WASHINGTON, 18 June 2006 — US special operations soldiers in Iraq used unauthorized interrogation tactics on detainees after receiving an outdated policy from commanders in Baghdad, a Pentagon report said.
The unauthorized interrogation tactics were used during a four- month period in early 2004 after approval for their use was rescinded, said a Pentagon inquiry released Friday and detailed yesterday in The New York Times and the Washington Post.
The tactics included feeding detainees only bread and water when they were uncooperative, allowing only minimal sleep and making them kneel for long periods of time in stress positions. The inquiry also determined that some detainees were stripped naked, sprayed with water and then interrogated in air-conditioned rooms or in cold weather.
The high-level military investigative report was written by Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica, who said the soldiers received “inadequate policy guidance.”
The report said the outdated policy that allowed the tactics was erroneously sent to troops.
Previous investigations had found that there was widespread confusion over which tactics were allowed during interrogations in Iraq. Formica’s report shows that even elite special operations soldiers were unclear about the rules. But Formica concluded that the soldiers using the tactics were not responsible for violating policy or the law from February to May 2004 because they believed what they were doing had been approved.
“I didn’t find cruel and malicious criminals that are out there looking for detainees to abuse,” Formica said in an interview with reporters at the Pentagon, according to the Post. He said it was “regrettable” that the soldiers were given the wrong policy and did not recommended any of them be disciplined.
The investigation is the last of 12 major inquiries to be made public that focus on allegations of detainee abuse by American personnel in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is the first to focus on special operations troops. Pentagon officials released a heavily redacted version of the report Friday as part of its response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. The final report was issued on Nov. 8, 2004.
