Documents By Chronology The attacks on September 11, 2001 were the catalyst for the "war on terror" – and for a legal revolution in assertions of broad powers for the Commander-in-Chief. In this chronological library of 34 documents, it is possible to chart the decision-making that led to interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody that were "at a minimum, cruel and inhuman treatment and, at worst, torture," in the words of the former general counsel of the United States Navy, Alberto Mora. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/index.html
In addition to the internal administration memos charting the origins of – and legal arguments for – harsh interrogation techniques ["Documents By Chronology", second link above], there is much more. In this library, you will also find FBI e-mails, testimony from former prisoners in U.S custody, and the reports of numerous official investigations.
Relics of the Cold War
1. Communist Control Techniques http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/19560400.pdf DATE: April 2, 1956 SUBJECT: Communist Control Techniques AUTHOR: Harold Wolff and Lawrence Hinkle In 1956, Cornell psychologists on contract with the CIA examined Communist interrogation techniques that had been used on American POWs during the Korean War. They concluded that prolonged isolation had dramatic effects on prisoners: “Ultimately he [the prisoner] may seem to lose many of the restraints of ordinary behavior. He may soil himself. He weeps, he mutters, he prays aloud in his cell. He follows the orders of the guard with the docility of a trained animal. Indeed, the guards say that such prisoners are ‘reduced to animals.’”
2. Biderman’s Principles http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/19570900.pdf DATE: September 1957 SUBJECT: Communist Attempts To Elicit False Confessions From Air Force Prisoners Of War AUTHOR: Harold Wolff and Lawrence Hinkle In September, 1957 Albert Biderman published a study for the United States Air Force laying out interrogation techniques used to torture American POWs resulting in false confessions during the Korean War. Biderman’s list of techniques included death threats, degradation, and “induced debilitation.”
3. The CIA KUBARK Manual http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/19630700.pdf DATE: July 1963 SUBJECT: KUBARK Counter Intelligence Interrogation AUTHOR: N/A This 1963 manual was the culmination of the Agency’s studies into “The Coercive Counterintelligence Interrogation of Resistant Sources.” Having studied the methods used by communist regimes in China, North Korea and the Soviet Union, the CIA explored interrogations based on “pain,” “debility,” and “threats and fear.” KUBARK’s menu of coercive interrogation techniques instructed that prisoners be “cut off from the known” and “plunged into the strange.”
Memos from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel
Note: Legal opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel carry the weight of law within the executive branch.
2. Memorandum from John Yoo to David S. Kris http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20010925.pdf DATE: September 25, 2001 SUBJECT: Constitutionality of Amending Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to Change the "Purpose" Standard for Searches AUTHOR: John Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, OLC In this opinion, Yoo discussed possible changes to the laws governing wiretaps for intelligence gathering, and signaled that the government's interest in keeping the nation safe following the terrorist attacks might justify warrantless searches.
3. Memorandum from John Yoo & Robert J. Delahunty to Alberto Gonzales & William J. Haynes http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20011023.pdf DATE: October 23, 2001 SUBJECT: Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities within the United States AUTHOR: John Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, OLC & Robert J. Delahunty, Special Counsel, OLC The United States, it was argued, was in a “state of armed conflict.” The scale of violence, the authors added, was unprecedented and “legal and constitutional rules” governing law enforcement – such as the Fourth Amendment prohibition on "unreasonable" searches and seizures did not apply. "The President has both constitutional and statutory authority to use the armed forces in military operations, against terrorists, within the United States." The authors added that, “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully.”
4. Memorandum from Patrick Philbin to Alberto Gonzales http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20011106.pdf DATE: November 6, 2001 SUBJECT: Legality of the Use of Military Commissions to Try Terrorists AUTHOR: Patrick Philbin, Deputy Assistant Attorney General A legal opinion issued just a week before President Bush signed an order establishing military commissions to try prisoners who were deemed enemy combatants. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled – in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld – that those military commissions were inconsistent with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
5. Memo from John Yoo to Jim Haynes http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20011228.pdf DATE: December 28, 2001 SUBJECT: Possible Habeas Jurisdiction over Aliens Held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba AUTHOR: John Yoo & Patrick Philbin, Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, Office of Legal Counsel This memo concludes that federal district courts would lack jurisdiction to accept habeas petitions from prisoners who were held at Guantanamo.
6. Memo from John Yoo to Jim Haynes http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020109.pdf DATE: January 9, 2002 SUBJECT: Application of Treaties and Laws to Al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees AUTHOR: John Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel In this memo, Yoo writes "We conclude that these treaties [including Geneva] do not protect members of the al Qaeda organization. We further conclude that that [sic] these treaties do not apply to the Taliban militia."
