MetaFilter posts tagged with CIA and interrogation

Borderline Human Experimentation

scrutiny — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:06:33 -0800

PHR (Physicians for Human Rights) have released a new report (pdf) that details the extent to which doctors were involved in monitoring and recording data on detainees subjected to waterboarding and other techniques [via] From the article:

A team of PHR doctors authored the white paper, which details how the CIA relied on medical expertise to rationalize and carry out abusive and unlawful interrogations. It also refers to aggregate collection of data on detainees’ reaction to interrogation methods. Physicians for Human Rights is concerned that this data collection and analysis may amount to human experimentation and calls for more investigation on this point. If confirmed, the development of a research protocol to assess and refine the use of the waterboard or other techniques would likely constitute a new, previously unknown category of ethical violations committed by CIA physicians and psychologists.

Federal prosecutors to investigate abusive interrogation cases

grobstein — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:57:07 -0800

Big Newsfilter: US Attorney General Holder appoints a prosecutor to investigate abusive CIA interrogations in the War on Terror. Obama was reluctant to investigate Bush admin wrongdoing, and he still insists "he thinks that we should be looking forward, not backward" (per his deputy press secretary). But Holder managed to get the go-ahead. Previously.

Voices from the Black Sites

shoesfullofdust — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:38:59 -0800

Interrogation techniques used by the CIA on al-Qaeda suspects "constituted torture", according to a report by the International Red Cross.

Torture Teachers

homunculus — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:05:26 -0800

Rorschach and Awe. "America's coercive interrogation methods were reverse-engineered by two C.I.A. psychologists who had spent their careers training U.S. soldiers to endure Communist-style torture techniques. The spread of these tactics was fueled by a myth about a critical 'black site' operation."

Interrogation tactics, warranted or not?

punkbitch — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 15:11:57 -0800

Abu Zubaydah's secret interrogation in Thailand. In Thailand, the new C.I.A. team concluded that under standard questioning Mr. Zubaydah was revealing only a small fraction of what he knew, and decided that more aggressive techniques were warranted... The group included an agency consultant schooled in the harsher interrogation procedures to which American special forces are subjected in their training. At one point he told his questioners that (American citizen charged with terrorism-crimes) Jose Padilla was ignorant on the subject of nuclear physics and believed he could separate plutonium from nuclear material by rapidly swinging over his head a bucket filled with fissionable material. Meanwhile, in "other" news, theBin Laden trail is still cold.

Gulags, American-Style

digaman — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:00:08 -0800

The administration's latest innovation in its effort to export democracy: Soviet-style gulags, a network of secret C.I.A. prisons known as "black sites." [From the Washington Post]. Meanwhile, SecDef Rumsfeld says no thanks to the idea of U.N. inspectors talking to detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

Lest we forget: Outsourcing Torture

y2karl — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 09:51:13 -0800

Outsourcing Torture The secret history of America’s “extraordinary rendition” program.

The cold war’s darkest secret

hortense — Sun, 02 Jan 2005 17:48:44 -0800

The death of Frank Olson on November 28, 1953 was a murder, not a suicide. 2. This is not an LSD drug-experiment story, as it was represented in 1975. This is a biological warfare story. Frank Olson did not die because he was an experimental guinea pig who experienced a “bad trip.” He died because of concern that he would divulge information concerning a highly classified CIA interrogation program called “ARTICHOKE” in the early 1950’s, and concerning the use of biological weapons by the United States in the Korean War. 3. The truth concerning the death of Frank Olson was concealed from the Olson family as well as from the public in 1953. In 1975 a cover story regarding Frank Olson’s death was disseminated. At the same time a renewed coverup of the truth concerning this story was being carried out at the highest levels of government, including the White House. The new coverup involved the participation of persons serving in the current Administration. This is his son Eric's search for his father.

The Dark Art Of Interrogation

patrickje — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 10:12:43 -0800

The Dark Art Of Interrogation Excellent article on the ongoing science of interrogation in the post 9/11 United States. For further reading, please consider the following seminal manuals by the CIA: The Kubark Manual [1963], and the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual [1983 - otherwise known as the Honduras Manual]

sixtwenty3dc — Wed, 02 Jan 2002 21:34:08 -0800

according to andy borowitz, the cia is using mariah carey's movie "glitter" in the interrogations of al qaeda operatives. apparently, "the film usually induces prisoners to talk after 10 or 12 minutes." yow. the US is fighting dirty! this has got to be one of the most humorous things i've read in a while. (via newsweek)