Monday, May 10, 2004
The report on the abuse of prisoners in Iraq produced by the International Committee of the Red Cross has not been released publicly. The Wallstreet Journal published some excerpts, however. I couldn't find the WSJ's coverage online, but here is a Reuter's story about the WSJ's excerpts. And here's some excerpts of the excerpts:
[In the case of high value detainees], persons deprived of their liberty under supervision of military intelligence were at high risk of being subjected to a variety of harsh treatments ranging from insults, threats and humiliations to both physical and psychological coercion, which in some cases was tantamount to torture, in order to force cooperation with their interrogators
Since the beginning of the conflict, the ICRC has regularly brought its concerns to the attention of the coalition forces. The observations in the present report are consistent with those made earlier on several occasions orally and in writing to the coalition forces throughout 2003.
Methods of ill-treatment during interrogation included: "hooding a detainee with a bag, sometimes in conjunction with beatings thus increasing anxiety as to when blows would come"; handcuffing so tight that they caused skin lesions and nerve damage; beating with pistols and rifles; threats of reprisals against family members; and stripping detainees naked for several days in solitary confinement in a completely dark cell