7. Memo from Jay Bybee to Jim Haynes http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020122.pdf DATE: January 22, 2002 SUBJECT: Application of Treaties and Laws to Al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees AUTHOR: Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel Jay Bybee signs off on John Yoo's January 9th draft, sending it in its final form to Pentagon General Counsel Jim Haynes and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. The memo explains that "certain deviations from the text of Geneva III may be permissible, as a matter of domestic law, if they fall within certain justifications or legal exceptions, such as those for self defense."
8. Memo from Jay Bybee to Alberto Gonzales http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020207.pdf DATE: February 7, 2002 SUBJECT: Status of Taliban Forces Under Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 AUTHOR: Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel In this memo, Jay Bybee states that the President has the power to ignore Geneva's requirement that prisoners be given "Article 5" hearings to establish their status as POWs. "The President ... may use his constitutional power to interpret treaties and apply them to the facts, to make the determination that the Taliban are unlawful combatants... We therefore conclude that there is no need to establish tribunals to determine POW status under Article 5."
9. Memo from Jay Bybee to Jim Haynes http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020226.pdf DATE: February 26, 2002 SUBJECT: Potential Legal Constraints Applicable to Interrogations of Persons Captured by U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan AUTHOR: Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel In the wake of the capture of the "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, questions about the rights of American citizens captured in the war on terror became a new issue. In conclusion, Bybee notes "even if the Government did in fact violate Rule 4.2 by having military lawyers interrogate represented persons (including Mr. Walker) without consent of counsel, it would not follow that the evidence obtained in that questioning would be inadmissible at trial."
10. Memorandum from Jay Bybee to William J. Haynes http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20020313.pdf DATE: March 13, 2002 SUBJECT: The President's Power as Commander in Chief to Transfer Captured Terrorists to the Control and Custody of Foreign Nations AUTHOR: Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, OLC This memorandum appears to underpin the so-called "extraordinary rendition" program. It argues that the President has an unfettered right to transfer prisoners captured in the war on terror to governments around the world without regard for whether they would be tortured. It further argues that "so long as the US does not intend for a detainee to be tortured post-transfer…no criminal liability will attach to a transfer, even if the foreign country receiving the detainee does torture him."
11. Memorandum from Patrick F. Philbin to Daniel J. Bryant http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20020408.pdf DATE: April 8, 2002 SUBJECT: Swift Justice Authorization Act AUTHOR: Patrick Philbin, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, OLC The author concludes that Congress cannot interfere with the President's exercise of his authority as Commander-in-Chief to control the conduct of operations during war, including his authority to promulgate rules to regulate military commissions.
12. Memorandum from Jay Bybee to John Ashcroft http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20020608.pdf DATE: June 8, 2002 SUBJECT: Determination of Enemy Belligerency and Military Detention AUTHOR: Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, OLC Arguing that “the military has the legal authority to detain (Jose Padilla) as a prisoner captured during an international armed conflict,” this opinion was issued one day before Padilla – an American citizen arrested on American soil – was designated an “enemy combatant.” The authors further concluded that the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act that had long limited the powers of the government to use the US military for law enforcement within the United States could be suspended; it “presents no statutory bar” to Padilla’s military imprisonment.
13. Memo from Jay Bybee to the CIA http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020801-2.pdf [much less heavily redacted, as more recently released, at http://media.mcclatchydc.com/smedia/2009/04/16/16/Taylor-OLC-CIAtorturememo-1.source.prod_affiliate.91.pdf ] DATE: August 1, 2002 SUBJECT: Memorandum for [REDACTED] [CIA] Interrogation of [REDACTED] [al Qaeda Operative] AUTHOR: Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel Written by the Office of Legal Counsel's Jay Bybee and sent to the Central Intelligence Agency, this heavily redacted document was released to the ACLU in 2008. It details "advising the CIA regarding interrogation methods it may use against al Qaeda members," and in one un-redacted portion, argues that "to violate the statute, an individual must have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering. Based on the information you have provided us, we believe those carrying out these procedures would not have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering."
14. Letter from John Yoo to Alberto Gonzales http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020801-3.pdf DATE: August 1, 2002 SUBJECT: N/A AUTHOR: John Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel John Yoo writes to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales warning of potential threats of international prosecution regarding the administration's interrogation policies. Yoo notes that "Interrogations of al Qaeda members ... cannot constitute a war crime" because of the Presidential determination that Geneva's protections do not apply.
