WP: Abu Ghraib Dog Tactics Came From Guantanamo

[kskiska]

Testimony Further Links Procedures at 2 Facilities

Military interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq learned about the use of military working dogs to intimidate detainees from a team of interrogators dispatched from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to court testimony yesterday.

One interrogation analyst also testified that sleep deprivation and forced nudity -- which were used in Cuba on high-value detainees -- later were approved tactics at Abu Ghraib. Another soldier said that interrogators would regularly pass instructions to have dog handlers and military police "scare up" detainees as part of interrogation plans, part of an approved approach that relied on exploiting the fear of dogs.

(snip)

Pvt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick, one of the ringleaders of abuse by military police who is serving an eight-year prison term, testified by phone from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., that interrogators were authorized to use dogs and that a civilian contract interrogator left him lists of the cells he wanted dog handlers to visit. "They were allowed to use them to . . . intimidate inmates," Frederick said.

Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, 31, of California, and Sgt. Michael J. Smith, 24, of Florida, are charged with maltreatment of detainees, largely for allegedly encouraging and permitting unmuzzled working dogs to threaten and attack them. Prosecutors have focused on an incident caught in published photographs, when the two men allegedly cornered a naked detainee and allowed the dogs to bite him on each thigh as he cowered in fear.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601792.html

[babylonsister]

1. I thought Abu was in place before Gitmo in it's creepy

entirety.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. I wonder if the NAZIS would approve of such tactics.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

4. Of course...

... don't you remember Hogan's Heros?

[HockeyMom]

3. I remember watching an interview,

but I don't remember who it was, or what station it was. It was a soldier who had been at Abu Ghraib and he was talking about the horrible conditions there and he mentioned that the dogs would run loose and get at the garbage and the BODY PARTS in the cans.

I did a double take when he said that, but the interviewer (CNN? MSNBC?) just let it slide and didn't stop him or ask anymore questions about it.

Does anybody remember seeing this interview? Were these people mutilating prisoners there too?

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. U S of A is getting a rep for Humanitarian Abuse??

.
.
.

'bout time - the Admin hasn't really changed it's attitude toward human life since the slave trade, now have they??

Remember, there's no dead and maimed children, women, etc. in Iraq - just a wee bit of "collateral damage"

- sick nation indeed . . .

[uppityperson]

6. Do they have kids>15 there like they did in Abu Ghraib to dog?

I am getting depressed.

[countmyvote4real]

7. Have any civilian contractors been charged yet?

I know there was that guy in Afghanistan, but I don't know about any from Iraq.

[thecrow]

8. Nah, they are too busy getting ready to receive medals

Phukke them.

[Patty Diana]

9. They have some sort of immunity____mercenary shit_not subject

to US Military rules of war or conduct

[nookiemonster]

10. Yep, and that's why they can operate under the radar.

Wish I had a link....

[Sgent]

11. They are not subject to

the USMJ, but are subject to either Iraqi civilian law (Iraqi prison anyone?) or to US Federal Law.

[leetrisck]

12. Handcuffed prisoners on floor, attack dogs

and guards, pictures, Texas prison, several years ago. Does anyone remember this? I remember a terrible stink about it at the time and then nothing. Can't even tell you what year it was but it certainly happened. The pictures were terrible and it was on tv.

[killbotfactory]

13. that could never happen

[Moderator]

14. kick

[bemildred]

15. Abu Ghraib warden: Guantanamo boss urged use of dogs

FORT MEADE, Md. -- The commander in charge of Guantanamo Bay prison visited Abu Ghraib in 2003 and recommended the use of military dogs during interrogations, the former warden in Iraq testified Wednesday at a hearing for two Army dog handlers accused of prisoner abuse.

''We understood that he was sent over by the secretary of defense,'' Maj. David Dinenna testified.

(That would be Dumbsfeldt, you see ...)

He said teams of trainers were also sent to Abu Ghraib "to take these interrogation techniques, other techniques they learned at Guantanamo Bay, and try to incorporate them in Iraq."

The former warden's testimony follows defense claims that using unmuzzled dogs to terrify Abu Ghraib inmates was sanctioned high up the chain of command and wasn't just a game played by two rogue soldiers, as the government claims.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-dog28.html