Pentagon officials are investigating new allegations by a civil
liberties group that military interrogators at the U.S. prison at
Guantanamo Bay used abusive tactics to question detainees under the
guise of friendlier FBI agents. The American Civil Liberties Union
released e-mails that showed FBI officials disapproved of the practice
and suggested the military interrogators were trying to take advantage
of the rapport the FBI had established with some detainees at the
prison in Cuba. The e-mails, obtained under the Freedom of Information
Act, also describe some harsh interrogation techniques in Iraq, and
suggest they were approved by President Bush. The White House denied a
suggestion inan FBI e-mail dated May 22, 2004, that
Bush personally signed off on certain interrogation techniques in an
executive order. A report on torture techniques used in Iraq datedJune 25, 2004 and sent to FBI director Robert Muellerwarned a witness had seen abuses
including "strangulation, beatings, placement of lit cigarettes into
the detainees' ear openings and unauthorized interrogations." The
military operation at Guantanamo Bay has come under increased scrutiny
as former prisoners have alleged they were tortured. The Pentagon
maintains it runs a humane operation there, and says all allegations of
abuse are investigated. The ACLU's latest disclosures primarily
constitute e-mails between FBI officials whose names the government
removed before releasing them. In several, the writers describe and
criticize various interrogation techniques they say they witnessed at
Guantanamo. While military interrogators are performing much of the
questioning at Guantanamo, the FBI and CIA also have operations there.
In one message, dated from August, the writer
reports more than once witnessing prisoners chained to the floor in a
fetal position, with no food or water. [more]
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