15. Memo from Jay Bybee to Alberto Gonzales http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020801-1.pdf DATE: August 1, 2002 SUBJECT: Standards for Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. 2340 - 2340A AUTHOR: Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel In what has become notorious as the "torture memo," Jay Bybee signs off on an opinion authored by John Yoo. The memorandum systematically dismisses numerous U.S. federal laws, treaties and international law prohibiting the use of torture, essentially defining the term out of existence.
16. Memo from John Yoo to Jim Haynes http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030314.pdf DATE: March 14, 2003 SUBJECT: Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside the United States AUTHOR: John Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel Written at the request of DoD General Counsel William Haynes, the memo is an expansion of John Yoo's August, 2002 "torture memo" and lays out in more expansive detail what would be permitted under the administration's interrogation policy. Haynes makes it clear that the memo is the "controlling authority" for the Working Group.
17. Memorandum from Jack Goldsmith to Alberto Gonzales http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20040318.pdf DATE: March 18, 2004 SUBJECT: “Protected Person” Status in Occupied Iraq under the Fourth Geneva Convention AUTHOR: Jack L. Goldsmith III, Assistant Attorney General Written by the new head of the Office of Legal Counsel, the opinion declared that the Geneva Conventions protected “citizens and permanent residents of Iraq,” including those “who commit hostile acts against the occupying power.” This opinion provoked the ire of the Vice President’s general counsel, David Addington, an incident described in detail in “The Terror Presidency” by Goldsmith.
18. Memorandum "for the files" http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20081006.pdf DATE: October 6, 2008 SUBJECT: John Yoo’s October 23, 2001 OLC Opinion Addressing the Domestic Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities AUTHOR: Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, OLC This memorandum repudiates John Yoo's secret October 23, 2001 opinion asserting that the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution must give way when the President deems it necessary in defense of the nation.
19. Memorandum "for the files" http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20090115.pdf DATE: January 15, 2009 SUBJECT: Status of Certain OLC Opinions Issued in the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 AUTHOR: Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, OLC Stating that “certain propositions stated in several opinions issued by the Office Legal Counsel from 2001 – 2003 respecting the allocation of authorities between the President and Congress in matters of war and national security do not reflect the current views of this Office,” this memorandum disowns the broad claims of constitutional law reflected in the OLC opinions. It does not comment upon or disown the specific policies regarding surveillance, detention and interrogation.
The White House
1. Declaration of National Emergency http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20010914.pdf DATE: September 14, 2001 SUBJECT: Declaration of National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks AUTHOR: President George W. Bush President Bush signs a military order declaring a national emergency.
2. Military Commissions Order http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20011113.pdf DATE: November 13, 2001 SUBJECT: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War on Terrorism AUTHOR: President George W. Bush This military order declares the Commander-in-Chief's unilateral authority to hold prisoners in the war on terror indefinitely.
3. Memo from Alberto Gonzales to President Bush http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020125.pdf DATE: January 25, 2002 SUBJECT: Decision re Application of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War to the Conflict with al Qaeda and the Taliban AUTHOR: Alberto Gonzales, White House Counsel This memo for the President outlines the benefits of opting out of the Geneva Conventions and lists the benefits of such a finding. Gonzales notes that non-compliance with Geneva "would create a reasonable basis in law that Section 2441 [War Crimes Act] does not apply, which would provide a solid defense to any future prosecution."
4. Letter from John Ashcroft to President Bush http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020201.pdf DATE: February 1, 2002 SUBJECT: N/A AUTHOR: John Ashcroft, Attorney General John Ashcroft concludes that opting out of Geneva "would provide the highest assurance that no court would subsequently entertain charges that American military officers, intelligence officials, or law enforcement officials violated Geneva Convention rules relating to field conduct, detention conduct or interrogation of detainees."
5. Memo from President Bush to Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, et. al. http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020207-2.pdf DATE: February 7, 2002 SUBJECT: Humane Treatment of al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees AUTHOR: President George W. Bush President George W. Bush declares that the United States will not be bound by the Geneva Convention's protections for prisoners of war.
The Pentagon
1. Memo from Donald Rumsfeld to Joint Chiefs of Staff http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020119.pdf DATE: January 19, 2002 SUBJECT: Status of Taliban and al Qaeda AUTHOR: Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld declares that "The United States has determined that Al Qaida and Taliban individuals under the control of the Department of Defense are not entitled to prisoner of war status for purposes of the Geneva Conventions of 1949."
2. Memo from Jerald Ogrisseg to Office of Lt. Col. Daniel Baumgartner http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20020724.pdf DATE: July 24, 2002 SUBJECT: Psychological Effects of Resistance Training AUTHOR: USAF Major Jerald Ogrisseg One of the earliest known documents regarding the use resistance training as a source for interrogation tactics, this memo was forwarded by the senior staff officer at the Survival, Evasion Resistance & Escape (SERE) school at Fort Belvoir to the Department of Defense Office of General Counsel. The author writes that when he has witnessed Americans subjected to waterboarding during the Navy’s SERE training, “use of the watering board resulted in student capitulation and compliance 100% of the time.”
