The ACLU's Dishonesty Knows No Bounds
Wizbang
By Kevin Aylward on Military
Over at Daily Kos they're shilling for the ACLU [Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Perjurer], repeating charges of perjury against Lt. Gen. Sanchez made by the American Civil Liberties Union. Here's the ACLU's claim.
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The memorandum, dated September 14, 2003, was signed by Lt. Gen. Sanchez and laid out specific interrogation techniques, modeled on those used against detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for use by coalition forces in Iraq. These include sleep "management," the inducement of fear at two levels of severity, loud music and sensory agitation, and the use of canine units to "exploit [the] Arab fear of dogs."
During sworn testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lt. Gen. Sanchez flatly denied approving any such techniques in Iraq, and said that a news article reporting otherwise was false.
Specifically, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) asked Sanchez, "today's USA Today, sir, reported that you ordered or approved the use of sleep deprivation, intimidation by guard dogs, excessive noise and inducing fear as an interrogation method for a prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison." To which Sanchez replied, using the acronym for Coalition Joint Task Force-7, "Sir, that may be correct that it's in a news article, but I never approved [emphasis mine] any of those measures to be used within CJTF-7 at any time in the last year."
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That looks pretty damning on the face of it, so much so that I was ready to jump on the story. In the course of preparing my own story highlighting the ACLU findings, I did something that apparently neither the Kosites nor the ACLUnatics bothered to do - I actually read the memo. Had the ACLU actually read the memo they were busy proclaiming a "smoking gun," they should have noted this paragraph on the second page:
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Use of techniques B, I, O, X, Y, AA and CC on enemy prisoners of war must be approved by me personally prior to use. Submit written requests for use of these techniques, with supporting rationale, to me through the CJTF-7 C2. A legal review from the CJTF-7 SJA must accompany each request.
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An what are those techniques? From the memo [PDF]:
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B: Incentive/Removal of Incentive: Providing a reward or removing a privilege, above and beyond those that are required by the Geneva Convention, from detainee.
I. Pride and Ego Down: Attacking or insulting the ego of a detainee, not beyond the limits that would apply to and EPW (Enemy Prisoner of War).
O. Mutt and Jeff: A team consisting of a friendly and harsh interrogator. The harsh interrogator might employ the Pride and Ego Down technique.
X. Isolation: Isolating the detainee from other detainees while still complying with basic standards of treatment.
Y. Presence of Military Working Dog" Exploits Arab fear of dogs while maintaining security during interrogations. Dogs will be muzzled and under control of MWD handler at all times to prevent contact with detainee.
AA. Yelling, Loud Music, and Light Control: Used to create fear, disorient detainee and prolong captive shock. Volume controlled to prevent injury.
CC. Stress Positions: Use of physical postures (sitting, standing, knelling, prone, etc) for no more than 1 hour per use. Use of technique(s) will not exceed 4 hours and adequate rest between use of each position will be provided.
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The "sleep management" technique provides for a minimum of 4 hours sleep per 24 hour period, not to exceed 72 hours. It's a stretch to call that "sleep deprivation," so I believe Sanchez was accurate in his claim that he had not approved sleep deprivation.
Since the techniques in question are specifically forbidden without Lt. Gen. Sanchez's personal approval (and accompanying documentation and legal review), I'd say it's a pretty safe bet he would remember approving or disapproving individual requests. Approval would also be part of the record, but the ACLU has already proved that they're not really interested in reading...
Perhaps the Kosites should stick to one story they've shown some aptitude for - flogging the carcass of James Guckert/Jeff Gannon.
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