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| Gitmo Soldier Details Sexual Tactics |
| 2005-01-28 |
| Very icky, but not torture, in my opinion. Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man's face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider's written account. A draft manuscript obtained by The Associated Press is classified as secret pending a Pentagon review for a planned book that details ways the U.S. military used women as part of tougher physical and psychological interrogation tactics to get terror suspects to talk. It's the most revealing account so far of interrogations at the secretive detention camp, where officials say they have halted some controversial techniques. "I have really struggled with this because the detainees, their families and much of the world will think this is a religious war based on some of the techniques used, even though it is not the case," the author, former Army Sgt. Erik R. Saar, 29, told AP. Saar didn't provide the manuscript or approach AP, but confirmed the authenticity of nine draft pages AP obtained. He requested his hometown remain private so he wouldn't be harassed. Saar, who is neither Muslim nor of Arab descent, worked as an Arabic translator at the U.S. camp in eastern Cuba from December 2002 to June 2003. At the time, it was under the command of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who had a mandate to get better intelligence from prisoners, including alleged al-Qaida members caught in Afghanistan. Saar said he witnessed about 20 interrogations and about three months after his arrival at the remote U.S. base he started noticing "disturbing" practices. One female civilian contractor used a special outfit that included a miniskirt, thong underwear and a bra during late-night interrogations with prisoners, mostly Muslim men who consider it taboo to have close contact with women who aren't their wives. Beginning in April 2003, "there hung a short skirt and thong underwear on the hook on the back of the door" of one interrogation team's office, he writes. "Later I learned that this outfit was used for interrogations by one of the female civilian contractors ... on a team which conducted interrogations in the middle of the night on Saudi men who were refusing to talk." Some Guantanamo prisoners who have been released say they were tormented by "prostitutes." In another case, Saar describes a female military interrogator questioning an uncooperative 21-year-old Saudi detainee who allegedly had taken flying lessons in Arizona before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Hani Hanjour received pilot instruction for three months in 1996 and in December 1997 at a flight school in Scottsdale, Ariz. "His female interrogator decided that she needed to turn up the heat," Saar writes, saying she repeatedly asked the detainee who had sent him to Arizona, telling him he could "cooperate" or "have no hope whatsoever of ever leaving this place or talking to a lawyer.'" The man closed his eyes and began to pray, Saar writes. The female interrogator wanted to "break him," Saar adds, describing how she removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt and began taunting the detainee, touching her breasts, rubbing them against the prisoner's back and commenting on his apparent erection. The detainee looked up and spat in her face, the manuscript recounts. The interrogator left the room to ask a Muslim linguist how she could break the prisoner's reliance on God. The linguist told her to tell the detainee that she was menstruating, touch him, then make sure to turn off the water in his cell so he couldn't wash. Strict interpretation of Islamic law forbids physical contact with women other than a man's wife or family, and with any menstruating women, who are considered unclean. "The concept was to make the detainee feel that after talking to her he was unclean and was unable to go before his God in prayer and gain strength," says the draft, stamped "Secret." The interrogator used ink from a red pen to fool the detainee, Saar writes. "She then started to place her hands in her pants as she walked behind the detainee," he says. "As she circled around him he could see that she was taking her hand out of her pants. When it became visible the detainee saw what appeared to be red blood on her hand. She said, 'Who sent you to Arizona?' He then glared at her with a piercing look of hatred. "She then wiped the red ink on his face. He shouted at the top of his lungs, spat at her and lunged forward" - so fiercely that he broke loose from one ankle shackle. "He began to cry like a baby," the draft says, noting the interrogator left saying, "Have a fun night in your cell without any water to clean yourself." Events Saar describes resemble two previous reports of abusive female interrogation tactics, although it wasn't possible to independently verify his account. In November, in response to an AP request, the military described an April 2003 incident in which a female interrogator took off her uniform top, exposed her brown T-shirt, ran her fingers through a detainee's hair and sat on his lap. That session was immediately ended by a supervisor and that interrogator received a written reprimand and additional training, the military said. In another incident, the military reported that in early 2003 a different female interrogator "wiped dye from red magic marker on detainees' shirt after detainee spit (cq) on her," telling the detainee it was blood. She was verbally reprimanded, the military said. Sexual tactics used by female interrogators have been criticized by the FBI, which complained in a letter obtained by AP last month that U.S. defense officials hadn't acted on complaints by FBI observers of "highly aggressive" interrogation techniques, including one in which a female interrogator