3. USAF Lt. Col. Daniel Baumgartner to Office of the Secretary of Defense General Counsel http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20020725.pdf DATE: July 25, 2002 SUBJECT: Exploitation (Extracts) AUTHOR: USAF Lt. Col. Daniel Baumgartner, JPRA Chief of Staff The senior staff officer for the US Air Forces SERE School in Fort Belvoir, Virginia cautions about the potential use of SERE techniques, saying that “ability to exploit however, is a highly specialized skill set built on training and expertise."
4. Memo from Daniel Baumgartner to Office of the Secretary of Defense General Counsel http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20020726.pdf DATE: July 26, 2002 SUBJECT: Exploitation and Physical Pressures. AUTHOR: USAF Lt. Col. Daniel Baumgartner, JPRA Chief of Staff The senior staff officer for the US Air Forces SERE School at Fort Belvoir forwards a document entitled “Physical Pressures used in Resistance Training and Against American Prisoners and Detainees.” It details the use of interrogation techniques such as “walling,” “facial slap,” and stress positions.
5. Guantanamo Trip Report http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020927.pdf DATE: September 27, 2002 SUBJECT: Trip Report, DOD General Counsel Visit to GTMO AUTHOR: Office of the Staff Judge Advocate A one page summary of Pentagon General Counsel Jim Haynes, and Vice President Cheney's legal counsel David Addington's trip to Guantanamo on September 25, 2002. The report notes that their stated purpose was to "receive briefings on Intel successes, Intel challenges, Intel techniques, Intel problems and future plans for facilities."
6. Action Memo from Jim Haynes to Donald Rumsfeld http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20021127-1.pdf DATE: November 27, 2002 SUBJECT: Counter-Resistance Techniques AUTHOR: William J. Haynes, General Counsel, Department of Defense Secretary Rumfeld's General Counsel Jim Haynes, sends an "action memo" for the Secretary's signature advising Rumsfeld to approve a list of harsh interrogation techniques. On December 2, 2002 Rumsfeld signs off, and authorizes all the Category I & II techniques, including 20 hour interrogations, deprivation of light and auditory stimuli, removal of clothing, the use of phobias such as dogs, and stress positions for up to four hours. Haynes notes that Category III techniques, including waterboarding, "may be legally available" but "as a matter of policy a blanket approval. is not warranted at this time." As Secretary Rumsfeld signs the action memo, he adds a post-script "I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?"
7. Memo from Donald Rumsfeld http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030115-1.pdf DATE: January 15, 2003 SUBJECT: Counter Resistance Techniques AUTHOR: Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld rescinds his authorization of the Category II and III techniques authorized by his December 2, 2002 order.
8. Memo from Donald Rumsfeld Establishing Working Group http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030115-2.pdf DATE: January 15, 2003 SUBJECT: Detainee Interrogations AUTHOR: Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld orders a Working Group comprised of senior military lawyers to study the legality of various interrogation techniques.
9. Memo from John Yoo to Jim Haynes http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030314.pdf DATE: March 14, 2003 SUBJECT: Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside the United States AUTHOR: John Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel Written at the request of DoD General Counsel William Haynes, the memo is an expansion of John Yoo's August, 2002 "torture memo" and lays out in more expansive detail what would be permitted under the administration's interrogation policy. Haynes makes it clear that the memo is the "controlling authority" for the Working Group.
10. Working Group Report http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030404.pdf DATE: April 4, 2003 SUBJECT: Working Group Report on Detainee Interrogations in the Global War on Terrorism AUTHOR: N/A The report of the Working Group on interrogation policy is signed out. In 85-pages, it endorses a series of 35 interrogation techniques including "fear up harsh," "emotional love," "emotional hate," "hooding," and "sleep adjustment." Though it is signed out in their names, members of the Working Group, were not informed of its final contents.
11. Memo from Donald Rumsfeld http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030416.pdf DATE: April 16, 2003 SUBJECT: Counter-Resistance Techniques in the War on Terrorism AUTHOR: Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld issues a memorandum to the commander of US Southern Command authorizing 24 of the 35 techniques for use at Guantanamo.
