[Peace-discuss] Practices Forbidden By Revised Field Manual

[Robert Naiman]

Although I haven't seen a direct answer to this question, the clear
implication of the coverage of the current dispute in the Senate is
that the answer to this question is yes.

Bush's proposal to the Senate would make this "technique", among
others, legal for the CIA, according to the administration's
interpretation of the law.

1) Behind the Debate, Controversial CIA Techniques
Interrogation Options Seen as Vital
R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post, Saturday, September 16, 2006; A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/15/AR2006091501252.html

President Bush's push for legislation that narrowly defines U.S.
obligations under the Geneva Conventions is motivated by conviction
that the CIA must continue using highly controversial interrogation
techniques, according to current and former officials. These methods
include some that cause extreme discomfort and have been repudiated by
other federal agencies. The legitimacy of these coercive techniques is
the subtext of the dispute between the administration and opponents on
Capitol Hill, including lawmakers who have said they find some of the
CIA's past interrogation methods abhorrent.

Bush's proposal requires interrogations in the CIA prison system to
comply with rules written by Congress last year. The administration
has concluded this would allow the CIA to keep using virtually all the
interrogation methods it has employed for the past five years,
officials said. A memo to the CIA from the Justice Department's Office
of Legal Counsel named interrogation methods the department believed
to be sanctioned by last year's broadly written congressional
requirement. One source said the techniques include prolonged sleep
deprivation and forced standing or other stress positions. Another
source said they match the techniques used by the agency in the past,
except that the CIA no longer seeks to use a "waterboarding," which is
meant to simulate drowning.

A retired intelligence professional said the predominant view at the
agency is that McCain - who made clear in congressional debate last
year that he disapproved of what the CIA was doing - was surprised to
learn later that the Detainee Treatment Act did not put a stop to it.

2) White House: deal possible on CIA interrogations
Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters, Sunday, September 17, 2006; 5:57 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700294.html
The White House and Senate Republicans who revolted against the
president's proposal on tough CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects
said on Sunday a compromise was possible to heal a party rift over
treatment of prisoners. Media reports have said "water boarding,"
which simulates drowning, and sleep deprivation have been employed by
the CIA. Newsweek magazine, in its September 25 issue, said the CIA
has sought to use techniques that include induced hypothermia, long
periods of forced standing, sleep deprivation, "belly slap," and sound
and light manipulation. Administration officials have agreed to drop
water boarding from a list of approved CIA techniques, Newsweek said.
That method was prohibited in the new Army Field Manual.

On 9/15/06, Carol McKusick <cmck61801 at msn.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Does anyone know whether the revised Pentagon field manual which they talked
> about in the news last Thursday (Sept. 7, 2006) bars forcing people to stand
> for a prolonged time?
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>
>
>


-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org