Pentagon Was Warned Over Detainee's Sanity

Pentagon Ordered Officers To Treat Terror Detainees On U.S. Soil Same As Gitmo Prisoners

(AP)  A U.S. military officer warned Pentagon officials that an American detainee was being driven nearly insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation in a U.S. military brig, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

While the treatment of prisoners at detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan and Iraq have long been the subject of human rights complaints and court scrutiny, the documents shed new light on how two American citizens and a legal U.S. resident were treated in military jails inside the United States.

The Bush administration ordered the men to be held in military jails as "enemy combatants" for years of interrogations without criminal charges, which would not have been allowed in civilian jails.

The men were interrogated by the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, repeatedly denied access to attorneys and mail from home and contact with anyone other than guards and their interrogators. They were deprived of natural light for months and for years were forbidden even minor distractions such as a soccer ball or a dictionary.

"I will continue to do what I can to help this individual maintain his sanity, but in my opinion we're working with borrowed time," an unidentified Navy brig official wrote of prisoner Yaser Esam Hamdi in 2002. "I would like to have some form of an incentive program in place to reward him for his continued good behavior, but more so, to keep him from whacking out on me."

Yale Law School's Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic received the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by two attorneys Jonathan Freiman and Tahlia Townsend, representing another detainee, Jose Padilla. The Lowenstein group and the American Civil Liberties Union said the papers were evidence that the Bush administration violated the 5th Amendment's protections against cruel treatment. The U.S. military was ordered to treat the American prisoners the same way prisoners at Guantanamo were treated, according to the documents.

However, the Guantanamo jail was created by the Bush administration specifically to avoid allowing detainees any constitutional rights. Administration lawyers contended the Constitution did not apply outside the country.

"These documents are the first clear confirmation of what we've suspected all along, that the brig was run as a prison beyond the law. There was an effort to create a Gitmo inside the United States," Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU's National Security Project in New York said, using the slang word for the U.S. naval facility in Cuba.

The 91 pages of e-mails and documents produced by U.S. Fleet Forces Command, which runs the military brigs in Norfolk, Va., and Charleston, S.C., detail daily decisions made about the treatment of Hamdi and Padilla, then both American citizens, and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a legal resident. All were designated as by the White House as "illegal enemy combatants."

The paperwork show uniformed officials at the military brigs growing increasingly uncomfortable and then alarmed that they were being directed to handle their prisoners under the rules that governed Guantanamo.

The authors and recipients of the e-mails are censored from the documents. They appear to be going to either military or Pentagon legal counsel and policy offices.

The documents show that some officials at the Charleston brig were deeply skeptical about the mandate that Guantanamo rules should apply in the United States, a decision made by the defense secretary's office, according to the documents.

"You have every right to question the 'lash-up' between GTMO and Charleston - it was the first thing I ask (sic) about a year ago when I checked on board," wrote one official to another in 2006. "In a nutshell, they gave the Charleston detainee mission to (Joint Forces Command) who promptly gave it to (Fleet Forces Command) with a 'lots of luck' and nothing else."

An officer was still raising alarms about Hamdi's mental state after 14 months of jail with no contact with lawyers, his family or even other prisoners.

"I told him the last thing that I wanted to have happen was to send him anywhere from here as a 'basket case,' of use to no one, to include himself," the officer wrote in an e-mail to undisclosed government officials in June 2003. "I fear the rubber band is nearing its breaking point here and not totally confident I can keep his head in the game much longer."

The frustrated officer wrote that he had "to have the ability to exercise some discretion when I believe it best for the health and welfare of those assigned to my facility ... Know ... we are to remain consistent with the procedures that were/are in place at Camp X-Ray" a reference to the Guantanamo jail. He pointed out that imposing those conditions in the brig had a far harsher effect on his prisoners because they had no contact with any other detainees, which was allowed at Guantanamo.