Guantanamo
1. Guantanamo Meeting Minutes http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20021002.pdf DATE: October 2, 2002 SUBJECT: Counter Resistance Strategy Meeting Minutes AUTHOR: N/A A senior CIA lawyer meets with military officials at Guantanamo, and states that laws banning torture are "basically subject to perception. If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong." The pentagon's top legal adviser at the camp responds, "We will need documentation to protect us." When the military's top criminal investigator reads the minutes, he forwards them to other senior personnel, noting "This looks like the kind of stuff Congressional hearings are made of." Waterboarding, for example, would "shock the conscience of any legal body looking at the results of the interrogations or possibly even the interrogators. Somebody needs to be considering how history will look back at this."
2. Memo from Major General Michael Dunlavey http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20021011.pdf DATE: October 11, 2002 SUBJECT: Counter-Resistance Strategies AUTHOR: Major General Michael Dunlavey General Michael Dunlavey sends a formal request for approval of harsh interrogation techniques based on SERE up the chain of command to General James T. Hill, commander of USSOUTHCOM. The most extreme "Category III" techniques mirror "those used in US military interrogation resistance training or by other U.S. government agencies."
3. Memo from General James T. Hill http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20021025.pdf DATE: October 25, 2002 SUBJECT: Counter-Resistance Techniques AUTHOR: General James T. Hill General James Hill, commander of USSOUTHCOM, forwards the request to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, but worries that, "I am particularly troubled by the use of implied or expressed threats of death of the detainee or his family."
4. Draft Guantanamo SERE SOP http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20021210.pdf DATE: December 10, 2002 SUBJECT: JTF GTMO "SERE" Interrogation Standard Operating Procedure AUTHOR: Lt. Col. Ted Moss This draft memo, never before released in its entirety, directly links the tactics being used at Guantanamo to the U.S. military's torture resistance training: "These tactics and techniques are used in SERE school to 'break' SERE detainees. The same tactics and techniques can be used to break real detainees during interrogation operations."
5. SERE Instructors' Guantanamo Report http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030115-4.pdf DATE: January 15, 2003 SUBJECT: After Action Report Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay (JTF-GTMO) Training Evolution AUTHOR: John F. Rankin, SERE Training Specialist & Christopher Ross, SERE Coordinator Responding to a "high level directive," two SERE instructors travel to Guantanamo, where they lead a class of 24 Guantanamo interrogators on the use of SERE techniques based on "Biderman's Principles." Principles include death threats, degradation, and "induced debilitation."
6. 2003 Guantanamo SOP http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20030327.pdf DATE: March 28, 2003 SUBJECT: Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures AUTHOR: Major General Geoffrey Miller This 238-page manual details nearly every facet of operations at Guantanamo’s Camp Delta. Regarding International Committee of the Red Cross access to detainees, the manual details a series of “levels” of restricted access, up to and including “no contact of any kind with the ICRC,” a potential violation of the Geneva Conventions.
1. Interrogation "Wish List" E-mail http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030814.pdf DATE: August 14, 2003 SUBJECT: N/A AUTHOR: N/A This memo issued by a U.S. Army military intelligence officer requests that interrogators come up with a "wish list" of interrogation techniques for use in Iraq. The memo notes, "The gloves are coming off gentleman regarding these detainees. [REDACTED] has made it clear that we want these individuals broken." Responding, another interrogator suggests, "... a baseline interrogation technique that at a minimum allows for physical contact resembling that used by SERE instructors. Sleep deprivation. Fear of dogs and snakes appear to work nicely. I firmly agree that the gloves need to come off."
2. Memo from General Sanchez http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030914.pdf DATE: September 14, 2003 SUBJECT: CJTF-7 Interrogation and Counter Resistance Policy AUTHOR: General Ricardo Sanchez, Commander of US Forces in Iraq General Ricardo Sanchez issues guidelines for the interrogation of Iraqi detainees. The techniques he authorizes are almost a verbatim copy of those authorized for Guantanamo by Secretary Rumsfeld in April, 2003.
Warnings
1. Amnesty International Letter to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020107.pdf [and see in particular my upcoming post of 'Afghan Massacre - The Convoy of Death', a reply to my (first) reply to this post] DATE: January 7, 2002 SUBJECT: N/A AUTHOR: Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International The president of Amnesty International writes an urgent letter concerning detainees in U.S. custody, warning against the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," noting hooding and blindfolding detainees is a violation of the Convention Against Torture.
2. Memo from William Taft to John Yoo http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020111.pdf DATE: January 11, 2002 SUBJECT: Your Draft Memorandum of January 9th AUTHOR: William Taft IV, Legal Adviser to the State Department Describing Yoo's legal analysis as "seriously flawed," the memorandum also warns that "this raises the risk of future criminal prosecution for U.S. civilian and military leadership and their advisers."
