Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 20. december 2004 / Time Line December 20, 2004
Version 3.519. December 2004, 21. December 2004
12/20/2004
FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane
Interrogation Techniques
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=17216&c=206
Newly Obtained FBI Records Call Defense Department’s Methods
"Torture," Express Concerns Over "Cover-Up" That May Leave FBI
"Holding the Bag" for Abuses
NEW YORK -- A document released for the first time today by the
American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued
an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation
methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today
are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail
that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as
"torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the
FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered
up.
"These documents raise grave questions about where the blame for
widespread detainee abuse ultimately rests," said ACLU Executive
Director Anthony D. Romero. "Top government officials can no longer
hide from public scrutiny by pointing the finger at a few
low-ranking soldiers."
The documents were obtained after the ACLU and other public
interest organizations filed a lawsuit against the government for
failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that
the President directly authorized interrogation techniques
including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military
dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The
ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of
such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists.
The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene
Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes
that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the
techniques that the President is said to have authorized.
Another e-mail, dated December 2003, describes an incident in which
Defense Department interrogators at Guantánamo Bay
impersonated FBI agents while using "torture techniques" against a
detainee. The e-mail concludes "If this detainee is ever released
or his story made public in any way, DOD interrogators will not be
held accountable because these torture techniques were done [sic]
the ‘FBI’ interrogators. The FBI will [sic] left
holding the bag before the public."
The document also says that no "intelligence of a threat
neutralization nature" was garnered by the "FBI" interrogation, and
that the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF)
believes that the Defense Department’s actions have destroyed
any chance of prosecuting the detainee. The e-mail’s author
writes that he or she is documenting the incident "in order to
protect the FBI."
"The methods that the Defense Department has adopted are illegal,
immoral, and counterproductive," said ACLU staff attorney Jameel
Jaffer. "It is astounding that these methods appear to have been
adopted as a matter of policy by the highest levels of
government."
The June 2004 "Urgent Report" addressed to the FBI Director is
heavily redacted. The legible portions of the document appear to
describe an account given to the FBI’s Sacramento Field
Office by an FBI agent who had "observed numerous physical abuse
incidents of Iraqi civilian detainees," including "strangulation,
beatings, [and] placement of lit cigarettes into the detainees ear
openings." The document states that "[redacted] was providing this
account to the FBI based on his knowledge that [redacted] were
engaged in a cover-up of these abuses."
The release of these documents follows a federal court order that
directed government agencies to comply with a year-old request
under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center
for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans
for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace. The New York Civil
Liberties Union is co-counsel in the case.
Other documents released by the ACLU today include:
* An FBI email regarding DOD personnel impersonating FBI officials
during interrogations. The e-mail refers to a "ruse" and notes that
"all of those [techniques] used in these scenarios" were approved
by the Deputy Secretary of Defense. (Jan. 21, 2004)
* Another FBI agent’s account of interrogations at
Guantánamo in which detainees were shackled hand and foot in
a fetal position on the floor. The agent states that the detainees
were kept in that position for 18 to 24 hours at a time and most
had "urinated or defacated [sic]" on themselves. On one occasion,
the agent reports having seen a detainee left in an unventilated,
non-air conditioned room at a temperature "probably well over a
hundred degrees." The agent notes: "The detainee was almost
unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had
apparently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout the
night." (Aug. 2, 2004)
* An e-mail stating that an Army lawyer "worked hard to cwrite
[sic] a legal justification for the type of interrogations they
(the Army) want to conduct" at Guantánamo Bay. (Dec. 9,
2002)
* An e-mail noting the initiation of an FBI investigation into the
alleged rape of a juvenile male detainee at Abu Ghraib prison in
Iraq. (July 28, 2004)
* An FBI agent’s account of an interrogation at
Guantánamo - an interrogation apparently conducted by
Defense Department personnel - in which a detainee was wrapped in
an Israeli flag and bombarded with loud music and strobe lights.
(July 30, 2004)
The ACLU and its allies are scheduled to go to court again this
afternoon, where they will seek an order compelling the CIA to turn
over records related to an internal investigation into detainee
abuse. Although the ACLU has received more than 9,000 documents
from other agencies, the CIA refuses to confirm or deny even the
existence of many of the records that the ACLU and other plaintiffs
have requested. The CIA is reported to have been involved in
abusing detainees in Iraq and at secret CIA detention facilities
around the globe.
The lawsuit is being handled by Lawrence Lustberg and Megan Lewis
of the New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan,
Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C. Other attorneys in the case are
Jaffer, Amrit Singh and Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU; Art Eisenberg
and Beth Haroules of the NYCLU; and Barbara Olshansky and Jeff
Fogel of CCR.
The documents referenced above can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/fbi.html.
More on the lawsuit can be found at:
- http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/.
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