The New York Times has an article entitled In U.S. Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates’ Deaths It is a lengthy article, based on a confidential Army file obtained by the New York Times that contains the investigation of the deaths of two Afghans at Bagram. The first death the New York Times describes is that of a 22 year old named “Dilawar”. Army investigators learned “most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.” Even so, he was shackled to the top of his cell by his wrists in a fixed position for days at a time.
At the interrogators’ behest, a guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.
“Leave him up,” one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying.
Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen.
According to the newspaper, the rules of engagement for the interrogators weren’t very clear at the time the Bagram interrogations were being conducted.
The platoon had the standard interrogations guide, Army Field Manual 34-52, and an order from the secretary of defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, to treat prisoners “humanely,” and when possible, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. But with President Bush’s final determination in February 2002 that the Conventions did not apply to the conflict with Al Qaeda and that Taliban fighters would not be accorded the rights of prisoners of war, the interrogators believed they “could deviate slightly from the rules,” said one of the Utah reservists, Sgt. James A. Leahy.
“There was the Geneva Conventions for enemy prisoners of war, but nothing for terrorists,” Sergeant Leahy told Army investigators. And the detainees, senior intelligence officers said, were to be considered terrorists until proved otherwise.
The article is well worth the read — unless you’re squeamish about descriptions of interrogation techniques like the interrogator holding his penis against an inmates’ face and threatening to rape him. Too bad Newsweek had that sentence about flushing the Koran. Otherwise, the people of Afghanistan would surely love us.
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