3. Memo from Colin Powell to Alberto Gonzales http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20020126.pdf DATE: January 26, 2002 SUBJECT: Draft Decision Memorandum for the President on the Applicability of the Geneva Convention to the Conflict in Afghanistan AUTHOR: Colin Powell, Secretary of State Colin Powell warns of the consequences of opting out of the Geneva Convention. "It will reverse over a century of U.S. policy . . . and undermine the prosecutions of the law of war for our troops . . ." He adds, "it may provoke some individual foreign prosecutors to investigate and prosecute our officials and troops."
4. Memo from William Taft to Alberto Gonzales http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20020202.pdf DATE: February 2, 2002 SUBJECT: Comments on Your Paper on The Geneva Convention AUTHOR: William Taft IV, Legal Advisor to the State Department The State Department’s Legal Adviser, William Taft IV, makes a final plea to Alberto Gonzales in support of the Geneva Conventions. “If the Conventions do not apply to the conflict, no one involved in it will enjoy the benefit of their protections as a matter of law.”
5. FBI Legal Analysis http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20021127-2.pdf DATE: November 27, 2002 SUBJECT: Legal Analysis of Interrogation Techniques AUTHOR: N/A An FBI agent warns his superiors that several of the techniques being considered "are not permitted by the U.S. constitution" and others are "examples of coercive interrogation techniques that may violate 18 U.S.C. § 2340 (Torture Statute)."
6. CITF Order Regarding “Questionable Techniques” http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20021202.pdf DATE: December 2, 2002 SUBJECT: CITF Participation in discussions of interrogation strategies, techniques, etc. AUTHOR: Army Col. Brittain Mallow The same day Secretary Rumsfeld authorizes harsh interrogation techniques, Colonel Mallow, Commander of Guantanamo’s Criminal Investigative Task Force (CITF), instructs his team of interrogators that “personnel will not participate in the use of any questionable techniques... Agents must report any such action to the SAC immediately.”
7. CITF “Stand Clear and Report” Memo http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20030115-3.pdf DATE: January 15, 2003 SUBJECT: Aggressive Interrogation - Historical Record AUTHOR: N/A In this memo, a USAF Captain and Legal Adviser to the Criminal Investigative Task Force (CITF) at Guantanamo lays out a heavily redacted record of “aggressive interrogation techniques” at Guantanamo. He notes that “All deployed CITF personnel are ordered to disengage, stand clear, and report any questionable interrogation techniques.”
8. The JAG Memos http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/documents/20030205.pdf DATE: February 5 - March 13, 2003 SUBJECT: N/A AUTHORS: Military Judges Advocate General Top military lawyers in the Working Group issue a series of vigorous dissents to many of the proposed techniques being discussed.
9. Memo from Alberto Mora to Navy Inspector General http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20040707-1.pdf DATE: July 7, 2004 SUBJECT: Statement for the record: Office of General Counsel involvement in interrogation issues AUTHOR: Alberto Mora, General Counsel of the Navy Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora, submits his account of the Pentagon’s internal deliberations regarding interrogations at Guantanamo in 2002 and 2003 to the Inspector General of the U.S. Navy.
The Detainees
1. The Qahtani Logs http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20031123.pdf DATE: November 23, 2002-January 11, 2003 SUBJECT: Interrogation Log, Detainee # 063 AUTHOR: N/A Mohamed al Qahtani, suspected of being the September 11 plot’s missing “20th hijacker,” was transferred to Guantanamo after he was captured in Afghanistan. A 54-day account of his interrogation was leaked to Time Magazine.
2. One Thousand Days and Nights of Torture http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20041124.pdf DATE: November 24, 2004 SUBJECT: One Thousand Days and Nights of Torture: The Systematic Torture and Abuse of Moazzam Begg, a British Citizen by the United States of America AUTHOR: Clive Stafford Smith, Attorney to British detainee Moazzam Begg In late 2004, Clive Stafford Smith, a human rights lawyer who has represented more than 40 detainees in the war on terror, compiled this 30-page report. It details his client, Moazzam Begg’s, treatment while under American custody in Afghanistan and later at Guantanamo Bay.
3. Zubaydah Filing http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20080221.pdf DATE: February 21, 2008 SUBJECT: Amended Petition for Relief Under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, and in the Alternative, for Writ of Habeas Corpus This 2008 filing on behalf of high-value detainee Abu Zubaydah (also known as Zayn Al Abidin Muhammad Husayn) gives an annotated description of the circumstances surrounding his capture and interrogation.
4. Composite Statement of the “Tipton Three” http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20040726.pdf DATE: July 26, 2004 SUBJECT: Composite statement: Detention in Afghanistan/Guantanamo Bay AUTHORS: Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed The official statement of a trio British residents, known as the “Tipton Three,” about their detention and abuse in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo.