grabbed a detainee's genitals. About 20 percent of the guards at Guantanamo are women, said Lt. Col. James Marshall, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command. He wouldn't say how many of the interrogators were female. Marshall wouldn't address whether the U.S. military had a specific strategy to use women. "U.S. forces treat all detainees and conduct all interrogations, wherever they may occur, humanely and consistent with U.S. legal obligations, and in particular with legal obligations prohibiting torture," Marshall said late Wednesday. But some officials at the U.S. Southern Command have questioned the formation of an all-female team as one of Guantanamo's "Immediate Reaction Force" units that subdue troublesome male prisoners in their cells, according to a document classified as secret and obtained by AP. In one incident, dated June 19, 2004, "The detainee appears to be genuinely traumatized by a female escort securing the detainee's leg irons," according to the document, a U.S. Southern Command summary of videotapes shot when the teams were used. The summary warned that anyone outside Department of Defense channels should be prepared to address allegations that women were used intentionally with Muslim men. At Guantanamo, Saar said, "Interrogators were given a lot of latitude under Miller," the commander who went from the prison in Cuba to overseeing prisons in Iraq, where the Abu Ghraib scandal shocked the world with pictures revealing sexual humiliation of naked prisoners. Several female troops have been charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Saar said he volunteered to go to Guantanamo because "I really believed in the mission," but then he became disillusioned during his six months at the prison. After leaving the Army with more than four years service, Saar worked as a contractor briefly for the FBI. The Department of Defense has censored parts of his draft, mainly blacking out people's names, said Saar, who hired Washington attorney Mark S. Zaid to represent him. Saar needed permission to publish because he signed a disclosure statement before going to Guantanamo. The book, which Saar titled "Inside the Wire," is due out this year with Penguin Press. Why was it necessary for him to write this book? |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #28 Interrogators shouldn't use stupid gimmicks. People who use stupid gimmicks in any line of work will usually look stupid when the gimmicks are exposed. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2005-01-28 11:44:46 PM |
| #27 So when is Captain Kirk going to be relieved of command and prosocuted for using tribbles to interrogate Klingons? |
| Posted by: SC88 2005-01-28 10:25:09 PM |
| #26 *IF* this guys claims are true -- and I haven't heard any confirmation of it -- then this confirms a few jihadi whines. It's still not torture, or even "abuse". It's putting pressure on them, in a way they're particularly susceptible. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-01-28 10:19:19 PM |
| #25 goddamit ima haten there no pichures. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2005-01-28 8:13:24 PM |
| #24 Just keep Madonna's coffee-table book alongside. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-01-28 6:53:42 PM |
| #23 Will this book have photographs? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-28 6:05:38 PM |
| #22 I'm still of the opinion that dead Jihadi's be ground up and fed to pigs. I don't think you get to go to paradise if you're turned into pig dung. Make the prisoners watch the progress and keep the pigs near them. Make them listen to the sound of dead Jihadi's being turned into gruel. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2005-01-28 6:00:53 PM |
| #21 BFD is right. A lot of people pay good money for that kind of treatment in Hollywood! |
| Posted by: Sgt.D.T. 2005-01-28 4:32:51 PM |
| #20 DB: Otherwise, why would they be making such a big deal over it? Re-read the four points I outlined above. The other likelihood is this - they don't have anything else to complain about. Some of them had pre-existing medical conditions fixed. Many gained weight from the improved diet. My feeling is that these are the only things that are true, so they are twisting these events into some kind of strange psychodrama. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-01-28 3:21:16 PM |
| #19 ZF - All valid points, and ones that I hadn't considered. But I still think that the fact a mere woman has power over them is something very unsettling to these nuts, and something that we should exploit. They are used to having women be subservient and only good for one thing. To have a woman have that much control over them has got to be extremely disconcerting. Otherwise, why would they be making such a big deal over it? |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2005-01-28 2:20:53 PM |
| #18 DB: If they freak out this much over being around chicks, maybe we should send more of 'em? Old, ugly, cute, it doesn't matter if you've been locked in a madrassa all day for years.... They're not freaking out - this is just a front that serves 3 purposes: (1) get monetary compensation, (2) remove another interrogation tool from our arsenal, (3) obtain sympathy for the Islamist cause, (4) divert attention from the fact that they are terrorists. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-01-28 2:00:53 PM |
| #17 My point is that if the honey trap - which was used by both sides against the opposition's personnel (for blackmail purposes) during the Cold War - was acceptable, using it against captured terrorists doesn't exactly worry me. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-01-28 1:58:00 PM |
