The U.S. military has restricted techniques for eliciting information from detainees in Iraq.
Officials said Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq,
has restricted options for use in interrogations at the Abu Gharib facility
north of Baghdad. They said the new policy ø ordered on May 13 amid the
U.S. Army's investigation of interrogations at Abu Gharib ø banned the use
of techniques meant to pressure detainees to provide information to military
intelligence.
One banned technique was the practice of forcing detainees into
physically stressful positions. Until Sanchez's decision,
such a technique required approval from the commanding general.
[On Monday, a car bomb exploded near U.S. military headquarters in
Baghdad and killed Iraqi Governing Council head Abdul Zahraa Othman, Middle East Newsline reported.
Earlier, the Shi'ite Mahdi Army, employing grenade and mortar fire, drove an
Italian military force from a base in the southern city of Nasseriya.]
"What is said is simply we will not even entertain a request, so don't
even send it up for a review," a senior U.S. Central Command official said.
Officials said the only option left to interrogators after Sanchez's
review was the isolation of the detainee for up to 30 days. They said this
technique also required approval from the commanding general.
The Sanchez review came after a decision in October 2003 to ease
restrictions imposed on U.S. military interrogators. Officials said the
October policy provided greater options for interrogators ø after approval
from commanders ø to force detainees to sit, kneel or stand in abnormal
positions.
U.S. officials said the military has developed an interrogation plan
that included the acquisition of background information on Iraqi prisoners
for use in questioning. In addition, the military drafted a series of
approaches meant to respond to the level of cooperation exhibited by the
detainee. In all, the army manual lists 53 techniques for interrogation.
Military intelligence officials, providing the first open details in a
Defense Department briefing on May 14, described the process undergone by a
detainee after his capture and imprisonment in Abu Gharib, where thousands
of Iraqis were being held. They said the detainee would be screened by
military intelligence in cooperation with military police.
Military intelligence and military police then would examine the
detainee and determine whether he should undergo interrogation. Officials
said such a decision would depend on the tactical information required by
commanders. They said the priority of commanders has focused on information
that could protect U.S. troops and civilians.
The officials said the first task of the interrogator was to gather
information on the detainee and draft what they termed an analyst support
package and an interrogation plan. The plan included the type of information
sought from the detainee as well as the approach to take with him.
In most cases, officials said, interrogators have taken the direct
approach and merely ask questions. They said this approach elicited
information in
95 percent of cases.
"Or if you're not talking or we think you're deceptive, we might think
you might be a different person and say, 'Now I'm not sure," a Central
Command official said. "'You're ø aren't you so and so?' One of those
approaches would be laid down."
The Central Command official said interrogators would require permission
for any technique not on what he termed an approved list. One such technique
that has required approval, he said, was forcing the detainee to stand for a
period of time. In some cases, such requests would be relayed to the judge
advocate general to determine whether such a technique was not banned by the
Geneva Conventions.
The Bush administration has been besieged by U.S. media reports that
Pentagon officials approved a special classified interrogation unit in Iraq
to obtain information from Iraqi or foreign insurgents. One of the reports
asserted that senior Pentagon officials authorized the use of harsh
interrogation techniques against a Syrian national believed to have been
sent to bolster the Sunni insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
"It is our position, and has been from the very beginning, that we don't
address these things because the one time you don't say something, that's
the one time you're essentially confirming it," Pentagon spokesman Lawrence
DiRita said.
But officials acknowledged that interrogations have been hampered by a
block in the flow of information from battlefield units to Abu Gharib. They
said this has prevented combat units from obtaining important information
from detainees that could help operations.
The official said interrogations at Abu Gharib have yielded important
information that later helped capture key Iraqi officials, including deposed
President Saddam Hussein. Other information obtained through interrogation
included the routes of Al Qaida-inspired foreign volunteers who arrived to
fight the U.S. military in Iraq as well as the location and network of
improvised explosive devices.
"We have gotten some great information on additional terrorist threats
in Iraq, on radical Sunni Islamists working with former regime elements and
how that working relationship takes place," an official said. "And we've
also gotten some key information on terrorists. I'm going to put it as
tactical: their techniques, tactics and procedures; their command and
control structure; and how that's coming together there in Iraq. We've also
gotten some great information on key personalities."
