Extraordinary Rendition

Extraordinary rendition is the term used by the CIA to describe a counter-terrorism tactic by which suspects are arrested by US authorities but 'rendered' or 'deported' to a different country for interrogation. The practice began in the mid-1990s when the Clinton Administration struck a deal with the Egyptian government by which certain terror suspects would be rendered to the Egyptian secret service for interrogation. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, other Eastern European countries, Thailand and the Guantanamo Bay US prison in Cuba are among the reported locations of interrogation.

There are several theories as to the reasoning behind this practice. Terror suspects are rendered to countries where the local authorities are not subject to anti-torture laws and so are able to use more brutal interrogation techniques than their American counterparts. Some think authorities in these countries, particularly those in the Middle East, will have more luck dealing with terrorists of Arab or Islamic background due to shared culture or beliefs. Former CIA officer Melissa Mahle has supported the practice, stating that if used "judiciously", it can often lead to valuable information that can save American lives and, at the very least, gets terrorists "off the streets".

Reports of extraordinary rendition have become increasingly frequent since 9/11. Many victims of extraordinary rendition are returned to their home countries, either with or without a formal apology, and some are eventually put on trial. The CIA has confirmed that, since 9/11, it has apprehended some 150 'ghost detainees' and it is probable that some of these are still incarcerated in foreign countries, often with the risk of torture.

Guantanamo

A major example of the U.S.’s use of torture tactics takes place in the infamous Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Since the Spanish-American War, the U.S. has “leased” the territory for its naval base at Guantanamo from Cuba, and since 2002 has used the facility as a detainee camp for suspected terrorists, mainly individuals from Afghanistan and Iraq.

In March 2005, a Pentagon investigation that examined allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo concluded that the policies followed in those locations “did not lead to abuse.” (Davis). However, several FBI investigations, revelations from released prisoners, and reported incidents say otherwise.

In 2005 up to 131 prisoners participated in a hunger strike (“Guantanamo”). When prisoners refused to eat, they would be strapped to a chair and force-fed three times a day, a process that involved forced injection of multiple drugs to rework their bowels, insertion of the feeding tubes through the nose down to the chest, and solitary confinement. U.S. officials at Guantanamo have claimed that the force-feeding was done in a “humane and compassionate manner” (“Guantanamo”) and only done when a detainee’s health was in grave danger.

Some other torture tactics employed at Guantanamo:
• Sexual and psychological (often linked: women forcing sexual contact with male Muslim inmates, for which close contact with unknown women is forbidden)
• Using guard dogs to scare detainees,
• “Mock drowning”, known as water-boarding.
A disturbing fact is that these torture allegations concern individuals as young as 12 years old.

Prisoners have responded to the despondent conditions, in the most extreme cases, with suicide. U.S. officials saw a triple suicide that occurred at the camp as an act of rebellion, calling it “asymmetric warfare.” Some even claim the torture allegations are efforts to garner the public’s sympathy. However, many detainees are encouraged to be silent about the abuse, so as not to jeopardize the chances of other prisoners of their home country being released (“U.S. Hands”).

Abu Ghraib

It is not a coincidence that the torture tactics allegedly used at Guantanamo were amplified in the more recently publicized case of Abu Ghraib. Lt. General Geoffrey Miller, who headed the Guantanamo facility until 2002, was then transferred to Iraq to manage “war on terror” prisons there. Thousands of people in Iraq, mostly civilians, were rounded up in 2003 by the US military and put into Abu Ghraib. They were supposedly petty criminals, security detainees, and “high-level” insurgent leaders. However, a later report by General Taguba predicted that about two-thirds of these people were not harmful to society and should have been released.

Some examples of the forms of torture used on prisoners included pouring phosphoric liquid on them, dipping them in cold water, beating them with chairs, sodomizing them with broomsticks, and unleashing dogs to bite them. The photographs taken by soldiers show smiling and giving thumbs-up signs next to prisoners in humiliating poses such as the infamous human pyramid or simulated sexual positions, regarded as particularly sinful in Muslim culture.

