US: US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was "personally involved" in the interrogation of an al-Qaeda detainee who was subjected to "degrading and abusive" treatment by US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay, it was reported yesterday.
Military investigators found that the Saudi detainee, Mohamed al-Qahtani, once referred to by US authorities as the "20th hijacker", was forced to wear women's underwear, stand naked in front of a woman interrogator and perform "dog tricks" on a leash.
"Just for the lack of a camera, it would sure look like Abu Ghraib," investigator Lieut Gen Randall Schmidt told the army inspector general.
Details of the interrogation, which was judged as "abusive and degrading" but not "torture", surfaced last summer but this is the first time Mr Rumsfeld's involvement has emerged.
According to a report by the army inspector general in December, obtained by Salon.com online magazine, the investigators did not accuse the defence secretary of specifically prescribing "creative" techniques, but they said he regularly monitored the progress of the al-Qahtani interrogation by telephone. They also accuse him of creating the conditions that allowed abuse to take place.
"Where is the throttle on this stuff?" asked Lieut Gen Schmidt. The air force officer said in sworn testimony to the inspector general he had concerns about the duration and repetition of harsh interrogation techniques. "There were no limits."
So far, only junior US officers have been charged and convicted for a string of prisoner abuse scandals, but human rights activists have accused it of opening the way for the use of torture by relaxing the constraints of the Geneva conventions in 2002.
Gen Bantz Craddock, the head of Southern Command, overruled the investigators' recommendations that Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller, his predecessor, be admonished for the interrogation techniques employed. Maj Gen Miller was transferred from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib prison, and brought his aggressive approach to interrogations with him.
The investigators found that Mr Rumsfeld was "talking weekly" with Gen Miller about the al-Qahtani interrogation. In December 2002, the defence secretary approved 16 harsh interrogation techniques for use against Mr al-Qahtani, including the use of forced nudity, and "stress positions". However, the approval was revoked in 2003.
Gen Miller insisted he was unaware of the details of the al-Qahtani interrogation, but Lieut Gen Schmidt said he found that "hard to believe" in view of Mr Rumsfeld's evident interest in its progress. Gen James Hill, a former head of Southern Command, recalled Gen Miller recommending the continuation of the al-Qahtani interrogation, saying: "We think we're right on the verge of making a breakthrough."
Gen Hill then passed on the request to Mr Rumsfeld. "The secretary said, 'Fine'," Gen Hill remembered.
The Pentagon did not respond to a call seeking comment yesterday but Jeffrey Gordon, a military spokesman, told Salon.com that the interrogation of al-Qahtani would provide a "treasure trove" of information that was still classified. "Nothing was done randomly," he said in a statement.
Human Rights Watch has called for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate the responsibility of senior Bush administration officials for "war crimes or torture, or other prohibited ill-treatment against detainees in US custody".
The group issued a report last year alleging that Mr Rumsfeld and other senior officials "made decisions and issued policies that facilitated serious and widespread violations of the law".
It added: "The circumstances strongly suggest that they either knew or should have known that such violations took place as a result of their actions. There is also mounting data that, when presented with evidence that abuse was in fact taking place, they failed to act to stem the abuse."