Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo
By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: November 30, 2004
 ASHINGTON,
Nov. 29 - The International Committee of the Red Cross has charged in
confidential reports to the United States government that the American
military has intentionally used psychological and sometimes physical
coercion "tantamount to torture" on prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The
finding that the handling of prisoners detained and interrogated at
Guantánamo amounted to torture came after a visit by a Red Cross
inspection team that spent most of last June in Guantánamo. The
team of humanitarian workers, which included experienced medical
personnel, also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at
Guantánamo were participating in planning for interrogations, in what
the report called "a flagrant violation of medical ethics."
Doctors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners'
mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators, the report said,
sometimes directly, but usually through a group called the Behavioral
Science Consultation Team, or B.S.C.T. The team, known informally as
Biscuit, is composed of psychologists and psychological workers who
advise the interrogators, the report said. The United States
government, which received the report in July, sharply rejected its
charges, administration and military officials said. The report
was distributed to lawyers at the White House, Pentagon and State
Department and to the commander of the detention facility at
Guantánamo, Gen. Jay W. Hood. The New York Times recently obtained a
memorandum, based on the report, that quotes from it in detail and
lists its major findings. It was the first time that the Red
Cross, which has been conducting visits to Guantánamo since January
2002, asserted in such strong terms that the treatment of detainees,
both physical and psychological, amounted to torture. The report said
that another confidential report in January 2003, which has never been
disclosed, raised questions of whether "psychological torture" was
taking place. The Red Cross said publicly 13 months ago that the
system of keeping detainees indefinitely without allowing them to know
their fates was unacceptable and would lead to mental health problems. The
report of the June visit said investigators had found a system devised
to break the will of the prisoners at Guantánamo, who now number about
550, and make them wholly dependent on their interrogators through
"humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of
forced positions." Investigators said that the methods used were
increasingly "more refined and repressive" than learned about on
previous visits. "The construction of such a system, whose stated
purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other
than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment
and a form of torture," the report said. It said that in addition to
the exposure to loud and persistent noise and music and to prolonged
cold, detainees were subjected to "some beatings." The report did not
say how many of the detainees were subjected to such treatment. Asked
about the accusations in the report, a Pentagon spokesman provided a
statement saying, "The United States operates a safe, humane and
professional detention operation at Guantánamo that is providing
valuable information in the war on terrorism." It continued that
personnel assigned to Guantánamo "go through extensive professional and
sensitivity training to ensure they understand the procedures for
protecting the rights and dignity of detainees." The conclusions
by the inspection team, especially the findings involving alleged
complicity in mistreatment by medical professionals, have provoked a
stormy debate within the Red Cross committee. Some officials have
argued that it should make its concerns public or at least aggressively
confront the Bush administration. The International Committee of
the Red Cross, which is based in Geneva and is separate from the
American Red Cross, was founded in 1863 as an independent, neutral
organization intended to provide humanitarian protection and assistance
for victims of war.
|
