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Interrogation tactics released
14/06/2006 13:48 - (SA)
Washington - In the face of growing criticism over the treatment of detainees, Pentagon officials have decided to make public all of the military's interrogation techniques.
The decision, which comes after months of internal debate and pressure from members of congress, would reveal interrogation tactics in a long-awaited revision of the army field manual, despite arguments that it could allow enemy prisoners to better resist questioning.
Defence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision is not public yet, said on Tuesday the Pentagon had dropped plans to keep some interrogation techniques secret by putting them in a classified section of the military manual.
The two senior officials said there will not be a classified section in the manual. One of the officials said descriptions of interrogation techniques initially planned for the classified section are either being made public or are being eliminated as tactics that can be used against prisoners.
Human rights victory
One human rights group hailed the decision as a welcome victory.
"I think this is huge - it's a very significant step toward creating the kind of clarity in the rules that military personnel have said that they lack, and that led to a lot of the abuses," said Elisa Massimino, Washington director for Human Rights First.
Military leaders had argued that making all of the interrogation tactics public would allow enemy combatants to train and prepare for specific techniques.
Prisoner scandal
The military's treatment of detainees has been under increased scrutiny since the Abu Ghraib prisoner scandal in Iraq became known two years ago. Photographs that surfaced at the time showed US troops beating, intimidating and sexually abusing prisoners.
Human rights groups have also called for the Bush administration to close the detention centre at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where three detainees committed suicide late last week.
Last month, several members of Congress privately cautioned the Pentagon against including a classified section for interrogation details. The debate has contributed to the long delay in releasing the manual, which has been in the works for more than a year.
Geneva Conventions
Lawmakers argued that including a secret section that would detail what interrogators can and cannot do to prisoners could fuel concerns both at home and abroad that the US military was hiding torture techniques that violate the law or rules governing detainee treatment.
In a letter last week to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Democratic Representative Marty Meehan said the US could suffer if the manual did not reflect the Geneva Conventions requirement for human treatment of detainees.
"By perpetrating human rights abuses in the name of the Global War on Terror we are in fact fuelling a worldwide wave of hatred and violence against the United States," said Meehan. "To regain credibility in the world we need to act in the same manner that we speak."
- AP
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