Interrogation Techniques

The Guardian obliquely notes something that's fairly common knowledge; the "abusive" interrogation techniques are not only specialized, extreme forms of interrogation well-known to military intelligence; they are a part of training for many of our own people.

Using sexual jibes and degradation, along with stripping naked, is one of the methods taught on both sides of the Atlantic under the slogan "prolong the shock of capture", [a former British special forces officer] said.

Female guards were used to taunt male prisoners sexually and at British training sessions when female candidates were undergoing resistance training they would be subject to lesbian jibes.

"Most people just laugh that off during mock training exercises, but the whole experience is horrible. Two of my colleagues couldn't cope with the training at the time. One walked out saying 'I've had enough', and the other had a breakdown. It's exceedingly disturbing," said the former Special Boat Squadron officer, who asked that his identity be withheld for security reasons.

Many British and US special forces soldiers learn about the degradation techniques because they are subjected to them to help them resist if captured. They include soldiers from the SAS, SBS [British equivalents of Delta and the SEALs, respectively], most air pilots, paratroopers and members of pathfinder platoons.

A number of commercial firms which have been supplying interrogators to the US army in Iraq boast of hiring former US special forces soldiers, such as Navy Seals.

Unmentioned - British firms wrote the book on hiring former SAS/SBS troopers - it was in fact a bit of a scandal in the UK in the '70s.

Given that this rather specialized technique - or, if you prefer, abuse - was being used by a group led by a "dirty" prison guard from Pennsylvania, you can see where the problems start:

[The same] former British special forces officer who returned last week from Iraq, said: "It was clear from discussions with US private contractors in Iraq that the prison guards were using R2I techniques, but they didn't know what they were doing."...When the interrogation techniques are used on British soldiers for training purposes, they are subject to a strict 48-hour time limit, and a supervisor and a psychologist are always present. It is recognised that in inexperienced hands, prisoners can be plunged into psychosis.

If you know anyone who's ever been in jail or prison, it's no secret; prison guards in America include a shocking number of truly defective people. My most shocking revelation before this past week; a woman who spent a few weeks in a women's prison for a particularly egregious DWI told me how common it is for the (male) guards to get away with flagrant abuses - groping, gratuitous strip searches, things bordering on the sort of behavior we saw at Abu Ghraib but a few notches below "newsworthy." Corrections seems to draw quite a few people who enjoy playing out power fantasies on inmates. [1]

Combine that seemingly-common personality defect with the uninformed knowledge of the extremely sensitive techniques described by the British officer, and you have a recipe for...

...for...

...systematic low-level abuses that are campaign fodder for a Kerry campaign that is increasingly desperate, and a media and left-wing of the blogosphere that is digging harder and harder for something, anything, to try to pin on the Administration.

[1] I don't mean to paint with an overly broad brush. I'm sure that there are prison guards who are people of great principle. It's been my fortune to meet very few yet. Let's call it an as-yet unrealized opportunity.

Posted by Mitch at May 9, 2004 09:54 AM