George W. Bush calls them an ''alternative set of procedures'': forcing victims to stand for forty hours; depriving them of sleep for weeks on end; and strapping prisoners to inclined boards, then flooding their mouths with water. These techniques are torture, and they are legal in the United States.
Michael Otterman reveals the long history of U.S. torture. He shows how these procedures became standard practice in today's war on terror. Initially, the CIA based their techniques on the tactics of their enemies, the Nazis, Soviets, and Chinese. Billions of dollars were spent studying, refining, then teaching these techniques to interrogators charged with keeping communism at bay. They produced procedure manuals that were used in Vietnam, Latin America, and elsewhere. As the Cold War ended, these tortures---engineered to leave deep psychological wounds but few physical scars---were legalized using the very laws that were designed to eradicate their use. After 9/11, they were revived again for use on enemy combatants detained in America's vast gulag of prisoners across the globe---from secret CIA black sites in Thailand to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Michael Otterman shows that these interrogation methods violate more than international law and fundamental human rights. They radicalize enemies, undermine credibility, and yield unreliable intelligence. They do not make us more safe. They make us less safe.
FROM THE COLD WAR TO ABU GHRAIB AND BEYOND MICHAEL OTTERMAN
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MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Ltd 187 Grattan Street, Carlton,Victoria 3053, Australia
[email protected] www.mup.com.au First published 2007 Text © Michael Otterman 2007 Design and typography © Melbourne University Publishing Ltd 2007 This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers. Cover design by Peter Long Text design by Sandra Nobes Typeset in Bembo 11.75/14 pt by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed in Australia by Griffin Press, SA National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: Otterman, Michael. American torture: from the cold war to Abu Ghraib and beyond. Bibliography. ISBN 9780522853339. ISBN 0 522 85333 1. 1. Hicks, David, 1975– . 2. Habib, Mamdouh — Interviews. 3. Torture — United States. 4. Torture — Government policy — United States. 5. Prisoners of war — Abuse of — United States. I. Title. 323.490973
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For my parents
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CONTENTS
List of Acronyms In Their Own Words 1 A Climate of Fear 2 Stress Inoculation 3 Codifying Cruelty 4 The Phoenix Factor 5 In America’s Backyard 6 The Human Cost 7 Alive and Legal 8 The Gloves Come Off, Part I 9 Guantánamo 10 The Gloves Come Off, Part II The Dual State Appendix I: Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual – 1983 Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgements
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viii 1 14 28 42 59 73 88 99 117 137 161 181 200 216 249 273 286
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LIST OF ACRONYMS
ABC ACLU APA ASIO BSCT CAT CDRB CI CIA CID CITF CT CTC DDD DHA DHS DIA DOD DOJ EPW FBI FM FOIA
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Australian Broadcasting Company American Civil Liberties Union American Psychological Associatio