United States torture of Afghan prisoners

This video from the USA is called Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky on Ed: “Congress Has To Hold Hearings On Bush’s Torture Policy!”.

From Associated Press:

Pentagon records detail prisoner abuse by US military

Posted at 7:40 PM on April 16, 2008.

WASHINGTON — Military interrogators assaulted Afghan detainees in 2003, using investigation methods they learned during self-defense training, according to Pentagon documents released Wednesday.

Detainees at the Gardez Detention Facility in southeastern Afghanistan reported being made to kneel outside in wet clothing and being kicked and punched in the kidneys, nose and knees if they moved, the documents show.

A 2006 Army review of the case concluded that the detainees were not abused but that the incident revealed “misconduct that warrants further action.”

The documents, which were turned over Wednesday evening to the American Civil Liberties Union, focus on the 2003 death of Afghan detainee Jamal Nasser, who died in U.S. custody at the Gardez facility.

The documents detail interrogation techniques used on eight detainees, including Nasser, who were suspected of weapons trafficking. …

ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said such interrogation techniques are taught at SERE schools only to show soldiers how to withstand them from enemy captors. She called the methods, when used together, a form of torture.

“They were intended to be defensive methods, not offensive methods,” Singh said. “This raises serious questions about the interrogation methods that were being applied in Afghanistan.”

SERE methods were also used on detainees by military interrogators in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Singh said.