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ACLU: New documents show senior officials approved Gitmo abuse
RAW STORY
Published: February 23, 2006
The American Civil Liberties Union today released newly obtained documents showing that senior Defense Department officials approved aggressive interrogation techniques that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents deemed abusive, ineffective and unlawful, RAW STORY has learned.
“We now possess overwhelming evidence that political and military leaders endorsed interrogation methods that violate both domestic and international law,” Jameel Jaffer, an attorney with the ACLU said in a release. “It is entirely unacceptable that no senior official has been held accountable.”
The ACLU's release follows.
Included in today’s release is a memorandum prepared by FBI personnel on May 30, 2003, which supplies a detailed discussion of tensions between FBI and Defense Department personnel stationed at Guantбnamo in late 2002. According to the memo, Defense Department interrogators were encouraged by their superiors to “use aggressive interrogation tactics” that FBI agents believed were “of questionable effectiveness and subject to uncertain interpretation based on law and regulation.” The May 2003 memo specifically names Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who was then Commander of Joint Task Force-Guantбnamo, as having favored interrogation methods that FBI agents believed “could easily result in the elicitation of unreliable and legally inadmissible information.” The memo states that FBI personnel brought their concerns to the attention of senior Defense Department personnel but that their concerns were brushed aside.
Other documents released by the ACLU today provide more evidence that abusive interrogation methods used at Guantбnamo were endorsed by senior officials. One FBI e-mail, dated May 5, 2004, states that “hooding prisoners, threats of violence, and techniques meant to humiliate detainees” were “approved at high levels w/in DoD.” Another FBI e-mail states that certain techniques alleged to be abusive by some FBI agents were “approved by the Deputy Secretary of Defense.”
I admit the article is from RAW but the source is the ACLU and is based upon documents gained via the Freedom of Information Act so it seems to be factually based.
RAW STORY
Published: February 23, 2006
The American Civil Liberties Union today released newly obtained documents showing that senior Defense Department officials approved aggressive interrogation techniques that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents deemed abusive, ineffective and unlawful, RAW STORY has learned.
“We now possess overwhelming evidence that political and military leaders endorsed interrogation methods that violate both domestic and international law,” Jameel Jaffer, an attorney with the ACLU said in a release. “It is entirely unacceptable that no senior official has been held accountable.”
The ACLU's release follows.
Included in today’s release is a memorandum prepared by FBI personnel on May 30, 2003, which supplies a detailed discussion of tensions between FBI and Defense Department personnel stationed at Guantбnamo in late 2002. According to the memo, Defense Department interrogators were encouraged by their superiors to “use aggressive interrogation tactics” that FBI agents believed were “of questionable effectiveness and subject to uncertain interpretation based on law and regulation.” The May 2003 memo specifically names Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who was then Commander of Joint Task Force-Guantбnamo, as having favored interrogation methods that FBI agents believed “could easily result in the elicitation of unreliable and legally inadmissible information.” The memo states that FBI personnel brought their concerns to the attention of senior Defense Department personnel but that their concerns were brushed aside.
Other documents released by the ACLU today provide more evidence that abusive interrogation methods used at Guantбnamo were endorsed by senior officials. One FBI e-mail, dated May 5, 2004, states that “hooding prisoners, threats of violence, and techniques meant to humiliate detainees” were “approved at high levels w/in DoD.” Another FBI e-mail states that certain techniques alleged to be abusive by some FBI agents were “approved by the Deputy Secretary of Defense.”
I admit the article is from RAW but the source is the ACLU and is based upon documents gained via the Freedom of Information Act so it seems to be factually based.
)... but I guess just as well that idealism about US motives and actions was dissapearing slowly under Clinton, while Dubya killed it expressly after 9-11. (immidiately after 9-11 you could see the good will america generated post WWII and the effects, support etc)... but now, spent for good I'd say. 
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