Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Just Say No to Torture - The Detainee Abuse "Wish List"

Here's a shocking story I found on an organization called Think Peace. Take a look and then go contact your Congressman and tell them to end this barbarism!

Investigative documents released yesterday reveal "Army intelligence officials in Iraq developed and circulated 'wish lists' of harsh interrogation techniques they hoped to use on detainees in August 2003, including tactics such as low-voltage electrocution, blows with phone books and using dogs and snakes." The discussions, which took place over e-mail, were used in part to "develop the interrogation rules of engagement approved by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, then commander of U.S. troops in Iraq."

Interrogation techniques officers thought were approved in the fall of 2003 were the catalyst for the death of at least one detainee, who was stuffed into a sleeping bag and wound with an electrical cord.

One soldier with the 501st Military Intelligence Battalion wrote a dissenting e-mail: "It comes down to standards of right and wrong – something we cannot just put aside when we find it inconvenient," he wrote. "We are American soldiers, heirs of a long tradition of staying on the high ground. We need to stay there."

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