UK forces taught torture methods
David Leigh
Saturday May 8, 2004
The Guardian
The sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was not
an invention of maverick guards, but part of a system of ill-treatment
and degradation used by special forces soldiers that is now being
disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors who do not know
what they are doing, according to British military sources.
The techniques devised in the system, called R2I - resistance to
interrogation - match the crude exploitation and abuse of prisoners at
the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.
One former British special forces officer who returned last week from
Iraq, said: "It was clear from discussions with US private contractors
in Iraq that the prison guards were using R2I techniques, but they
didn't know what they were doing."
He said British and US military intelligence soldiers were trained in
these techniques, which were taught at the joint services
interrogation centre in Ashford, Kent, now transferred to the former
US base at Chicksands.
"There is a reservoir of knowledge about these interrogation
techniques which is retained by former special forces soldiers who are
being rehired as private contractors in Iraq. Contractors are bringing
in their old friends".
Using sexual jibes and degradation, along with stripping naked, is one
of the methods taught on both sides of the Atlantic under the slogan
"prolong the shock of capture", he said.
Female guards were used to taunt male prisoners sexually and at
British training sessions when female candidates were undergoing
resistance training they would be subject to lesbian jibes.
"Most people just laugh that off during mock training exercises, but
the whole experience is horrible. Two of my colleagues couldn't cope
with the training at the time. One walked out saying 'I've had
enough', and the other had a breakdown. It's exceedingly disturbing,"
said the former Special Boat Squadron officer, who asked that his
identity be withheld for security reasons.
Many British and US special forces soldiers learn about the
degradation techniques because they are subjected to them to help them
resist if captured. They include soldiers from the SAS, SBS, most air
pilots, paratroopers and members of pathfinder platoons.
A number of commercial firms which have been supplying interrogators
to the US army in Iraq boast of hiring former US special forces
soldiers, such as Navy Seals.
"The crucial difference from Iraq is that frontline soldiers who are
made to experience R2I techniques themselves develop empathy. They
realise the suffering they are causing. But people who haven't
undergone this don't realise what they are doing to people. It's a
shambles in Iraq".
The British former officer said the dissemination of R2I techniques
inside Iraq was all the more dangerous because of the general mood
among American troops.
"The feeling among US soldiers I've spoken to in the last week is also
that 'the gloves are off'. Many of them still think they are dealing
with people responsible for 9/11".
When the interrogation techniques are used on British soldiers for
training purposes, they are subject to a strict 48-hour time limit,
and a supervisor and a psychologist are always present. It is
recognised that in inexperienced hands, prisoners can be plunged into
psychosis.
The spectrum of R2I techniques also includes keeping prisoners naked
most of the time. This is what the Abu Ghraib photographs show, along
with inmates being forced to crawl on a leash; forced to masturbate in
front of a female soldier; mimic oral sex with other male prisoners;
and form piles of naked, hooded men.
The full battery of methods includes hooding, sleep deprivation, time
disorientation and depriving prisoners not only of dignity, but of
fundamental human needs, such as warmth, water and food.
The US commander in charge of military jails in Iraq, Major General
Geoffrey Miller, has confirmed that a battery of 50-odd special
"coercive techniques" can be used against enemy detainees. The
general, who previously ran the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, said
his main role was to extract as much intelligence as possible.
Interrogation experts at Abu Ghraib prison were there to help make the
prison staff "more able to garner intelligence as rapidly as
possible".
Sleep deprivation and stripping naked were techniques that could now
only be authorised at general officer level, he said.
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