FBI letter cites aggressive ‘02 interrogations

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – FBI agents witnessed “highly aggressive” interrogations and mistreatment of suspects at the U.S. prison camp in Cuba starting in 2002 – more than a year before the prison-abuse scandal broke in Iraq – according to a letter a Justice Department official sent to the Army’s top criminal investigator.

In the letter obtained by the Associated Press, the FBI official suggested the Pentagon didn’t act on FBI complaints.Thomas Harrington, who led investigators at Guantanamo Bay, wrote the letter to Maj. Gen. Donald Ryder, the Army’s chief law enforcement officer investigating abuses at U.S.-run prisons.

The U.S. military says prisoners are treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit torture and humiliating treatment. Still, at least 10 incidents of abuse have been substantiated at Guantanamo, all but one from 2003 or this year.