ACLU: Pentagon documents highlight interrogation methods

By ADAM GOLDMAN

The Associated Press

April 30, 2008

Newly released Department of Defense documents shed light into the use of psychologists in military interrogations and the failure of medical personnel to report detainee abuses, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

'The documents reveal that psychologists and medical personnel played a key role in sustaining prisoner abuse _ a clear violation of their ethical and legal obligations,' ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said.

The ACLU obtained the newly unredacted documents in connection with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in 2004. The information also shows the military continued to use abusive interrogation methods after a 2003 directive meant to end such practices, Singh said. The government did not release details on the interrogation methods, she said.

According to the documents, 'the use of some of the techniques ... continued even until July 2004, despite the fact that many were retracted by the October 2003 memorandum, and some were subsequently prohibited by the May 2004 memorandum.'

The report says, 'The relatively widespread use of these techniques supports our finding that the policy documents were not always received or thoroughly understood.'

Defense officials did not immediately comment on the information Wednesday.

The Pentagon says it conducted a thorough review of prisoner interrogation policies after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. The so-called Church Report concluded no uniformed or civilian leaders directed or encouraged the prisoner abuses committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The report was largely disclosed in 2005 and a declassified version of the review was made public last year. Some of the documents were initially redacted because they were classified, Singh said. The government claimed that if the information was released it would cause serious damage to national security. The newly released documents are part of the Church Report not previously released.

Singh called the government's argument bogus.

'I think that this just demonstrates the pattern the government has continued to employ,' she said. 'This pattern is one of claiming national security as pretext for withholding information to cover up embarrassing information.'

The ACLU has been highly critical of the report, saying the Pentagon didn't analyze all open abuse cases at the time. The ACLU says the report shows 'enlisted medics witnessed obvious episodes of detainee abuse apparently without reporting them to superiors.'

The ACLU submitted a FOIA request in October 2003 and filed a lawsuit in June 2004 demanding immediate disclosure of records relating to prisoners held in facilities abroad. The litigation is ongoing.

Sing said the documents make it clear that the psychologists were employed in the context of military operations. They were not there to serve as mental health providers, she said.

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