Scores of pages of once-secret legal opinions regarding detainee rights and treatment have been released under the Freedom of Information Act. At least two apparently crucial memos about enemy combatant treatment inside the U.S. have yet to be made public.

Hamdi was captured in Afghanistan in 2001, shipped to Guantanamo and then moved to the U.S. after his citizenship was discovered. He was held and interrogated for three years without charges. The Supreme Court in 2004 rejected the government's attempt to hold him indefinitely without charge. He was released to Saudi Arabia on the condition he give up his U.S. citizenship.

Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was a legal resident studying for a master's degree in Illinois when he was arrested in December 2001 by the FBI as a material witness to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was charged with credit card fraud in 2002. A month before his trial in 2003, President Bush declared him an enemy combatant and al-Marri was transferred to the consolidated naval brig in Charleston. There he was held in isolation for 16 months, denied shoes and socks for two years, and was not allowed any contact with his family for five years. He remains in the military brig but is appealing his detention to the Supreme Court.

Padilla was arrested in 2002 under suspicion he was collaborating with al Qaeda to build a radioactive or "dirty" bomb. He was held as an enemy combatant for more than three years. He was held totally incommunicado for 21 months. His mother was only allowed to see Padilla after she agreed not to alert the media to the visit, according to the documents.

The government dropped the dirty bomb charges and Padilla's case was moved to civilian court where in 2007 he was convicted of supporting terrorism in Kosovo, Bosnia and Chechnya.

[juwboy]

He was treated better than he would have been if he`d been accused of a crime in any Moslem country.

If Guantanamo Bay isn''t considered to be part of the United States, then doesn''t the same rule apply to the Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, Panama?

If so, then John McCain shouldn''t be running for the Presidency of the United States - because he wasn''t born in the United States.

[n8yvn29]

BUSH AND HIS ILK HAVE OPERATED OUTSIDE THE LAW since day one of his highly disputed selection as president. From intimidating and firing U.S. attorneys, outing a CIA agent, to spying on and torturing U.S. citizens, this man and his cabal have been a disgrace and a menace to the U.S. It is time we just say no to his kind, and that includes his ardent GOP supporter, John McCain, and reinvent the great country we once were before this miscreant finagled his way into the presidency of our great country.

[babooph]

The new concentration camp =Bush -torture for God -DELUSIONAL !!!!!A nation in disgrace & whaco Palin waiting to continue the insanity!!

[chicagorail6]

This, my deluded Republiscum Party adherents, is what your fetus-wotshipping, "God-Fearing" party has done to our beloved land.

In the name of marshall law and robbing citizens of their rights, they have made us more like Russia than Russia currently is.


Atonement Day is coming November 4th.


Republiscum are DOOMED.

[hdstretch]

Personally, I could see not spending 70 Gs plus to keep them in custody.

Let''s execute them instead. Then they can attack each other in hell.

[connapa]

One thing the next president needs to do, after getting our economy out of the toilet, is to bring an expeditious end to the GITMO situation. I''m sure that there are many low level "terrorists" there who are no longer a threat to anyone. They''ve been out of contact with any possible co-conspirators in the real world for so long that they could not supply much- if any- actionable intelligence. Either find them guilty of some charge and impose a sentence, or repatriate them (but keep a close eye on them.)

[bizzybirdy]

CHENEY NEEDS TO BE WATERBOARDED!I grew up thinking this country would never condone torture. Boy was I wrong! Bush is another HITLER, only he can''t even talk correctly. Brain dead from all the booze...they need to be IMPEACHED and tried for war crimes!

[flreason]

According to the Bush Administration''s logic--that Guantanamo is foreign soil and not subject to American laws--John McCain is foreign-born and cannot be a legitimate candidate for the Presidency. McCain was born at an American military base in a foreign country. Sounds like Gitmo to me. Let''s see a legal challenge to McCain. I''d like to see the current Supreme Court hear that case! Neocons would be hoisted on their own petard no matter which way the court decided.

