Did U.S. Special Forces Torture Afghan Civilians?

U.S. Army Special Forces in Kandahar ahead of a nighttime mission, February 2011. Photo: U.S. Army

Afghans Claim To Have Video Of U.S. Special Forces Guy Torturing Civilians -- Danger Room

Afghan officials say they’ve got video of a man overseeing the torture of Afghan civilians. Exactly who ordered the man to torture is a matter of fierce dispute — and also helps explain this year’s erosion of trust between Washington and Kabul.

Allegedly, there’s a videotape in Afghan government hands showing a man named Zakaria Kandahari presiding over the torture of an Afghan civilian who, along with 15 others, recently disappeared from Wardak Province. According to the New York Times, Kandahari, an American citizen, is “seen conducting” the torture session and “supervising” others.

But there is great disagreement over who Kandahari actually is. The Afghans say that Kandahari leads a U.S. Army Special Forces unit recently kicked out of Wardak over allegations of torture, disappearances and executions. The U.S. military command says unequivocally that Kandhari was an interpreter for the unit, not a leader; that he’s not actually an American; and that the unit was not involved in any torture.

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Update: Afghans Say an American Tortured Civilians -- New York Times

My Comment: This is a case that deserves a thorough investigation .... it also explains why U.S.-Afghan relations are poisonous at the moment.

Three Former Top Spies Endorse "Zero Dark Thirty's" Version Of Torture

Shock Endorsement: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Wins Raves From Top Spies -- Washington Examiner

In a surprising endorsement, three top former CIA officials Tuesday praised the controversial anti-terror film "Zero Dark Thirty," claiming that it properly showed that brutal interrogation worked in the early war against al Qaeda, despite administration claims.

What's more, the three, including a former CIA director and his top spy, said that without so-called "enhanced interrogation," which President Obama killed in his third day in office, the nation's security is at risk.

"I fear for the safety of our national security because of that," said Jose Rodriguez, a 31-year CIA veteran who headed the National Clandestine Service from 2004-2008.

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My Comment: Conventional wisdom has been saying the opposite .... but I will wager that years from now .... when the politics has changed ..... a re-evaluation on the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques will be done. And when that report is completed, it would not surprise me that a different conclusion and consensus will be reached.

Update: Top CIA Officials To Bigelow: Our Torture Boxes Were Bigger -- Business Insider

Sesame Street Music Used To Torture Detainees At Guantanamo Bay

 

Songs of War -- Al Jazeera 

We follow a Sesame Street composer as he learns how his music has been used to torture detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Award-winning musician Christopher Cerf has composed music for the famous children's television show Sesame Street for 40 years.

During this time, he has written more than 200 songs intended to help children learn how to read and write. But these innocent children's songs were abused for inhumane purposes.

 In 2003, it transpired that US intelligence services had tortured detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib with music from Sesame Street.

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My Comment: Listening to Sesame is bad enough .... but the real torture is being forced to listen to Barney.

US Intelligence Committee Approves The Report That Finds Harsh CIA Interrogations Are Ineffective

Report Finds Harsh CIA Interrogations Ineffective -- Washington Post

After a contentious closed-door vote, the Senate intelligence committee approved a long-awaited report Thursday concluding that harsh interrogation measures used by the CIA did not produce significant intelligence breakthroughs, officials said.

The 6,000-page document, which was not released to the public, was adopted by Democrats over the objections of most of the committee’s Republicans. The outcome reflects the level of partisan friction that continues to surround the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other severe interrogation techniques four years after they were banned.

