Photo essay of life inside Guantanamo Bay
I recommend checking out this short photo essay of life inside Guantanamo Bay: http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/guantanamo/.
Not extremely revealing, but interesting nonetheless. I also particularly enjoyed reading the accompanying article about the interrogation experiences of one detainee ("Inside the Interrogation of Detainee 063"). Some of the brief details are haunting and I get the feeling that things are definitely left out that were not flattering to record. The article mentions that the interrogation log, which was recently released by the Obama Administration, was stamped SECRET ORCON, a military acronym for a document that is supposed to remain with the organization (ie - never be made public), so it's probably worse if the administration running these institutions and keeping the logs didn't feel comfortable revealing this information internally.
As for the tactics used, the use of religious taunting ("They suggested to their captive that he had been spared by Allah in order to reveal the true meaning of the Koran and help bring down bin Laden") annoyed me, or even made me a bit angry, because it crosses lines that could constitute "humane" treatment according to the Geneva Conventions, forbidding any outrage on personal dignity. It's OK if you don't agree with religion or even want to debate it, but to taunt someone repetitively seems intrusive, rude, harassing and a way to just kill morale.
While the interrogation log gives a rare window into the techniques used by the U.S. military (actually the first internal look at the Gitmo interrogations since the camp opened 4 years ago), the article also suggests that the documents show that - at least in this case - disclosures were sometimes obtained not when al-Qahtani, the detainee, was under duress but when his handlers eased up on him. Ironic when the major focus of these reports is the intorrogation techniques used and how they work vs the fact that the whole system could be improved by focusing more on methods of using zero or less tactics, but this is partially just media hype.
Not extremely revealing, but interesting nonetheless. I also particularly enjoyed reading the accompanying article about the interrogation experiences of one detainee ("Inside the Interrogation of Detainee 063"). Some of the brief details are haunting and I get the feeling that things are definitely left out that were not flattering to record. The article mentions that the interrogation log, which was recently released by the Obama Administration, was stamped SECRET ORCON, a military acronym for a document that is supposed to remain with the organization (ie - never be made public), so it's probably worse if the administration running these institutions and keeping the logs didn't feel comfortable revealing this information internally.
As for the tactics used, the use of religious taunting ("They suggested to their captive that he had been spared by Allah in order to reveal the true meaning of the Koran and help bring down bin Laden") annoyed me, or even made me a bit angry, because it crosses lines that could constitute "humane" treatment according to the Geneva Conventions, forbidding any outrage on personal dignity. It's OK if you don't agree with religion or even want to debate it, but to taunt someone repetitively seems intrusive, rude, harassing and a way to just kill morale.
While the interrogation log gives a rare window into the techniques used by the U.S. military (actually the first internal look at the Gitmo interrogations since the camp opened 4 years ago), the article also suggests that the documents show that - at least in this case - disclosures were sometimes obtained not when al-Qahtani, the detainee, was under duress but when his handlers eased up on him. Ironic when the major focus of these reports is the intorrogation techniques used and how they work vs the fact that the whole system could be improved by focusing more on methods of using zero or less tactics, but this is partially just media hype.
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 2:51 PM
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