Lawmaker Says Pentagon Sought Cruel Interrogation Methods | Voice of America - English
A key U.S. lawmaker says senior Bush administration officials sought extreme interrogation techniques to use against detainees in military prisons.  His Senate panel found that military officials who helped train U.S.
The Senate Armed Services Committee isinvestigating the origins of the harsh interrogation techniques used ondetainees at the military prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and AbuGhraib in Iraq. Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, is committee chairman: "Thetruth is, that senior officials in the U.S. government soughtinformation on aggressive techniques, twisted the law to create theappearance of their legality, and authorized their use againstdetainees," said Senator Levin. "In the process, they damaged ourability to collect intelligence that could save lies." Thecommittee found that Pentagon lawyers sought information about aprogram used to train U.S. troops to resist enemy interrogation, andthat some of the techniques used in the program - including stresspositions and sleep deprivation - were approved for use on detainees bythen-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in December 2002. UnderSenator Levin's questioning, Richard Shiffrin, former deputy generalcounsel for intelligence at the Defense Department, said Pentagonlawyers pursued the aggressive interrogation techniques because theywere concerned the military was not effectively obtaining informationfrom detainees. "Was this effort because of some frustration with the lack of intelligence that was coming up?" "That is the sense I got." Butthe harsh interrogation techniques were approved despite oppositionfrom some lawyers in the uniformed services, who sent memos to theJoint Chiefs of Staff saying the techniques warranted furtherexamination and could be illegal. Alberto Mora is a former generalcounsel for the Navy. "Our nation's policy decisions to useso-called harsh interrogation techniques in the war on terror was amistake of massive proportions," said Alberto Mora. "It damaged andcontinues to damage the nation. But William Haynes, the Pentagon's top lawyer who resigned in February, told the committee he was unaware of the memos. Senator Levin found the comments incredulous. "I did not know they existed." "You didn't know those memos existed?" "Senator, I don't recall seeing them, and I don't recall knowing about the memoranda." Haynes testified that Rumsfeld rescinded some of the harshest techniques in January 2003, six weeks after he had approved them. ButPentagon investigators found that some of those techniques were laterused without authorization in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Lindsey Graham is a South Carolina Republican and an expert in military law: "Itis clear to me that these techniques do encompass techniques that wewere defending against and became an offensive weapon," said SenatorGraham. "It is clear to me they migrated all over the military and itis clear to me it created confusion for those serving this country." At the White House, spokesman Tony Fratto offered the Bush administration's response to the Senate hearing. "Ithas always been the policy of this government to treat these detaineeshumanely and in line with our laws and our legal obligations," saidTony Fratto. The Senate committee began its investigation in early 2007, and is expected to release a final report later this year.