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More News On The US Intelligence Committee Approving The Report That Finds Harsh CIA Interrogations Ineffective

Senate committee approves report on CIA interrogations, revives torture debate -- Reuters
Senate Panel Approves Findings Critical of Detainee Interrogations -- New York Times
Senate committee adopts interrogation techniques report -- CNN
Senate intel panel approves torture report -- The Hill
Report On CIA Interrogation Tactics Revives Torture Debate -- NPR
US Senate panel condemns CIA torture ?mistakes? -- AFP
Senate CIA Torture Report Adopted, Provides Factual, Comprehensive Review of U.S. Torture Program -- Human Rights First
Senate under pressure to release mammoth report on CIA interrogation -- The Guardian

My Comment: The authors of this report obviously did not see the movie "Zero Dark Thirty". As for the report itself .... Democrats voted for the report, and with the exception of Sen. John McCain who has always advocated that torture should not be use .... the Republicans voted against it. No bipartisanship on this issue.

Human Rights Watch Accuses The U.S. Of Additional CIA Renditions And Waterboardings

Waterboarding 'More Widespread Than CIA Will Admit' As New Torture Claims Emerge -- Daily Mail

* Human Rights Watch report challenges George W. Bush's claim that only three al Qaeda suspects were waterboarded
* Terror suspects allegedly not allowed to bathe for three months
* Opponents of Colonel Gadhafi said to have been handed to Libya with only 'thin assurances' they would not be tortured

Waterboarding at CIA-run prisons was more widespread than has been acknowledged, a damning human rights group report claimed today.

New details of brutal treatment by Bush-era interrogators included how terror suspects were not allowed to bathe for three months.

The report by Human Rights Watch also paints a more complete picture of Washington's close cooperation with the regime of Libya's former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

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More News On Libyan Reports That CIA "Waterboarding" More Widespread Than Thought

US: Torture and Rendition to Gaddafi’s Libya -- Human Rights Watch

Report: Libyans claim waterboarding, other CIA abuses -- CNN
Human rights group alleges U.S. waterboarded Gaddafi opponents -- Reuters
Libyan Alleges Waterboarding by C.I.A., Report Says -- New York Times
Evidence of US Waterboarding Discovered -- Voice of America
Evidence of wider US waterboarding, Human Rights Watch says -- New York Daily News
New Torture And Rendition Allegations Surface Against The U.S. -- NPR
Gadhafi's enemies tortured, HRW says -- UPI
New Report Alleges Bush-Era CIA Waterboarded At Least One Of Gaddafi's Enemies -- Business Insider
US waterboarded Libyan Islamists: report -- AFP
Human Rights Watch accuses US of covering up extent of waterboarding -- The Guardian

Human Rights Watch: There Are 27 Torture Centers In Syria

'We Took Their Fingernails Out With Pliers And We Made Them Eat Them. We Made Them Suck Their Own Blood Off The floor': Inside Syria’s '27 Torture Centres' -- Daily Mail

* Human Rights Watch report released as Syrian President Bashar Assad says he regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces last month
* Group says tens of thousands of people had been detained across Syria by intelligence agencies
* Detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and their fingernails torn out, claims the report
* 'The reach and inhumanity of this network of torture centres are truly horrific,' says Human Rights Watch researcher

Syrian intelligence agencies are running torture centres across the country where detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and their fingernails torn out, a report released today has said.

Human Rights Watch identified 27 detention centres that it says intelligence agencies have been using since President Bashar al-Assad's government began a crackdown in March 2011 on pro-democracy protesters trying to oust him.

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More News On Syria's Torture Centers

Syria: Torture Centers Revealed -- Human Rights Watch

Report identifies Syria's "torture centres" -- Al Jazeera
Report: Syria tortures dissidents in 'archipelago' of prisons -- Christian Science Monitor
Report describes brutal torture in Syria -- CNN
Syria torture accounts reinforce human rights concerns -- BBC
Syria running 'torture archipelago': rights group -- AFP
HRW: Syria set up 'torture center' system -- UPI
Syria running torture centre network - rights group -- Reuters
Syrian detainees reveal 'torture centres' -- CBC
Inside Syria’s medieval torture HELL: ‘Stun guns to genitals...beaten with metal whips’ - Human Rights Watch -- New York Daily News
Rights group: Syria's 20 ways to torture prove its crimes against humanity -- MSNBC

How The CIA Broke Accused 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed

Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed appeared at a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay Navy Base in Cuba Saturday. Reuters

How We Broke KSM -- New York Post

CIA big spills on terrorist’s rude awakening – 180 hours of no sleep.

