethical Practice by Military Medical Personnel
To the Congress
1. Establish an Independent Commission to Investigate
2. Carry out its Oversight Responsibilities
3. Legal Reform
For a full copy of the report, please click here.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions to advance the health and dignity of all people by protecting human rights. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
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