Red Cross Sees Problems at Guantanamo

But the Red Cross, which is the only independent monitor allowed to visit the facility, refused to confirm or deny a New York Times account that the ICRC report described the psychological and physical coercion used at Guantanamo as ``tantamount to torture.''

A prominent New York attorney working closely with Defense Department lawyers who have seen the report, however, confirmed the characterization and said it raised new concerns about doctors violating medical ethics in pointing out prisoners' weaknesses to interrogators.

``The military lawyers by and large don't agree with the conclusion that it's tantamount to torture,'' said Scott Horton, chairman of the international law committee of the New York City Bar Association.

But, Horton told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, the military lawyers ``think it's correct for the ICRC to be aggressive. They think that's their role.''

The Bush administration rejected the ICRC accusations that detainees were in any way abused at Guantanamo.

``We strongly disagree with any characterization that suggests the way detainees are being treated is inconsistent with the policies the president has outlined,'' White House press secretary Scott McClellan said on an Air Force One flight from Washington to Ottawa, where President Bush was meeting Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.

McClellan insisted Guantanamo detainees ``were being treated humanely,'' though he pointed out ``the combatants that were picked up on the battlefield'' were seeking to harm the United States.

The Times said ICRC delegates found during a June visit to Guantanamo that U.S. authorities had devised and refined a system to break the will of the prisoners, using humiliation, solitary confinement, temperature extremes and forced positions.

Human rights campaigners said they were not surprised by the allegations after an ICRC report leaked in May described mistreatment of U.S. prisoners in Iraq.

``We've interviewed something like a dozen people who've come out of Guantanamo and looked at the accounts of a dozen others,'' Reed Brody, counsel of Human Rights Watch in New York, told the AP.

``The testimony is pretty consistent in terms of degrading treatment, the use of cold, psychological pressure.''

He noted that the people released were probably regarded as less important than the ones still held at Guantanamo and it was possible the measures used against the ``high value'' detainees the ICRC had seen were tougher still.

Antonella Notari, chief spokeswoman for the ICRC, said the neutral agency founded in 1863 to protect war wounded and prisoners refused to break its vow of confidentiality in presenting reports to the United States because it had proven to be the best way to improve conditions for detainees.

But she told the AP she could say ``there are significant problems regarding the conditions of detention and the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo that still have not been addressed by U.S. authorities.''

``We continue our discussions with the U.S. authorities in this regard,'' she added.

An agency statement said its policy of confidentiality ``has made it possible for the ICRC to have repeated and regular access to those held at Guantanamo Bay and to speak with them in private.''

The ICRC has been visiting Guantanamo regularly since early 2002.

``The ICRC uses its exchanges with governments to make clear its concerns and recommendations regarding the situation in places of detention and to demand changes when necessary,'' the agency added. ``Guantanamo Bay is no exception.''

McClellan said, ``When the international Red Cross raises issues, we work to address those issues.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4645430,00.html

WASHINGTON: The International Committee of the Red Cross has charged in confidential reports to the US government that the American military has intentionally used psychological and sometimes physical coercion ‘‘tantamount to torture’’ on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

The finding that the handling of prisoners detained and interrogated at Guantanamo amounted to torture came after a visit by a Red Cross inspection team that spent most of June in Guantanamo. The team also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at Guantanamo were participating in planning for interrogations.

Doctors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners’ mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators, the report said, sometimes directly, but usually through a group called the Behavioral Science Consultation Team, or BSCT. The team, known informally as Biscuit, is composed of psychologists and psychological workers .

The US government, which received the report in July, sharply rejected its charges, officials said. —NYT

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=59968

Red Cross Says `Significant Problems' Remain at Guantanamo Bay

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. prison camp for foreign fighters and terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, still suffers from inhumane conditions and treatment, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

``The ICRC remains concerned that significant problems regarding conditions and treatment at Guantanamo Bay have not yet been adequately addressed,'' the Geneva-based group said today in a statement on its Web site. Its findings came following a June visit to the prison.

The agency didn't specify the problems and declined to confirm a New York Times report today that said the Red Cross had seen methods ``tantamount to torture'' of prisoners in Guantanamo. It was the first time the Red Cross, which has been visiting the prison since January 2002, suggested U.S. practices there amounted to torture, the Times said.

The American military base holds about 600 foreigners, including many seized during the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

Scott McClellan, spokesman for U.S. President George W. Bush, disputed the Red Cross statement.

White House Response

``We would strongly disagree with any characterization that suggests that the way detainees are being treated in Guantanamo Bay are inconsistent with the policies the president outlined,'' McClellan told reporters en route to Ottawa aboard Air Force One.

Bush ordered in February 2002 that Guantanamo prisoners be treated ``humanely and, to the extent appropriate with military necessity, in a manner consistent with'' the Geneva Conventions, which outline treatment for prisoners of war.

Red Cross investigators last June found a system that used ``humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of forced positions,'' to break prisoners' wills, according a report that the Times said was given to the U.S. government in July.

Four former British prisoners sued top Pentagon officials late last month, claiming they were tortured during their stay. The four Britons were captured in late 2001 in Afghanistan, according to the lawsuit filed Oct. 27, and were freed in March of this year. Each of the four is suing for $10 million.

``This is not about money,'' their attorney, Eric Lewis, said last month. ``It's a symbolic amount.'' The suit names Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other top military officials.

A week before their lawsuit was filed, a U.S. judge ruled that 14 Guantanamo prisoners challenging their detention could consult with their lawyers out of earshot of the government.

A U.S. judge ruled Nov. 8 that a military tribunal set up to try the alleged chauffeur of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden violated U.S. and international law.

The judge rejected the government's arguments that Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 34, and other detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, are ``enemy combatants'' and not protected by the Geneva Conventions.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aIGOf9nC80Qs&refer=top_world_news

Morning Edition, November 30, 2004 · In a confidential report, the International Committee of the Red Cross says the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amounts to torture. A memo on that report was obtained by The New York Times and reported by Neil Lewis. Hear Lewis and NPR's Steve Inskeep.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4192337