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Sleep Deprivation, Noise Manipulation Still Part of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"?
President Bush's executive order on CIA interrogations in the war on terrorism contains a classified annex listing precisely what techniques are acceptable. In other words, if not for some well-placed leakers, it'll be decades before anyone learns precisely what CIA interrogators are permitted to do to so-called "High-Value Targets" of al-Qaeda. But there are some clues.
Take this one. Generically, the standard set for banning procedures is listed as those acts "so serious that any reasonable person, considering the circumstances, would deem the acts to be beyond the bounds of human decency." (Italics added.) That's a big loophole -- much like the one in President Bush's February 2, 2002 executive order (pdf) stipulating that detainees in military custody should be treated according to the "principles" of the Geneva Conventions "to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity." Here, the crucial caveat is that an already-subjective judgment call on violating "human decency" take into account the likelihood of a detainee being a terrorist or possessing critical intelligence -- both of which would likely relax someone's definition of "decency."
And that may be, in part, what gets interrogators to some of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" listed in the annex. The order explicitly bans interrogators from murdering, raping or sexually humiliating detainees. Beyond that, there's this assurance:
detainees in the program receive the basic necessities of life, including adequate food and water, shelter from the elements, necessary clothing, protection from extremes of heat and cold, and essential medical care.
That's a strong indication that a technique called the "Cold Cell" -- in which a detainee is stripped nude while his surroundings are chilled to 50 degrees and he's doused with cold water -- is either no longer part of interrogators' repertoire or has been modified from its original form. It's less clear whether there's a loophole for some of CIA's more infamous techniques, including waterboarding, which sources tell Greg Miller of the Los Angeles Times was "abandoned years ago."
Not mentioned, however, are similar injunctions on sleep deprivation or sensory manipulation, such as barraging a detainee with light or noise for extended periods of time to induce disorientation. Both practices are thought to be in recent usage by CIA interrogators. And while senior officials wouldn't give any comment on those or other techniques, an alert reporter on a Friday conference call with anonymous senior officials caught the lack of reference to sleep deprivation. From the transcript:
QUESTION: Hi. I have a couple quick questions. One is in the provision that talks about how the detainees ought to receive the basic necessities of life, there's food and water, shelter from elements, and so forth, is there a reason that sleep is not included in that category? Can you say, regarding protection from extremes of heat and cold how someone would define what constitutes an extreme?SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: I think these are standards and terms that are traditionally used in the Geneva conventions and consistently applied. And each of them would -- the term like extremes of heat and cold I think would be given a reasonable interpretation based on circumstances. But I think it's intended to be clear that we're not talking about forcibly induced hypothermia or any use of extreme temperatures as a practice in a program like this. And so I think that is intended to be clear.
And as to sleep, that's not something that is traditionally enumerated in the Geneva Convention provisions. And beyond that I'm not in a position to comment about particular --
The official, according to the transcript, doesn't say anything more. The lack of reference to sleep deprivation or sensory manipulation in the order suggests that the approach taken by the Bush administration is that on so-called "torture lite" interrogation methods, only what's expressly prohibited by Geneva is expressly prohibited by CIA interrogators. Combined with the "considering the circumstances" caveat, that leaves a lot of leeway for an interrogator to abuse a detainee.
Comments (6)
dee illuminati wrote on July 23, 2007 12:17 PM:This has been a false issue from the very beginning, any 'draconian' circumstance, a lurid or insidious argument of need for coerion can be met with 'jury nullification' by the circumstance itself.
In a similar argument of 'draconian' conduct in the Andes in the 70's a plane of soccer players went down and the survivors resorted to cannibalism to survive. While there are numerous laws on eating a corpse, desecration of a corpse, and church edicts against the practice, the individuals who engaged in the activity were given absolution by the church and no charges were brought by civil authorirties.
What the politicizing of the GWOT and the assertion, that you are either with us or against us was: was in effect a coercion of the public to squelch dissent and reasoned discussion on some of the core premises of the GWOT as it was executed, and a means to empower political abuse tactically at home or with and upon 'internal public consumption.'
What the result was: a disconnect of the most important foreign policy tool that we had. The same is the arguments, we need to fight them there, to avoid fighting them here.. and wondering what two different messages that internal public consumtion receives versus what the foreign press carries.
There is never a need to be concerned that in a genuinely draconian situation, the ticking bomb scenario that force would be used, as it meeets the criterion of 'rational thought.'
People vociferously opposed to torture would see the act as a humanitarian act and based on that high of a level of actionable intel act and stand nullification.
This was a horrible policy and it has created blowback that genuinely is counter productive to combating a war against an ideaology.
If there is any historical litmus of just how genuinely 'wrong headed' the GWOT and radical religous elements was fought, it would be this specific policy.
This by far was the most unneeded means to collect intel when in fact all the empirical and historcial data suggests that these forms of coercion are unproductive and that time-decay makes these types of actionable intel meaningless in most scenarios.
This was a political mistake of historical proportion and has poisioned the well at home and abroad to the genuine risks created by radical and militant religous thought.
You do not need to create a cookbook for cannibalism or to create a 'guide' to torture, it is an annomaly that needs to remain nullififiable by a jury each time it must be performed.
Platypus wrote on July 23, 2007 12:53 PM:I notice that air is not included in the list of the official basic necessities of life. With any normal US government, it would be ridiculous to question why it's not on the list. But, given this administration and its history of waterboarding, air may have been explicitly omitted. One reason waterboarding is so effective is the induction of partial asphyxia. I would not be surprised if there were some "enhanced techniques" that are not technically waterboarding but use the same strategy of oxygen deprivation. These would accomplish the same thing as waterboarding, but allow the administration to plausibly deny the use of waterboarding and won't leave any scars for human rights groups to see.
Thrackazog wrote on July 23, 2007 1:12 PM:I noticed this in the story linked as "Tactics Not Fit for Citizens" (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/07/spy_chief_mcconnell_defends_ta.php)
'When asked if the permissible techniques would be troubling to the American people if the enemy used them against a U.S. citizen, McConnell said: "I would not want a U.S. citizen to go through the process. But it is not torture, and there would be no permanent damage to that citizen."'
Anyone else flash to Vader talking with Boba Fett during Han Solo's torture in "The Empire Strikes Back"? "He will not be permanently damaged."
TheraP wrote on July 23, 2007 1:20 PM:But Geneva bans interrogations, doesn't it?
This is all about interrogation.
Peter Kohan wrote on July 23, 2007 1:56 PM:I think "noise manipulation" is exactly the crime the Bush Administration has been committing against the American people since it came to office in 2001.
nellieh wrote on July 23, 2007 2:58 PM:The intelligence Director also said "there are doctors present to monitor the prisoners." If they aren't torturing, why are doctors present necessary? It's just amazing the bullshit answers we get from the top down to the manure shovelers.(press secretaries) Impeachment is the only solution before Bush screws up worse yhan he has , if that is possible. For never having to be accountable for any of his actions during his lifetime of sucking on the silver spoon we get the results. Hell, they should retroactively impeach his old man for raising such an asshole and helping to get him in the White House.
Who should have known what an unachiever he was if it wasn't the old man?