[sfcusarmy1]

Quick! Some body call 911 and get a WAAAAAAAMBULACE for all these bleeding heart terrorist lovers!!

[kaiyo4u]

Even Rome treated people according to their laws when they found a they were Roman citizen, no matter where they broke the law.

[karlo59]

This is what happens when the rebublican nazies took over this ONCE GREAT country of OURS.

[phydeux2]

To obanau4, a low level terrorist is more like the difference between a purse snatcher and someone who knocks over a large bank with automatic weapons. So yeah, the punishment should differ for the guy who simply took photos of sensitive locations, and the guys who go in with guns and bombs.

[phydeux2]

To Karlo59, Republican Nazis??? Have you looked at who runs things around this country lately? Out of the top 30 cities, almost all have Democrat-led city councils. The state legislatures, if not governors, are predominantly Democrats in the most influential states. And both the House and Senate are led by Democrats.

The ONLY significant Republicans left are the president and vice president, and they''re NOT the ones who set the tone of legislation. Its the DEMOCRAT CONGRESS who has pushed much of this bad policy through in recent years.

So while Bush may be incompetent and corrupt, Congress and all its self-righteous Democrats certainly haven''t been any better.

[whiskyrokr]

Why don''t they just execute them and get it over with.

[phydeux2]

To proisrael, if we stoop to the level of treating terrorists the way they treat us, then we''re no better than they are. It is our very system of laws, decency, and equality that make us the more civilized and morally enriched people.

When you start to exact revenge in bloodshed then you''re no better than what you''re fighting against. After all, they think they''re doing this as vengance against Western society for not living by THEIR cultural and religious beliefs.

Civil rights, equality, morality, and due process mean nothing if they can simply be set aside for the sake of expedient bloodlust just because something outrages us.

[phydeux2]

That''s right Nancy, however, if you look at the legislation passed in the last couple years you''ll see that gas prices, food prices, and taxes have increased dramatically as the Democrats came to power in Congress. There needs to be a balance between the parties, if Obama wins then all sides will be Democrat controlled and you''ll have no way to blame Republicans for the ills that befall the US.

[swwils]

I don''t want too hear the whinning about the terrorist detainees.They should have had ALLah zap them to freedom.When they were all sitting around abusing their women,and deciding how to destroy all westerers they should have figured we ain''t so dumb after all.Watch and see who ends up with the oil,sure ain''t going to be a bunch of goat herder''s.

[phydeux2]

Wow Swwils, you sound a lot like those Islamic extremists.

They call us filthy Americans, you call them goat herders.
You accuse them of abusing their women, they accuse us of allowing our women to be immodest and whorish.
You want them destroyed, they want us destroyed.

So what gives us the right to torture and mistreat our captives from their side, yet turn right around and demand treat our people in captivity with kid gloves? A bit of hypocrisy there I think.

[phydeux2]

To Proisrael, I honestly don''t know what to do with them. Its certainly too late to try a peaceful dialogue with them, but nor do we have the right to detain them indefinitely. Perhaps we just send them back to the country of their choice that will accept them and be done with it, but with the warning that if they''re captured doing terrorist activities they''ll be executed.

[chris32324]

i d be willing to wager that after bush has settled back in crawford and he has time to look back at some of his dirty work,he ll do the right thing and blow his brains out,at least i hope he does.

[runningralph]

Who cares about the detainees'' sanity? I don''t. Do you? I wrote wrote a paper for a college psych course about Chinese brainwashing techniques (Russians weren''t as sophisticated) in the Korean War). The bottom line is that if the captors have total control they can make you believe anything and do anything. However when the brainwashed victim gets away from that control the brainwashing evaporates like water on a hot surface.

[antoniof123]

People like Nancy.. who think wars are won with flowers and not bullets needs to go to Iraq or Afghan and take a bunch of flowers.. (you only need to buy a one way ticket.. Bank on that Nancy)
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Posted by FREEDOMBIKER at 10:51 AM : Oct 08, 2008

Absolutely.