| #16 I suspect this is the classic honey trap - get 'em to talk by offering incentives like hookers. None of these guys are fazed by prostitutes - Muslim men are some of horniest people around. For Muslims, using infidel hookers isn't particularly unusual - it's only haram to mess around with Muslim women. The 9/11 hijackers spent a fair amount of time around Florida's fleshpots, including strip clubs. I wouldn't be surprised if, in addition to lap dances, they paid for extra services. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-01-28 1:53:56 PM |
| #15 How can this guy say it's not a religious war, when he describes how the detainees are acting in captivity? (The praying, having to be clean before God.....) Just because you don't think you're fighting against an infidel, that doesn't mean they don't feel that way. Somehow I don't think they would show us any sensitivity to our religious beliefs (or lack thereof for some of us) if we were captured. If they freak out this much over being around chicks, maybe we should send more of 'em? Old, ugly, cute, it doesn't matter if you've been locked in a madrassa all day for years.... |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2005-01-28 1:53:08 PM |
| #14 These are glamorized (sexed up) stories that play on all the prejudices and stereotypes put forth on TV. Yes Muslim men consider sub human and not even close to their equal. But few of them are threatened by big boobs and a mini skirt. Also I sincerely doubt that four men who grew up in Britain hadnât see at least one booby, miniskirt, or touched an infidel female. I got the impression from the review that this soldier was retelling stories and never personally witnessed the mini-skirt interview or the menstrual blood (ink) âtortureâ episodes. I bet the talk on the âArab Streetâ is that if some infidel woman with big boobs and a mini skirt they would be too preoccupied with the erection and not much else. If this crap was really true all we would have to do is airdrop stained female underwear over the insurgents and they would flee in horror. Anyone want guess if that tactic would work? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-01-28 1:42:20 PM |
| #13 The media left is going to have a field day on this one and Bill O Reilly and Rantburgers like myself will support any way to get these Wads to talk. Same ole shit, different day. |
| Posted by: tex 2005-01-28 1:41:29 PM |
| #12 Madam interrogator...faster, harder please... |
| Posted by: Duke Nukem 2005-01-28 1:04:19 PM |
| #11 Send me, send me....I could use a good interrogator lickin' |
| Posted by: Duke Nukem 2005-01-28 12:59:49 PM |
| #10 Might another reason that it might not have worked well is the women are to fugly? If you put a miniskirt and thong underwear on a dog it's still a dog. Using their crappy Moon Cult against them is fine by be. I don't see that violating any major human rights protocol. TGA could let us know it this is Ok. He has after all been on the wrong end of real torture IRC. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-01-28 12:47:03 PM |
| #9 Icky... but... ummm, creative. It certainly hits the devout Muslim right in the ol' vulnerabilities. The object of the interrogation game is to make 'em sing like a demented canary. Now we have an idea about why some of the ones who were released from Guantanamo were telling wild tales about hookers, though. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2005-01-28 12:27:09 PM |
| #8 Have you seen some women in miniskirts and thong underwear? It really could be called cruel and unusual punishment. Of course, to be entirely objective, I would have to see the actual situation, repeatedly, to be certain. As I've said before in other places, the FBI has turned in to a bunch of small female cats. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-01-28 11:36:32 AM |
| #7 Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!! Yucky Infidel Girls!!! |
| Posted by: Achmed Mamoud Muhammad 2005-01-28 11:30:27 AM |
| #6 Sounds like some kids grew up watching late-night Cinemax. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-01-28 11:09:35 AM |
| #5 Sounds like some kids grew up watching late-night Cinemax. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-01-28 11:07:01 AM |
| #4 My reaction BFD. The fruitbats and other will go nutty over this. It's not abuse and it's not torture. It's just using methods that might work with these islamo nut jobs. Convince them they are going to hell unless they talk. It works for me. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-01-28 10:59:04 AM |
| #3 If true, it sounds like the folks down at gitmo have pulled out the infamous marv albert playbook and are going to work. Damn, you'd pay good money for this type of shit back in the states, um, or so I've heard. Gotta love the islamo-nutty male complex - what a bunch of brain washed malcontents, menstrating women will send you to hell, bwhahaha...... "Why was it necessary for him to write this book?" -money, money, money. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2005-01-28 10:25:25 AM |
| #2 maybe we should just cut them up into pieces. The left didn't seem to be as bothered by that. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-28 9:55:14 AM |
| #1 Article: Saar said he volunteered to go to Guantanamo because "I really believed in the mission," but then he became disillusioned during his six months at the prison. After leaving the Army with more than four years service, Saar worked as a contractor briefly for the FBI. Disillusioned? I don't think so. The guy can't seem to stay put. My feeling is that he was trolling around for material to write a book. Unfortunately, these are the scum that slip through when you have to fill important slots without a national mobilization. (Not that I'm particularly fond of a universal draft, but I would have gone). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-01-28 9:42:29 AM |