Blame for the abuse has been shifted back and forth between high level officials and what the Bush administration has described as a few bad individuals within the prison. Even though prison leaders complained that some tactics were pushing ethical boundaries, they were told to continue the “good work.” Unfortunately, the events at Abu Ghraib do violate the Geneva Convention and the circular blame game has seriously undermined the image of the United States as an upholder of human rights internationally.

School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

The School of the Americas (SOA), renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), is a US Army facility that trains military personnel from Latin America (LA). Founded by the US in 1946 in Panama, and moved to Ft. Benning, GA, in 1984, its mandate has been to “promote military professionalism, foster cooperation among the multinational military forces in LA, and expand LA armed forces’ knowledge of US customs and traditions.”

Allegations that the SOA was training LA personnel in the use of torture and other techniques that violate human rights led to several congressional attempts in the 1990’s to shut down the SOA leading to the change in 2000 to WHINSEC. In addition to the name change, the school is now required to provide 11 hours of human rights instruction to all students, and up to 48 hours to those enrolled in officers’ training.

Over the past 50 years, some 60,000 students have graduated from SOA. Graduates have included 48 of the 69 Salvadoran military personnel cited in a 1992 UN Truth Commission report for atrocities; over 100 of 247 Colombian military officers identified in a 1992 report on human rights abuses there; 10 of Pinochet’s ranking military officers in Chile who were responsible for torture and killings; several Honduran officers linked to a clandestine operation responsible for “disappearances” in the 1980’s; and many more. SOA graduates have also turned up as military dictators with unsavory track records on at least 8 occasions, including Manuel Noriega of Panama. Proving that the SOA training played a role in these abuses is difficult. However, in 1996 Department of Defense made public 7 Spanish-language training manuals used at SOA, which discussed forms of coercion to be used against “insurgents,” including torture and execution. SOA training approaches are developed, in part, at the Ft. Huachuca, AZ, US Army Intelligence Center, where Maj. Gen Barbara Fast of Abu Ghraib notoriety received her training in interrogation and prisoner treatment.

Written by Tim Gregory, Anita Verma, Christina Guros, Yuhong Wang, Deb Rogers

For more information on Extraordinary Rendition, see the Human Rights Watch website or the June 2006 Council of Europe report by Dick Marty on the CIA's so-called terror flights.

For more information on Guantanamo, see Amnesty International’s “Denounce Torture” campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union website (www.aclu.org) for FBI memos pertaining Guantanamo obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, a “Detainees in the War on Terror” PBS special report at www.pbs.org, and the BBC News sources listed, as well as related articles. The Center for Constitutional Rights also has done extensive reports on Guantanamo and has represented many of its detainees (www.ccr-ny.org).

SOURCES:
-The Big Uneasy & Lockdown: Detainees in the "War on Terror": http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/220/guantanamo-bay-history.html, 5/19/2006, PBS.org.
- Davis, Matthew: “Soldier lifts lid on Guantanamo ‘abuse’”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4523825.stm, 5/29/2005, BBC News.
- Isikoff, Michael: “Unanswered Questions: Alberto Gonzales will likely be confirmed. But that won't stop the widening scandal over Gitmo detainees.” Newsweek, 1/17/2006.
- “U.S. Hands Over Guantanamo Inmates”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/ /2/hi/south_asia/4460603.stm, 4/19/2005, BBC News.
- “Guantanamo strikers ‘restrained,’”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4697184.stm, 2/9/2006, The New York Times and BBC News.
- Marshall, Peter: “Suicide in Guantanamo,” Newsnight correspondent, BBC News.
- The New Yorker, 5-10-04 Issue, Seymour Hersh, www.newyorker.com- Congressional Research Service (2001) Report to Congress on SOA
- WHINSEC (2005) Report to Congress
- GAO/NSIAD-96-178 (1996) report on SOA
- National Security Archives: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/index.htm
- Washington Post 10-15-2004 “Army Official Backs Ex-Abu Ghraib Officer”
- McCoy (2005) Latin American Perspectives 32(6):47-64.
- Nepstad (2000). Peace Review 12(1):67-72.
- Weeks (2003) Human Rights Review Oct-Dec 2003:12-27.
- WHINSEC website: https://www.infantry.army.mil/whinsec/
- SOA Watch website: http://www.soaw.org/new/