Posted by proisrael at 11:58 AM : Oct 08, 2008

Here is the trump card for both of these statments.

How is the WMD search going remember the reason for going to this war. Just another lie and they just can''t admit they were wrong. Hey here is a suggestion enlist support the troops let some real good people come home.

[toolmangler-2009]

For those that might be interested it seems that the KGB (King Georges Bullys) is alive and well in the good ol'' USA. If ever a President deserved to spend time in Leavenworth as an inmate, this one does.

[toolmangler-2009]

The only way wars are won is by Fear.. Your enemy has to fear you before they will give up the fight..
Posted by FREEDOMBIKER at 10:51 AM : Oct 08, 2008



The only thing fear ever got was ''hatred''. If your enemy hates you worse than the fear of dying then you get suicide bombers and would be martyrs. (sound familiar?) One thing that stops wars is Respect and understanding.

[phydeux2]

I agree Proisrael. If they''re guilty then they should be punished (I''m not getting to the "how" of it though). The problem is, many of those detained were brought in under suspicions that may or may not have been founded on factual activities. And since we''ll never be allowed to know what evidence they do or don''t have against these people, its unlikely justice will ever be served, for them or for us.

I''m willing to bet the majority of those detained never actually took part in any terrorist activities and since they don''t have any proof with which to convict them, they''re stuck with people who they can''t release for fear they''ll expose the truth, but whom they have no legitimate reason to keep locked up. This whole thing has been such an embarrassment to the Bush Administration that if they admitted now that they were wrong they''d be sued and impeached (for what little good it would do3

[impeach__w]

How are they Guilty? they never had charges or a trial. These documents prove that these people were subject to cruel and unusal punishment, had thier constiutional rights violated by the one person who took and oath to protect the constitution (george W.)and to this day have kept it secret. This could happen to you and is totally illegal. Impeach and try all involved.

[eric-914]

Why do we care again?

[libluv2cnsor]

oh lord!! lets spend an extra 1 billion dollars to make them happy..I AM SURE WE CAN AFFORD IT..OBAMA JUST NEED TO RAISE THOSE TAXES..

[differnet]

I know this will go over the head of most people. But this isn''t about THEIR guilt or innocense. This is about OUR guilt or innocence. One of the things that I love about America and the thing that inspired me enought that I joined the US Army during Desert Shield, was that we were always the country who tried to do the right thing. Yes, we often failed, but we were always trying. We didn''t try to garner the adulation of the rest of the world, but because it was the right thing to do. When we screwed up, we tried to make things right. At least, we tried.

Okay, things haven''t gone well for us this last decade or so, but we can''t give up on what we have always been - the one country who tried to do what is right. We got sidetracked, but let''s get back on the road. We can do better. We can do better by not only these guys, but by ourselves and our children. When we become corrupt and when committ evil in the name of safety, then we are no better than the old Soviet Union. But we are better. I truly hope that we have learned something over these last 8 years. We too have a capacity for evil. However, we also have the choice to turn back from that capacity and do what is right.

[libluv2cnsor]

How is the WMD search going remember the reason for going to this war. Just another lie and they just can''''t admit they were wrong. Hey here is a suggestion enlist support the troops let some real good people come home.


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Posted by antoniof123 at 12:25 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse


888888888888888888

AHH the infamous ''where are the wmd'' question.

well let me freshen up where it left off...

that battlecry was abandoned AS SOON AS it was discovered that the entity (the UNITED NATIONS) incharge of finding these wmd were skimming money from saddam..you know ''food for oil'' scandal..then the whole ''UN peacekeeping zones'' used as battery zones for terrorists.."the human shield'' incidents..

I dont know...what do you think..

pretty much opens a lot of if''s on that..

[libluv2cnsor]

For those that might be interested it seems that the KGB (King Georges Bullys) is alive and well in the good ol'''' USA. If ever a President deserved to spend time in Leavenworth as an inmate, this one does.


