Details of the Torture System

Reports have revealed acts by Coalition guards and interrogators that included vicious beating, strangulation and suffocation, forced nudity and other forms of humiliation, threats with dogs, and prolonged exposure to intense heat or cold. [11] Reports have also detailed hooding, sleep deprivation, hanging by the arms, near-drowning, sexual abuse, restricted food and water, burns, use of sharp and blunt instruments, exposure to intolerable noise, threats of murder, beating with clubs and wire, prolonged “stress” positions, electric shocks and more. [12] Even Pentagon reports have described torture in clear, unambiguous and agonizing detail. [13]

The abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison on the outskirts of Baghdad – controlled by US forces – are known worldwide. But Coalition personnel have abused and tortured prisoners at numerous other sites, including:

* Central prisons such as Camp Cropper , Camp Bucca and Camp Shu'aiba near Basra (a UK facility)
* Secret interrogation sites such as Camp Nama near Baghdad , [14] and Camp Diamondback at the Mosul Airport . [15]
* Makeshift prison camps
* Divisional and brigade level military detention centers
* Forward operating bases such as Tiger in al-Qaim [16] and Mercury in Falluja, [17]
* Points of capture. [18]

H undreds of US personnel have abused and tortured prisoners in Iraq . [19]UK forces have also been clearly involved and the Dutch contingent has also been implicated. [20] Regular military forces and units of military police guards have most often appeared in press stories, official reports and court martials. Virtually all of those in the spotlight during the Abu Ghraib scandal were US army reservists, members of the 800 th Military Police Brigade. But this focus was seriously misleading.

Less visible, but far more systematically involved in abusive practices, are:

* Military Intelligence personnel
* Special Operations personnel (US Army Rangers, US Navy Seals, British Special Air Services, etc.)
* CIA and other intelligence and police service personnel (in particular, staff of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the FBI and the British Secret Intelligence Service, sometimes known as MI6). [21]

At Abu Ghraib, Military Intelligence (and the CIA) controlled Cellblocks 1A and 1B, the prison buildings where torture was taking place. [22] Military Intelligence put pressure on the Military Police guards to “set the conditions” (i.e. abusively prepare detainees) for interrogation. [23] The notorious Camp Nama , another major interrogation site, included among its key personnel: special operations, military intelligence, and CIA. [24] Others involved in the torture and abuse are:

* Military medical personnel, including doctors, who have helped design, approve and monitor abusive interrogation, as well as filing false medical reports, including false death certificates. [25]
* Private military contractors, including employees of Titan and CACI International, who were hired to perform guard duty, translation or interrogation services. [26]CACI alone employed almost half of all interrogators and analysts at Abu Ghraib during the scandal period. [27] Some of these contract personnel previously worked in US domestic prisons, where they already had records of criminal abuse of prisoners. [28]

[11] The first reports to detail torture methods were: Bucca Report, ICRC Report, and Taguba Report. We have studied seven military reports and twelve reports from human rights organizations where these methods are described in detail. Much additional evidence is available in the press and in military court martial trails, as referenced below.

[12]Ibid.

[13] See Bucca Report, Taguba Report; and reports by General Donald Ryder, Colonel Stuart Herrington, General Paul Mikolashek, and General George Fay, among others.

[14] Human Rights Watch, No Blood, No Foul (July 2006) pp. 6-25. See also Eric Schmitt and Carolyn Marshall, “ In Secret Unit's 'Black Room,' a Grim Portrait of US Abuse ” New York Times ( March 19, 2006 )

[15] Human Rights Watch, op.cit . pp. 38-47

[16]Ibid. , pp. 25-38

[17] Human Rights Watch, Leadership Failure: Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army's 82 nd Airborne Division (September, 2005) A “forward operating base” is a temporary base located close to a theater of operations.

[18] The Mikolashek Report mentions that in the period to June 2004, nearly half of the alleged cases of abuse occurred at the “point of capture,” – that is, before persons had been brought to any detention facility at all. And of 20 cases of detainee deaths examined, 10 occurred in prisons, five at forward collection points and five at points of capture. See Josh White and Scott Higham, “Army Calls Abuses ‘Aberrations'” Washington Post ( July 23, 2004 )

[19] See Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project (Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First and the New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, By the Numbers (April, 2006) and American Civil Liberty Union, Enduring Abuse (April 2006)

[20]As additional evidence emerges of UK abusive detention practices, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has expressed concern and asked for explanations about the “use of inhuman and degrading interrogation techniques.” Robert Verkaik, “Kidnap and Torture: New Claims of Army War Crimes in Iraq ” Independent (May 18, 2007); Robert Verkaik, “Human Rights in Iraq : a Case to Answer” Independent (May 29, 2007) “Dutch Military in Iraq Abuse Row” BBC (November 17, 2006)

[21] See for example Schmitt and Marshall , op.cit. ; Human Rights First, Command's Responsibility (February, 2006) pp. 7 and 9; Peter Beaumont, Martin Bright, Paul Harris, “British Quizzed Iraqis at Torture Jail” Observer ( May 9, 2004 ); David Johnston, “US Inquiry Falters on Civilians Accused of Detainee Abuse” International Herald Tribune ( December 19, 2006 ). Human Rights Watch's information on Camp Nama , an extremely abusive secret site for prisoner interrogation, quotes a participant who says that most of those at the camp were CIA and special forces personnel. “No Blood, No Foul” p. 8. The FBI has also reportedly been involved in interrogation in Camp Nama and elsewhere in Iraq (Schmitt and Marshall, op. cit .).

[22] Taguba Report, op. cit. pp. 18-19

[23]Ibid ., p. 18. See also “ICRC Report”, op. cit. p. 13. There has been extreme underreporting of the actual interrogations at Abu Ghraib.

[24] Human Rights Watch, No Blood, No Foul (July 2006) pp. 6-25

[25] Steven H. Miles, “Abu Graib: its legacy for military medicine” The Lancet , Vol 364 ( August 21, 2004 ) pp. 725-729

[26] Taguba Report. The report mentions by name four persons from the two contractor firms who were involved in torture. Contractors have been immune from military law and none have been prosecuted under US law for these crimes.

[27] Peter Beaumont, “Abu Ghraib Abuse Firms are Rewarded” Observer ( January 16, 2005 )

[28] Avery Gordon, “D'où viennent les tortionnaires d'Abu Ghraib?” Le Monde Diplomatique (November, 2006) pp. 20-21