Rumsfeld ’approved’ dogs on inmates

By Roy Eccleston

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorised hoods, the stripping of prisoners and the use of dogs to terrify inmates at Guantanamo Bay almost two years ago, documents released yesterday revealed.

The revelation was in a wad of declassified US documents that also showed President George W. Bush had claimed the right to ignore the Geneva Conventions when dealing with al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

However, the Bush memo, of February 7, 2002, also said the President declined to exercise that authority - described in a memo from the Department of Justice - "at this time".

The documents were released by the White House and the Pentagon in a bid to counter claims that the US had resorted to torture as a means of extracting intelligence needed to fight the war on terrorism, including in Iraq.

"I have never ordered torture," Mr Bush said. "I will never order torture. The values of this country are such that torture is not a part of our soul and our being."

White House lawyer Alberto Gonzales said: "All interrogation techniques actually authorised have been carefully vetted, are lawful and do not constitute torture."

However, the documents raised fresh concerns and prompted renewed calls for an independent inquiry to probe not just the scandal at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, but the policies that covered prisoners in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Mr Rumsfeld’s role in the setting of policies is coming under increasing scrutiny. Last week he admitted agreeing with a CIA request to hide a prisoner in Iraq from the International Committee of the Red Cross by keeping him off the prison roll.

In a November 27, 2002 memo, the top lawyer at the Pentagon, William Haynes, recommended Mr Rumsfeld approve a series of 14 interrogation techniques that included shouting at prisoners and using stress positions, such as forcing prisoners to stand for up to four hours.

Mr Haynes also backed some tougher interrogation techniques that were sought by commanders at Guantanamo Bay, including one that allowed mild physical contact such as poking or grabbing.

Others, such as exposure to extremely cold temperatures and seeking to convince the prisoner he would drown - "water boarding" - were not recommended, although it has been reported the CIA has used the technique. On December 2, 2002, Mr Rumsfeld approved the removal of clothing, 20-hour interrogations, the use of dogs to induce stress, 30-day isolations and deprivation of light and sensory stimuli (hooding).

Mr Rumsfeld also questioned why prisoners could not be made to stand for longer, since he was on his feet eight to 10 hours a day.

But Mr Rumsfeld later changed his mind, and in a memo on January 15, 2003, scrapped the previous list of techniques and ruled that a review would be held.

A set of 24 milder techniques was then approved, but Mr Rumsfeld ruled that four of them - isolation, insulting prisoners, "good cop/bad cop" interrogations, and the removal of privileges - had to be approved by him personally.

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