Army writing interrogation guide
WASHINGTON – The Army is putting the finishing touches on a new interrogation manual that will specifically prohibit the harsh practices that have come to light since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, officials said. It will also highlight international treaties on humane treatment of detainees and require more oversight by commanders.
The new training manual, expected to be finished in the next two months, will specifically prohibit methods including sleep deprivation, confinement to a darkened cell, stripping prisoners and the use of police dogs, said Thomas A. Gandy, director of counterintelligence and human intelligence for the Army.
Those tactics were approved by senior Pentagon officials and top military officers, though some were later rescinded after complaints by military lawyers. And while the methods were not included in the 13-year-old Army interrogation manual, neither were they ever specifically prohibited, leaving interrogators a great deal of leeway.
“The techniques are roughly the same” in the new manual as in the old one, Gandy said in an interview at his Pentagon office. “What’s changed is you’ve got a very, very controlled environment for interrogations.”
The various investigations into the prisoner-abuse scandal clearly showed that some military interrogators were uncertain what constituted improper behavior.
Some soldiers said they didn’t see abuse, said Gandy, a burly West Point graduate. “But we said, ‘What about the naked guys?’ “
Gandy said while the new Army training procedures have not yet been released, military intelligence soldiers already are being trained on its principles, which he said follow the Geneva Conventions.
Gandy said that includes no physical or mental torture, or any form of coercion, slapping, humiliation, striking or threatening.
The point of interrogation effort is to develop a rapport with the detainee and glean “actionable intelligence” – fresh information that can ideally prevent a bombing or reveal the whereabouts of a top insurgent or terrorist financier.
“It’s always been a mind game, not a physical game,” Gandy said.
Accepted tactics will be carefully laid out in a classified training circular that will go to interrogators and other intelligence officials in September. Gandy said that to avoid tipping off current and future detainees, the specifics will not be made public.
Some tactics, such as demonstrations of force, will still be allowed with limits. For example, an interrogator can throw items – a chair or a book – against a wall to rattle a detainee and encourage him to talk.
“But what I won’t do is throw it by your head,” Gandy said. “One’s a threat, one’s a demonstration.”