5. Suicide Note of Jumah al-Dossari http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20051014.pdf DATE: October 14, 2005 SUBJECT: N/A AUTHOR: Jumah al-Dossari A note given by Jumah al-Dossari, Guantanamo detainee # 261, to his lawyer, shortly before he attempted suicide in October 2005.
1. The Taguba Report http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20040707-2.pdf DATE: July 7, 2004 SUBJECT: Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade AUTHOR: Major General Antonio Taguba After receiving the first photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, the Pentagon appoints Army Major General Antonio Taguba to investigate. His secret report finds, “numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” that was “intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force.”
2. The Mikolashek Report http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20040721.pdf DATE: July 21, 2004 SUBJECT: Department of the Army Inspector General - Detainee Operation Inspection AUTHOR: Lt. Gen. Paul Mikolashek, Army Inspector General Inspector General Paul Mikolashek, charged with conducting an overview of the Army’s detainee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, characterizes detainee abuses as “unauthorized actions taken by a few individuals.”
3. The Schlesinger Report http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20040824.pdf DATE: August 24, 2004 SUBJECT: Final Report of the Independent Panel to Review DoD Detention Operations AUTHOR: James R. Schlesinger, Former Secretary of Defense The 126-page report of former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger finds abuses at Abu Ghraib to be “acts of brutality and purposeless sadism.”
4. The Schmidt-Furlow Report http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20050400.pdf DATE: April 1, 2005 SUBJECT: Investigation into FBI Allegations of Detainee Abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Detention Facility AUTHOR: Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt & Brig. Gen. John Furlow Prompted by allegations of abuse, the Schmidt-Furlow report is completed in April, 2005. The report outlines allegations of abuse made by detainees and FBI agents. It also details information about the “special interrogation plans” authorized for high-value detainees Mohamed al Qahtani and Mohamedou Slahi.
5. Testimony of Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20050825.pdf DATE: August 25, 2005 SUBJECT: Testimony of LTG Randall M. Schmidt Lt. General Randall Schmidt testifies before the Inspector General of the United States Army about his discussions with Donald Rumsfeld.
6. Department of Justice OIG Report http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20080500.pdf DATE: May 2008 SUBJECT: A Review of the FBI's Involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Special Report AUTHOR: N/A This 438-page report released in May, 2008 details the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s involvement in interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo. The report disclosed for the first time that FBI agents at Guantanamo in 2002 began keeping a “war crimes” file of alleged abuses occurring during interrogations.
7. Executive Summary, Senate Armed Services Committee http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/documents/20081211.pdf DATE: December 11, 2008 SUBJECT: Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody AUTHOR: Senate Armed Services Committee In December, 2008, the Senate Armed Services Committee completed a classified 250-page report outlining its 18-month investigation into U.S. detention and interrogation policies. The report’s Executive Summary concludes that “(t)he abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of ‘a few bad apples’ acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees." Senator John McCain, ranking Republican on the Committee, added, “The Committee’s report details the inexcusable link between abusive interrogation techniques used by our enemies who ignored the Geneva Conventions and interrogation policy for detainees in U.S. custody.”
A scene from "Torturing Democracy." (Image: TorturingDemocracy.org)
by: Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, t r u t h o u t | Perspective Saturday 30 May 2009
In all the recent debate over torture, many of our Beltway pundits and politicians have twisted themselves into verbal contortions to avoid using the word at all.
During his speech to the conservative American Enterprise Institute last week - immediately on the heels of President Obama's address at the National Archives - former Vice President Dick Cheney used the euphemism "enhanced interrogation" a full dozen times.
Smothering the reality of torture in euphemism, of course, has a political value, enabling its defenders to diminish the horror and possible illegality. It also gives partisans the opening they need to divert our attention by turning the future of the prison at Guantanamo Bay into a "wedge issue," as noted on the front page of Sunday's New York Times.
According to the Times, "Armed with polling data that show a narrow majority of support for keeping the prison open and deep fear about the detainees, Republicans in Congress started laying plans even before the inauguration to make the debate over Guantanamo Bay a question of local community safety instead of one about national character and principles."
No political party would dare make torture a cornerstone of its rejuvenation if people really understood what it is. And lest we forget, we're not just talking about waterboarding, itself a trivializing euphemism for drowning.
If we want to know what torture is, and what it does to human beings, we have to look at it squarely, without flinching. That's just what a powerful and important film, seen by far too few Americans, does. "Torturing Democracy" was written and produced by one of America's outstanding documentary reporters, Sherry Jones. (Excerpts from the film are being shown on the current edition of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS - check local listings, or go to the program's web site at www.pbs.org/moyers, where you can be linked to the entire 90-minute documentary.)