In the end, it was the prospect of a nap that made 9/11 terror mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed sing like a canary.

“Even with waterboarding, he was counting on his fingers, because he knew we would stop at 10, so he wasn’t terribly intimidated by that,” ex-CIA official José Rodriguez Jr., told The Post.

“It was the sleep deprivation that finally got him.”

Still, the man described as the Hannibal Lecter of al Qaeda wasn’t easy to crack.

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My Comment: A diet of Ensure, diapers, and lack of sleep is what passes for torture? Hmmmm .... the lack of sleep is what would break me.

Ex-CIA Head Defends Post-9/11 Tactics

Hard Measures: Ex-CIA Head Defends Post-9/11 Tactics -- CBS 60 Minutes

Jose Rodriguez has no regrets about the CIA using "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- methods that some consider torture - on suspected al Qaeda members detained and questioned after 9/11. Lesley Stahl interviews the former head of the CIA's Clandestine Service about waterboarding and other methods he says were essential to getting information from suspected terrorists, and he denies claims that these harsh measures caused detainees to provide false or unreliable information that misled the CIA. In fact, Rodriguez says that high-level detainees Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah provided their best information only after harsh treatment, a claim that the CIA's own investigator general has challenged.

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My Comment: Jose Rodriguez makes Lesley Stahl from 60 minutes looks naive and stupid in this report. Her comments to Jose Rodriguez's remarks on ensure/diet manipulation are classic. Jose Rodriguez is a hero .... and he shines in this video.

Former MI5 Head: 'Waterboarding Worked'

'Waterboarding Worked' Says Former MI5 Head -- The Telegraph

The former head of MI5 has said life saving information has been gained from waterboarding but criticised former senior American officials for making “exaggerated” claims.

Eliza Manningham-Buller admitted for the first time that the controversial technique had provided intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks.

But she criticised “high-up” former American officials who have claimed that British lives were saved, saying such claims were “exaggerated.”

“It’s not the case that torture always produces false information and actually it’s clear that torture can contribute to saving lives, but I don’t think that’s the point,” she said at the recording of her second BBC Reith lecture in Leeds. “The point is that it is not something that is right, legal and moral to do.”

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My Comment: The former head of MI5 has at least one defender.

Human Rights Watch Wants To Prosecute Former President Bush And VP Cheney For Torture

Obama Urged To Investigate Bush Torture Claims -- BBC

A campaign group has said the US president should order a criminal investigation into alleged torture sanctioned by the Bush administration.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says there is "overwhelming evidence" of torture ordered by George W Bush.

The former president has defended some of the techniques, saying they prevented attacks and saved lives.

The Obama administration has launched inquiries into deaths in CIA custody and other "unauthorised actions".

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More News On Calls For President Obama To Investigate Bush Torture Claims

George W Bush should be prosecuted over torture, says human rights group -- The Guardian
Group Wants Bush Prosecuted For War Crimes -- Slate
Bush should face criminal probe over post-9/11 'torture,' report urges -- Christian Science Monitor
Charge George W. Bush with Torture and War Crimes, Says Report -- IBTimes
HRW: U.S. must investigate torture claims -- UPI
Human Rights Watch: Prosecute Bush for Torture -- The Atlantic
Human Rights Watch Calls For Criminal Investigation Against Bush Officials -- Radio Free Europe
Human Rights Watch: prosecute Bush and Cheney (abroad, if necessary) -- Foreign Policy
The books aren’t closed on Bush’s torture policy -- Kenneth Roth, Washington Post

My Comment: This is going to go nowhere.

