Detainees were chained to the floor in fetal positions. The investigation said this was not authorized, but could not confirm an FBI agent's allegation that detainees were left in this position for long periods.
Female interrogators sought to persuade male prisoners to talk, using forms of "gender coercion." These techniques were approved at the time as non-injurious, but the Schmidt investigation found that they were inappropriate. In one case, a detainee was doused with perfume.
In addition, detainees were subjected to excessive cold and heat, as well as
loud music and sleep deprivation, techniques that were approved at certain times
at Guanta'namo.
There have also been repeated accusations that American personnel at Guantanamo have mishandled the Quran, the Muslim holy book. A separate Pentagon investigation found five such instances
The Guantanamo investigators described the techniques they found as degrading and abusive, Gen. Schmidt said, but did not constitute torture.
"It is clear from the report that detainee mistreatment was not simply the product of a few rogue military police in a night shift," said Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the committee.
And Sen. Edward Kennedy, the powerful Democrat committee member from Massachusetts, said, "I am deeply concerned about the failure -- indeed, outright refusal -- of our military and civilian leaders to hold higher ups accountable for the repeated and reports of abuse and torture of the prisoners at Guantanamo."
Bush administration officials have said the excesses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were the work of "a few bad apples". The Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner of Virginia, said investigators had found only three instances, out of thousands of interrogations, where military personnel violated Army policy.
Investigators also determined that interrogators violated the Geneva Conventions and Army regulations three times.
Edward S. Herman, professor emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania, told IPS, "Internal investigations by an institution whose lies would fill an encyclopedia are hardly credible and would be laughed out of court by an honest media. They are even more laughable when we consider that the top leadership has indicated that international law is not applicable to us, that the concept of torture is infinitely flexible, and that the folks we are holding in Guantanamo are being treated like Caribbean vacationers."
The report said the military should review how it determines the legal status of prisoners at Guantanamo, and decide what forms of treatment and interrogation techniques will be allowed.
Guantanamo holds 520 prisoners, while more than 230 others have been released or transferred to the custody of their home governments. Most were captured during the U.S. war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; only a few have been charged with any crime.
The report also recommended discipline for several low-level interrogators.
It is unclear whether General Miller could face disciplinary proceedings as a result of the Inspector General inquiry recommended by General Craddock.
After a dozen investigations, it seems clear that the U.S. military is unable to investigate itself. It seems equally clear that it will take some kind of political tsunami - or moral epiphany -- to persuade President Bush and his supporters in Congress to convene the kind of genuinely independent commission that finally brought Americans the facts about 9/11.
Which leaves us to heed the advice my mother used to give me: "Get over it!"
Except it isn't over.
Female interrogators sought to persuade male prisoners to talk, using forms of "gender coercion." These techniques were approved at the time as non-injurious, but the Schmidt investigation found that they were inappropriate. In one case, a detainee was doused with perfume.
In addition, detainees were subjected to excessive cold and heat, as well as
loud music and sleep deprivation, techniques that were approved at certain times
at Guanta'namo.
There have also been repeated accusations that American personnel at Guantanamo have mishandled the Quran, the Muslim holy book. A separate Pentagon investigation found five such instances
"It is clear from the report that detainee mistreatment was not simply the product of a few rogue military police in a night shift," said Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the committee.
And Sen. Edward Kennedy, the powerful Democrat committee member from Massachusetts, said, "I am deeply concerned about the failure -- indeed, outright refusal -- of our military and civilian leaders to hold higher ups accountable for the repeated and reports of abuse and torture of the prisoners at Guantanamo."
Bush administration officials have said the excesses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were the work of "a few bad apples". The Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner of Virginia, said investigators had found only three instances, out of thousands of interrogations, where military personnel violated Army policy.
Investigators also determined that interrogators violated the Geneva Conventions and Army regulations three times.
Edward S. Herman, professor emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania, told IPS, "Internal investigations by an institution whose lies would fill an encyclopedia are hardly credible and would be laughed out of court by an honest media. They are even more laughable when we consider that the top leadership has indicated that international law is not applicable to us, that the concept of torture is infinitely flexible, and that the folks we are holding in Guantanamo are being treated like Caribbean vacationers."
The report said the military should review how it determines the legal status of prisoners at Guantanamo, and decide what forms of treatment and interrogation techniques will be allowed.
Guantanamo holds 520 prisoners, while more than 230 others have been released or transferred to the custody of their home governments. Most were captured during the U.S. war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; only a few have been charged with any crime.
The report also recommended discipline for several low-level interrogators.
It is unclear whether General Miller could face disciplinary proceedings as a result of the Inspector General inquiry recommended by General Craddock.
After a dozen investigations, it seems clear that the U.S. military is unable to investigate itself. It seems equally clear that it will take some kind of political tsunami - or moral epiphany -- to persuade President Bush and his supporters in Congress to convene the kind of genuinely independent commission that finally brought Americans the facts about 9/11.
Which leaves us to heed the advice my mother used to give me: "Get over it!"
Except it isn't over.
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