Several months ago, US military ordered the launch of investigation into the prisoner abuse in US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The military investigators on July 13 reported their discoveries to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The investigators cited instances of Guantanamo prisoners suffering insult and humiliation to prove their justifiable reason for proposing that the military rebuke former Guantanamo base commander Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller.

Proposal rejected

After the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) last year released the document on the cruel tortures of prisoners by Guantanamo base interrogators, Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, commander of the US Southern Command ordered the launch of investigation.

At first Army Brig. Gen. John T. Furlow was in charge of the investigation, and US Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt was appointed by the Southern Command to lead the investigation. It is stipulated in US military regulations that the ranking of the investigation official must be higher than that of the investigated. Schmidt's ranking is higher than that of Miller, so he was entitled to try this two-star general.

The military investigators said they had proposed that the military reprimand Maj. Gen. Miller for his oversight of Guntanamo trial of prisoners. But Craddock said he rejected this proposal and was prepared to transfer the matter to the chief inspector of the army. According to an official having access to the investigation report, the conclusion drawn by Cradock claimed that Miller didn't violate any US army regulations or policies.

At the hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 13, Craddock, Schmidt and Furlow bore witness to the findings.

Interrogative means

Schmidt described the means used to interrogate a man of Saudi descent. This man, named Mohamed al-Kahtani, was captured in Afghanistan-Pakistan border in December 2001. A later investigation revealed that in August 2001 he attempted to enter into the United States from the airport in Orlando city, Florida, but he was baffled in his attempt because he was intercepted by immigration official at the airport. The American official said that the chief hijacker Mohammed Atta in the "September 11" attack was inside the airport. One month later, the United States encountered the "September 11" terrorist attacks.

Schmidt said, in order to make this terrorist suspect open his mouth, the interrogator slandered that his mother and sisters were all prostitutes, forced him to wear a woman's underclothes, tied a leather belt in his head, alleged him to be a homosexual which was known to all prisoners, compelling him to dance with another man. Under the circumstance without any sense of security, the interrogator forced him to accept a skin-search and frightened him with a dog. In a stark-naked state, he was asked to stand in the face of the female, he was led with a leather belt in the manner of a dog.

The Pentagon said that al-Kahtani finally provided "very valuable information".

Investigation result

The investigator also published the result and opinions of investigation.

--A female interrogator smeared falsified menses on the face of a prisoner during an interrogation. The investigators suggested that there was no need to continue investigation, because the matter happened not long ago, and that the female interrogator had been given punishment.

--A naval officer threatened a high-value prisoner for following the trail of family members. An investigation shows that this act violates American military regulations.

--The military interrogators passed themselves off as the special agents of the FBI and the State Department. But this act ceased after the FBI special agents made their complaints.

--The interrogators improperly used rubber tubes against prisoners. A FBI special agent said that a prisoner's head was tied up with a rubber tube and his mouth was muffled.

--The interrogators used noisy music or employed the method of deprival of sleep to sap the prisoner's will to resist interrogation.

The investigators confirmed that the interrogators violated the Geneva Convention and the US military regulations three times. The investigator wrote in the report, saying that the military should evaluate how to determine the identities of Guantanamo prisoners, decide on and approve of the means for treatment and interrogation, and reaffirm condemnation of relevant Guantanamo personnel for their desecration of the Koran.

Disputes arise

After listening to the investigators' report, top leader Carl Levin of the Senate Party in the Senate Armed Services Committee said: The report clearly shows that prisoner abuse is not a simple invention made in one night shift by a handful of silly soldiers and policemen. Officials of the Bush administration wanted to describe that way the prisoner abuse occurred in the Abu Ghraib Prison of Iraq.

Prior to investigations, along with the successive exposures of the prisoner abuses in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo, the reputation of the United States has been seriously tarnished.

Miller himself has become the target of criticism made by the human rights organization regarding the prisoner abuse event. At present, no army officer at or above the ranking of Miller has been formally blamed. Among army officers in association with prisoner abuse, the female Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski who was once in charge of Abu Ghraib Prison is so far the highest ranking officer subjected to punishment. The military rank of Karpinsky has been lowered to colonel. But she was penalized not on a charge of prisoner abuse.

By People's Daily Online