Sherry Jones, a longtime colleague, and the film were honored this week with the prestigious RFK Journalism Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. "Torturing Democracy" was cited for its "meticulous reporting," and described as "the definitive broadcast account of a deeply troubling chapter in recent American history."
Unfortunately, as events demonstrate, the story is not yet history; the early chapters aren't even closed. Torture still is being defended as a matter of national security, although by law it is a war crime, with those who authorized and executed it liable for prosecution as war criminals. The war on terror sparked impatience with the rule of law - and fostered the belief within our government that the commander-in-chief had the right to ignore it.
"Torturing Democracy" begins at 9/11 and recounts how the Bush White House and the Pentagon decided to make coercive detention and abusive interrogation the official US policy in the war on terror. In sometimes graphic detail, the documentary describes the experiences of several men who were held in custody, including Shafiq Rasul, Moazzam Begg and Bisher al-Rawi, all of whom eventually were released. Charges never were filed against them and no reason was ever given for their years in custody.
The documentary traces how tactics meant to train American troops to survive enemy interrogations - the famous SERE program ("Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape") - became the basis for many of the methods employed by the CIA and by interrogators at Guantanamo and in Iraq, including waterboarding (which inflicts on its victims the terror of imminent death), sleep and sensory deprivation, shackling, caging, painful stress positions and sexual humiliation.
"We have re-created our enemy's methodologies in Guantanamo," Malcolm Nance, former head of the Navy's SERE training program, says in "Torturing Democracy." He adds, "It will hurt us for decades to come. Decades. Our people will all be subjected to these tactics, because we have authorized them for the world now. How it got to Guantanamo is a crime and somebody needs to figure out who did it, how they did it, who authorized them to do it ... Because our servicemen will suffer for years."
In addition to its depiction of brutality, "Torturing Democracy" also credits the brave few who stood up to those in power and said, "No." In Washington, there were officials of conviction horrified by unfolding events, including Alberto Mora, the Navy's top civilian lawyer, Maj. Gen. Thomas Romig, who served as judge advocate general of the US Army from 2001 to 2005 and Lt. Col. Stuart Couch, a former senior prosecutor with the Office of Military Commissions.
Much has happened since the film's initial telecast on some public television stations last fall. Once-classified memos from the Bush administration have been released that reveal more details of the harsh techniques used against detainees whose guilt or innocence is still to be decided.
President Obama has announced he will close Guantanamo by next January, with the specifics to come later in the summer. That was enough to set off hysteria among Democrats and Republicans alike who don't want the remaining 240 detainees on American soil - even in a super-maximum-security prison, the kind already holding hundreds of terrorist suspects. The president also triggered criticism from constitutional and civil liberties lawyers when he suggested that some detainees may be held indefinitely, without due process.
But in an interview with Radio Free Europe this week, Gen. David Petraeus, the man in charge of the military's Central Command, praised the Guantanamo closing, saying it "sends an important message to the world" and will help advance America's strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In another revealing and disturbing development, the former chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson, has suggested what is possibly as scandalous a deception as the false case Bush and Cheney made for invading Iraq. Colonel Wilkerson writes that in their zeal to prove a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein during the months leading up to the Iraq war, one suspect held in Egypt, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, was water tortured until he falsely told the interrogators what they wanted to hear.
That phony confession, which Wilkerson says was wrung from a broken man who simply wanted the torture to stop, was then used as evidence in Colin Powell's infamous address to the United Nations shortly before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Powell says that everything in his speech was vetted by the CIA and that Wilkerson's allegation is only speculation. We'll never know the full story - al-Libi died three weeks ago in a Libyan prison. A suicide.
Or so they say.
No wonder so many Americans clamor for a truth commission that will get the facts and put them on the record, just as "Torturing Democracy" has done. Then we can judge for ourselves.
As the editors of The Christian Century magazine wrote this week, "Convening a truth commission on torture would be embarrassing to the US in the short term, but in the long run it would demonstrate the strength of American democracy and confirm the nation's adherence to the rule of law.... Understandably, [the president] wants to turn the page on torture. But Americans should not turn the page until they know what is written on it."
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Watch "Torturing Democracy" here [above].
Bill Moyers is managing editor and Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program "Bill Moyers Journal", which airs Friday nights on PBS. Check local airtimes or comment at The Moyers Blog at www.pbs.org/moyers [ http://www.pbs.org/moyers ].
and, in addition to (items linked in) the above, and in addition to/from among (items linked in) all the other posts in this still-growing string, see also in particular (items linked in):