Former Pakistan President Claims Britain Was 'Complicit' In Torture Of Terror Suspects

Claims: Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf believed the UK 'tacitly approved' torture but that was denied by former security chief Sir David Omand

Britain Was 'Complicit' In Torture Of Terror Suspects, Claims Former Pakistan President -- The Daily Mail

* Government gave 'tacit approval'
* FBI agent says officers looked to Jack Bauer for ideas on interrogation methods

The British secret services did nothing to stop the torture of the country's citizens, Pakistan's former president has claimed.

Pervez Musharraf has said he cannot remember ever being told by the UK Government that his intelligence service should not use torture on Britons.

The former head of MI5 has denied ' that a blind eye had been turned'.

Though they again raise uncomfortable questions over how much knowledge Britain had that torture was being used in the fight against Al Qaeda.

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My Comment: Was Britain aware that torture was being used on Al Qaeda suspects by Pakistani intelligence officers .... probably .... but having a good idea on what the Pakistanis were doing is different from giving the Pakistanis tacit approval for torture to proceed. What is my take .... the Pakistanis never listen to anyone .... the idea that they would need approval from Britain to torture their own terror suspects does not ring true.

An Argument Against The Use Of Torture And Its Touted Sucess In the Bush Administration (Book Review)

Counterfactual: A Curious History Of The C.I.A.’s Secret Interrogation Program -- New Yorker

On September 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of Al Qaeda’s attacks on America, another devastating terrorist plot was meant to unfold. Radical Islamists had set in motion a conspiracy to hijack seven passenger planes departing from Heathrow Airport, in London, and blow them up in midair. “Courting Disaster” (Regnery; $29.95), by Marc A. Thiessen, a former speechwriter in the Bush Administration, begins by imagining the horror that would have resulted had the plot succeeded. He conjures fifteen hundred dead airline passengers, televised “images of debris floating in the ocean,” and gleeful jihadis issuing fresh threats: “We will rain upon you such terror and destruction that you will never know peace.”

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My Comment: This review is essentially an argument against the touted success of the CIA torture/interrogation program.

As to what is my take .... torture has been used throughout history because of its success rate ... not its failure rate. But having said that, has it been effective as a tool in the war against terror? Hmmmm .... I have my doubts. Information probably has been obtained through coercive techniques, but has information been obtained to stop an attack .... count me as one who is on the fence on this one.

Beyond Torture: The Future Of Interrogation

Ways of making them talk (Image: Chris Ryan/Getty)

From New Scientist:

Editorial: Where coercion has failed, why not try persuasion?

ABU GHRAIB and Guantanamo Bay: two names that have become synonymous in many people's minds with torture and abuse of human rights by American interrogators. When Barack Obama entered the White House in January 2009, he set out to erase the stain such practices have left on America's image. The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group established later that year has as one of its stated aims to interrogate without brute force and to employ "scientifically proven" techniques - though without saying what these might be.

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My Comment: I was surprised to read this article about torture in the New Scientist. It is rather long .... but if you want to know all about the trends and directions for where torture is (or may be) going, this article is for you.

Should "Torture" Be Used On The Terrorist Who attempted To Bomb Flight 253. Majority Of Americans Say Yes

58% Favor Waterboarding of Plane Terrorist To Get Information -- Rasmussen Report

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of U.S. voters say waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques should be used to gain information from the terrorist who attempted to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 30% oppose the use of such techniques, and another 12% are not sure.

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My Comment: One more example on our elected officials diverging away from what the majority of the American public believe should be done in the war on terror.

54 Percent of Americans: Torture Often/Sometimes Justified

From The Weekly Standard:

The new numbers from Pew have support for torture at a 5 year high, with 19 percent saying torture is "often" justified when interrogating terror suspects and 35 percent saying it is "sometimes" justified. That's a majority of Americans who, unlike the president, understand that there are very real and very tough choices to be made between our security and our ideals.

