Charlotte Raab, Washington / AFP
07/15/2005
US interrogators forced a Saudi detainee at the Guantanamo 'war on terror' detention camp to wear a bra and put a thong on his head and a leash around his neck, a Congress hearing was told Wednesday.
But a top general said that while the prisoner had been degraded and abused he was not tortured, so a recommendation to reprimand the Guantanamo commander of the time was overturned.
Lieutenant General Randall Schmidt, who staged an inquiry into events at the camp in Cuba , told of the abuse of Mohamed al-Qahtani, a Saudi who was alleged to have admitted being the so-called 20th hijacker for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Schmidt said that during interrogations, al-Qahtani was led around by a leash tied to chains and made to perform dog tricks, a thong was placed on his head, he was forced to wear a bra and to stand naked in front of a female interrogator.
Al-Qahtani was told that his mother and sister were "whores" and that he was homosexual, according to the account of his investigation given by the general.
But Schmidt told the Senate Armed Services Committee "I do not, however, consider this treatment to have crossed the threshold of being inhumane."
"As the bottom line, we found no torture. Detention and interrogation operations were safe, secure and humane."
But Schmidt did say that the inquiry found the Saudi had suffered "abusive and degrading treatment" which was "determined by the cumulative effect of creative, persistent and lengthy interrogations".
Schmidt said he had recommended a reprimand of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Miller who had been in charge of Guantanamo and is now helping run the prison system in Iraq.
General Bantz Craddock, head of the US Southern Command which oversees Guantanamo , told the committee he had decided against admonishing Miller.
Craddock said Miller's behaviour "did not result in any violation of a US law or policy, and the degree of supervision provided by Major General Miller does not warrant admonishment under the circumstances."
Schmidt said there had also been two other incidents of unauthorized abuse at Guantanamo .
In one, a detainee was chained to the ground in an interrogation cell. A second inmate had adhesive tape put on his mouth to stop him saying verses from the Koran Muslim holy book.
Schmidt also confirmed that a female US interrogator had told a detainee that "the red marking on her hand was menstrual blood, and then wiped her hand on the detainee."
The general said the interrogator had been angry after being spat upon by the detainee and the blood incident was "a spontaneous act of revenge".
The interrogator was reprimanded, suspended for about 30 days, but allowed to resume duties after retraining, he said.
Guantanamo , where more than 520 detainees are currently held according to Defense Department figures, has been at the centre of mounting controversy in recent months.
Democratic lawmakers have called for action to change the way the camp is run or for its closure. But Republican supporters of President George W. Bush have expressed surprise at criticism of the camp and the officers running it.
Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said "I am in no way condoning these incidents, but I don't think they are a matter of national press attention." |
