Rumsfeld Sued Over Torture

Via Knight-Ridder:

"Eight men who say they were severely tortured by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan sued Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday, charging that he should be held personally responsible for injuries they suffered because he permitted harsh interrogation tactics.

The four Iraqi and four Afghan citizens said they were repeatedly beaten, cut with knives, sexually humiliated and faced mock firing squads in several locations in the two countries during 2003 and 2004.

They claimed in the suit that Rumsfeld authorized the tactics in 2002, then ignored complaints about torture from the Red Cross, FBI agents and others long before the Abu Ghraib prison scandal erupted last year.

The Defense Department "vigorously disputed" allegations in the lawsuit. (...)

The lawsuit, organized by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and the group Human Rights First, is the first seeking to hold an American official personally responsible for alleged abuse of captives in Iraq and Afghanistan. It requests unspecified monetary damages and a declaration that Rumsfeld acted unconstitutionally.

Among the plaintiffs' lawyers are two former top U.S. military officers: retired Rear Adm. John Hutson, who was Navy judge advocate general, and retired Army Brig. Gen. James Cullen, who was chief judge of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

"The U.S. military has always been a role model in treating the captured," Hutson said. "I don't think we are now." (...)

None of the plaintiffs was ever charged with a crime, and several complain of permanent injuries from their treatment, from nearly paralyzed legs to ruptured eardrums, their lawyers said. (...)

The former detainees claim lengthy, brutal abuse. Some examples:

- Sabbar, who said he was detained at four locations, said he was forced to run through a gantlet of 10 to 20 officers who beat him with wooden batons, that a "gun-shaped device inflicted excruciating electrical shocks" and that he and other prisoners were forced to stand against a wall during a mock firing squad complete with gunfire.

- Mehboob Ahmad, 35, an Afghan, was held at Bagram Air Base in 2003. He said he was hung upside down from the ceiling and hung by his arms from a chain, and was forced to wear black, opaque goggles and sound-blocking earphones for the first month of detention.

- Iraqi Arkan Ali, 26, said soldiers used a large knife to stab and slice his forearm, stripped him and kept him several days in a coffin-like box, and desecrated his Quran by having a guard dog pick it up in its mouth. Arabs consider dogs unclean."

The ACLU's statement is here. It quotes Admiral Hutson, the former Navy JAG, as saying:

""One of the greatest strengths of the U.S. military throughout our history has been strong civilian leadership at the top of the chain of command," said Admiral Hutson. "Unfortunately, Secretary Rumsfeld has failed to live up to that tradition. In the end, that imperils our troops and undermines the war effort. It is critical that we return to another military tradition: accountability." "

Comments

[felixrayman]

How is this worse than the average frat hazing? Would you deny our troops (you do support them and pray for them, don't you?) the opportunity to blow some steam off and have a good time?

[Frank]

But I thought the "acountability moment" was past?

[cleek]

How is this worse than the average frat hazing?

maybe it's not. frat hazing, however, is illegal in many (most?) states. i say we legalize it, to get rid of that sticking point - i'd hate to have to deny Rush his inane analogy on a legal technicality.

[dmbeaster]

Funny how with a Republican Congress, the meaningful investigation into such events now must take in civil suits brought by foreigners.

[ed_finnerty]

felix

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic.

However, the difference between this and frat hazing is that in frat hazing there is an implicit understanding by the hazee that humiliation is the objective and that the practices will stop short of actual physical damage. The torturees can make no such assumption. Indeed, this implied escalation is what theoretically makes the torture effective.

[carpeicthus]

Guys, felix is being sarcasti-licious. We're talking about stabbing here, which is part of only the really good frat hazings.

[otmar]

In that context the State Department's annual human rights report is interesting. See here. Quotes from the WP's take:

The State Department's annual human rights report released yesterday criticized countries for a range of interrogation practices it labeled as torture, including sleep deprivation for detainees, confining prisoners in contorted positions, stripping and blindfolding them and threatening them with dogs -- methods similar to those approved at times by the Bush administration for use on detainees in U.S. custody.

...

The State Department report also harshly attacked the treatment of prisoners in such countries as Syria and Egypt, where the United States has shipped terrorism suspects under a practice known as "rendition." An Australian citizen has alleged that under Egyptian detention he was hung by his arms from hooks, repeatedly shocked, nearly drowned and brutally beaten. Most of his fingernails were missing when he later arrived at Guantanamo Bay.

[Slartibartfast]

I was listening to Hannity interview one of these guys today (so you don't have to) and Sean completely doesn't get it. It quickly became evident that his function was to get the guy (name was Ara or something like that; I didn't quite catch it) so rattled and pissed off that he started shouting. Now, anyone interviewed by Hannity who's of any other...political persuasion ought to be aware of this, but this guy either wasn't or couldn't stop himself from being reactivated by Hannity.

Get it, Sean: they're not all terrorists. The fact that they're in custody doesn't automatically mean that they actually know anything.

[Anarch]

I was listening to Hannity interview one of these guys today (so you don't have to)...

Have I ever mentioned what a great humanitarian you are, Slarti? No? Huh.