Allahpundit looks at the numbers (click through to see the tables):

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My Comment: This is a sizable shift .... and unexpected since we have been deluge for the past year or two on the "evils" of torture from our mass media.

The key sentence in this report is the last one ....

What percentage of Americans would support "enhanced interrogation" given the spike in support for real torture? In May of 2009, a CNN poll found that 50 percent of Americans supported the Bush administration's use of waterboarding. Could that number be up 10 points, too?

MI5 Chief Jonathan Evans Defends 'Torture Intelligence'

Jonathan Evans, Director-General of MI5.
(Manchester Evening News/Reuters)

From Times Online:

The Director General of MI5 has issued a powerful defence of Britain's co-operation with intelligence agencies in America and other countries accused of the abuse and torture of detainees, saying they had stopped "many attacks" in the aftermath of the September 11 strikes.

Speaking for the first time about charges of MI5 complicity in the abuse of suspects overseas, Jonathan Evans said Britain had had to get overseas help at the time of the strikes on New York's World Trade Centre as its own knowledge of al Qaeda was inadequate and the terrorist network might have hit again "imminently".

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My Comment: I would love to know what information he is talking about that has assisted MI5 in stopping terrorist attacks.

Report: CIA Interrogations Informed By Bad Science

From Sci-Tech Today:

The list of techniques the CIA used included prolonged sleep deprivation -- six days in at least one instance -- being chained in painful positions, exploitation of prisoners' phobias, and waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning that President Barack Obama has called torture. Three CIA prisoners were waterboarded, two of them extensively.

Prolonged stress from the CIA's harsh interrogations could have impaired the memories of terrorist suspects, diminishing their ability to recall and provide the detailed information the spy agency sought, according to a scientific paper published Monday.

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My Comment: Another article in my long series that examines the effectiveness (or lack of) in using torture on terrorism suspects.

Does Torture Work?

Coercive interrogation techniques used to extract information from terrorist suspects are likely to have been unsuccessful, new research shows. (Credit: iStockphoto)

You Can't Trust A Tortured Brain: Neuroscience Discredits Coercive Interrogation -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2009) — According to a new review of neuroscientific research, coercive interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration to extract information from terrorist suspects are likely to have been unsuccessful and may have had many unintended negative effects on the suspect's memory and brain functions.

A new article, published in the journal, Trends in Cognitive Science, reviews scientific evidence demonstrating that repeated and extreme stress and anxiety have a detrimental influence on brain functions related to memory.

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My Comment: More information for the debate on torture.

Did Waterboarding Work On Khalid Sheik Mohammed?

Khalid Sheik Mohammed

How A Detainee Became An Asset -- Washington Post

Sept. 11 Plotter Cooperated After Waterboarding

After enduring the CIA's harshest interrogation methods and spending more than a year in the agency's secret prisons, Khalid Sheik Mohammed stood before U.S. intelligence officers in a makeshift lecture hall, leading what they called "terrorist tutorials."

In 2005 and 2006, the bearded, pudgy man who calls himself the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks discussed a wide variety of subjects, including Greek philosophy and al-Qaeda dogma. In one instance, he scolded a listener for poor note-taking and his inability to recall details of an earlier lecture.

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My Comment: A must read article on torture and its effectiveness and/or lack of.

40 Per Cent Of Australians Believe It Is Acceptable To Torture Enemy Soldiers

Australian soldiers mix with locals in southern Afghanistan. (ADF)

40pc Think Torturing Enemy Soldiers OK -- ABC News (Australia)

A new study has found more than 40 per cent of Australians believe it is acceptable to torture enemy soldiers in certain circumstances.

The survey of over 1,000 people by the Australian Red Cross found two in five believed torturing to obtain important military information was OK, even though most knew it was illegal.

The "People on War" survey was released to mark the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions.

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Update: Torture OK with many, poll finds -- The Age

My Comment:Forget about the Aussies .... let us do the same poll in Pakistan, certain parts of Iraq, Somalia ....