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Posted by ToolMangler at 12:45 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse

**************

well what happened to the "we will impeach bush" promised by nancy pelosi???? should we expect any different from obama?? SAME PARTY

[libluv2cnsor]

One thing that stops wars is Respect and understanding.



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Posted by ToolMangler at 12:55 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse

**********

REALLY???? brings back the same question..name one war that was ended by ''respect and understanding''.

[libluv2cnsor]

How are they Guilty? they never had charges or a trial. These documents prove that these people were subject to cruel and unusal punishment, had thier constiutional rights violated by the one person who took and oath to protect the constitution (george W.)and to this day have kept it secret. This could happen to you and is totally illegal. Impeach and try all involved.


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Posted by impeach__w at 02:24 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse


********

they are detainees...they are prisoner of war..they are not american citizens..

let me ask you this..if they are innocent..do you want them relocated next door from your house??

[phydeux2]

Ok. WWI, WWII in the Japanese theater, the Korean War, and the US Civil War. If you look beyond the bloodshed you''ll see that the actual armistice treaty of each war was shaped around respect and understanding. It just took the bloodshed to force the stubborn leaders to the table to hash it out.

[impeach__w]

they are detainees...they are prisoner of war..they are not american citizens..

let me ask you this..if they are innocent..do you want them relocated next door from your house??

Posted by libluv2cnsor

Read the article agian please! Two of them were american citizens and one was a legal resident. All had the same rights as you or I under the constitution. Bush declared them enemy combatants which he cannot do as citizens have rights under the same document that gives the president his power even in "wartime" and which he swore to protect- THE COSTITUTION and its amendments.

I already posted they and the chinese guys should be released into Bush''s, Cheney''s and Rumfield''s neighborhoods and allowed to buy guns.

[impeach__w]

One more thing - if a POW was subjected to this treatment it would be a war crime. Read about TOJO; he was executed after WWII for not doing enough to prevent maltreatment of our POWs. Most of the actual actors in the war crimes were never charged

[toolmangler-2009]

REALLY???? brings back the same question..name one war that was ended by ''respect and understanding''.

Posted by libluv2cnsor at 04:30 PM : Oct 08, 2008



The war between Japan and America was stopped by Japans understanding of our ability to make the entire nation a glowing piece of green glass and their respect for our ''not'' having done so after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (No disrespect intended for my oriental brothers)

[libluv2cnsor]

The war between Japan and America was stopped by Japans understanding of our ability to make the entire nation a glowing piece of green glass and their respect for our ''''not'''' having done so after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (No disrespect intended for my oriental brothers)


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Posted by ToolMangler at 06:19 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse
*******************

HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH wait HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

japan fought to the last man in iwo jima..we lost tons of american lives and so did the japanese..WE USE DID NOT THREATEN the japanese with the bomb BUT WE USED THE BOMB..

we bombed on of the cities in japan..but they refuse..THEN WE BOMB THE SECOND ONE..

then..only then..again that was when japan finally realized that they cannot fight us with muscle..AND THEN THEY RESPECT US because THEY UNDERSTOOD..that we would bomb some more..

are you getting this now?

[libluv2cnsor]

Posted by ToolMangler at 06:19 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse
*******************


BTW..oriental is a disrespectful way to call an asian..(just another heads up)

[toolmangler-2009]

are you getting this now?
Posted by libluv2cnsor at 06:24 PM : Oct 08, 2008



Yes. I have always gotten it, it is you that never ''got'' my first statement. If you had, you never would have repeated my point with so many useless words

[toolmangler-2009]

BTW..ori
ental is a disrespectful way to call an asian..(just another heads up)
Posted by libluv2cnsor at 06:25 PM : Oct 08, 2008




So, How do you want me to call you??

