Report: Exams prove abuse, torture in Iraq, Gitmo

For the most extensive medical study of former U.S. detainees published so far, Physicians for Human Rights had doctors and mental health professionals examine 11 former prisoners. The group alleges finding evidence of U.S. torture and war crimes and accuses U.S. military health professionals of allowing the abuse of
detainees, denying them medical care and providing confidential medical
information to interrogators that they then exploited.
"Some of these men really are, several years later, very severely
scarred," said Barry Rosenfeld, a psychology professor at Fordham
University who conducted psychological tests on six of the 11 detainees
covered by the study. "It's a testimony to how bad those conditions
were and how personal the abuse was."
One Iraqi prisoner, identified only as Yasser, reported being
subjected to electric shocks three times and being sodomized with a
stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking, according
to the report obtained by The Associated Press. He would not allow a
full rectal exam.
Another Iraqi, identified only as Rahman, reported he was humiliated
by being forced to wear women's underwear, stripped naked and paraded
in front of female guards, and was shown pictures of other naked
detainees. The psychological exam found that Rahman suffered from
post-traumatic stress disorder and had sexual problems related to his
humiliation, the report said.
The report came as the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed documents showing military lawyers warned the Pentagon that
methods it was using post-9/11 violated military, U.S. and
international law. Those objections were overruled by the top Pentagon
lawyer.
President Bush said in 2004, when the prison abuse was revealed, that it was the work
of "a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded
our values." Bush and other U.S. officials have consistently denied
that the U.S. tortures its detainees.
Physicians for Human Rights, an advocacy group based in Cambridge,
Mass., that investigates abuse around the world and advocates for global health and human rights,
did not identify the 11 former prisoners to protect their privacy.
Seven were held in Abu Ghraib between late 2003 and summer of 2004, a
period that coincides with the known abuse of prisoners at the hands of
some of their American jailers. Four of the prisoners were held at
Guantanamo beginning in 2002 for one to almost five years. All 11 were
released without criminal charges.
Those examined alleged that they were tortured or abused, including
sexually, and described being shocked with electrodes, beaten,
shackled, stripped of their clothes, deprived of food and sleep, and
spit and urinated on.
The abuse of some prisoners by their American captors is well
documented by the government's own reports. Once-secret documents show
that the Pentagon and Justice Department allowed, at least for a time,
forced nakedness, isolation, sleep deprivation and humiliation at both Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and at Abu Ghraib.
Because the medical examiners did not have access to the 11 patients' medical histories prior to
their imprisonment, it was not possible to know whether any of the
prisoners' ailments, disabilities and scars pre-dated their
confinement. The U.S. military says an al-Qaida training manual instructs members, if captured, to assert they were tortured during interrogation.
However, doctors and mental health professionals stated they could link the prisoners' claims of abuse while in U.S.
detention to injuries documented by X-rays, medical exams and
psychological tests.
"The level of the time, thoroughness and rigor of the exams left me
personally without question about the credibility of the individuals,"
said Dr. Allen Keller, one of the doctors who conducted the exams, in
an interview with the AP. "The findings on the physical and
psychological exams were consistent with what they reported."
All 11 former detainees reported being subjected to:
_Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.
_Prolonged isolation and hooding or blindfolding, a form of sensory deprivation.
_Extreme heat or cold. _Threats against themselves, their families or friends from interrogators or guards.
Ten said they were forced to be naked, some for days or weeks. Nine
said they were subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. At least six
said they were threatened with military working dogs, often while
naked. Four reported being sodomized, subjected to anal probing, or
threatened with rape.
The patients underwent intensive, two-day long exams following standards and methods used worldwide to document torture.
"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," he said.
Keller, who directs the Bellevue/New York University Program for
Survivors of Torture, said the treatment the detainees reported were
"eerily familiar" to stories from other torture survivors around the
world. He said the sexual humiliation of the prisoners was often the
most traumatic experience.
Most former detainees are out of reach of Western doctors
because they are either in Iraq or have been returned to their home
countries from Guantanamo.
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On the Net:
The report: https://www.brokenlives.info