[libluv2cnsor]

Posted by impeach__W at 05:14 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse

*******************

listen...these guys were not arrested as ''gang members who held up a liquor store'' but these guys are known members of an organization that is labeled ''enemy of the state''..thus making them enemy combatants..in which they are detainees..(meaning open for interrogation as long as we want toe extract information to SAVE YOU). now I know that several liberals demanded that this moved to federal level instead of the military bringing in justices RESERVED for ''people who rob liquor stores'' who are entitled to lawyers, mail, guests, etc etc..

they are part of a war against us JUST LIKE THE GERMAN NAZIS meaning if they caught one..you would not see that docket scheduled after a ''divorce'' case in some court...DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT..

its people like you that twist this protocal to thier advantage.

[libluv2cnsor]

So, How do you want me to call you??



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Posted by ToolMangler at 06:30 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse

*********

call me an american

[libluv2cnsor]

Yes. I have always gotten it, it is you that never ''''got'''' my first statement. If you had, you never would have repeated my point with so many useless words



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Posted by ToolMangler at 06:28 PM : Oct 08, 2008
+ report abuse

*****

oh i got your point..BUT YOU JUST FORGOT to add the brutality THAT proves your point..respect and understanding came in ONLY AFTER they had this skins sliding of thier bodies..

meaning its not like all of a sudden tojo and roosevelt woke up one morning and decided to shake hands because they were fed up with warfare..SOMEONE NEEDS TO GET HURT to gain respect and understanding

[toolmangler-2009]

oh i got your point..BUT YOU JUST FORGOT to add the brutality THAT proves your point..respect and understanding came in ONLY AFTER they had this skins sliding of thier bodies..
meaning its not like all of a sudden tojo and roosevelt woke up one morning and decided to shake hands because they were fed up with warfare..SOMEONE NEEDS TO GET HURT to gain respect and understanding

Posted by libluv2cnsor at 06:40 PM : Oct 08, 2008



Tell you what.... I won''t jump your case till you''ve done your homework and still hold that view, Just ''Google'' Japans reason for starting a war with America for

[toolmangler-2009]

Go here, read this, Then you will see why we invaded Iraq and might not stop there.


http://www.threeworldwars.com/world-war-2/ww2.htm

[impeach__w]

Tell you what.... I won''t jump your case till you''ve done your homework and still hold that view, Just ''Google'' Japans reason for starting a war with America
Posted by ToolMangler

Start here and get back to Us.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/pearl/www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/pearl.html

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/McCollum/index.html

The stuff the US did on this page that was not declassified until 1994! George bush has done everything Tojo was executed for. He was also executed for not doing stuff like stopping torture (like bush). The ones who actually committed war crimes, tortured and experimented on POWs, cut a deal with the US and were not tried in exchange for the medical information that was gleaned, Seriously look it up- I am not exaggerating. How long until we find out the whole truth on 9-11? For the record, We helped (planned) get ourselves into WWI, WWII, and vietnam despite what you learned in school. There are no good guys- especially in "war"

[impeach__w]

4 Dec. 1941 - The Dutch invoked the ADB joint defense agreement when the Japanese crossed the magic line of 100 East and 10 North. The U.S. was at war with Japan 3 days before they were at war with us.

The US Government refuses to identify or declassify any pre-Dec 7, 1941 decrypts of JN-25 on the basis of national security, a half-century after the war.


In 1979 the NSA released 2,413 JN-25 orders of the 26,581 intercepted by US between Sept 1 and Dec 4, 1941. The NSA says "We know now that they contained important details concerning the existence, organization, objective, and even the whereabouts of the Pearl Harbor Strike Force." Of the over thousand radio messages sent by Tokyo to the attack fleet, only 20 are in the National Archives. All messages to the attack fleet were sent several times, at least one message was sent every odd hour of the day and each had a special serial number...

[srz25]

NO PHONE CALLS!

if he asks to be allowed to make a phone call you EXECUTE HIM ON THE SPOT! FORGET DUE PROCESS! HE IS NOT A CITIZEN!