WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH CAPTURED JIHADISTS?

THOMAS JALBERT

BENJAMIN HOLDSWORTH

PETE DIMONOSKI

WISSEM ABID

JASON COWLING

Al Qaeda – 3700: 445

Project Approach & Overview

Ø Codified Interrogation and Torture Law

Ø Currently used Interrogation Standards
Ø Judicial application of Interrogation
Practices
Ø US and Middle East Public Perception of
Interrogation Standards.
Ø Conclusions and Policy Recommendations
Thomas Jalbert – Interrogation –
Conventions & Laws
Thomas Jalbert –
Interrogation – Conventions &
 Third Geneva Convention -
1950
Ø Rules regarding the treatment of POW’s, put in
place in 1950
Ø Prohibits violence against the detainee, including
torture or degrading treatment
Ø Article 17 says, “No physical or mental torture,
nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted
on prisoners of war to secure from them
information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of
war who refuse to answer may not be threatened,
insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or
disadvantageous treatment of any kind.”
Ø Signed and ratified by the United States
United Nations Convention
Against Torture – (CAT)
Ø Prohibits torture and any cruel or degrading
treatment
Ø Reinforced the ban on Refoulement, as set
forth in Third Geneva Convention
Ø Article 2 says, “No exceptional
circumstances whatsoever, whether a state
of war or a threat of war, internal political in
stability or any other public emergency, may
be invoked as a justification of torture.”
Ø Signed by the United States in 1988, not
ratified until 1994
US Interpretation of CAT

Ø July 2007 Executive Order determined

that members of Al Qaeda, the Taliban,
and associated forces were unlawful
combatants, and therefore not covered by
the Geneva CAT
– reinforced 2002 Bush Opinion

Ø Affirms US Code, which prohibits the use

of torture during interrogations by the CIA
US Codified Definition of Torture
(18 U.S.C. § 2340)
Ø US enacted 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340 and 2340A,
which prohibit torture occurring outside
the United States, to be in compliance
with the UN CAT.
Ø “Torture” means an act committed by a
person acting under the color of law
specifically intended to inflict severe
physical or mental pain or suffering (other
than pain or suffering incidental to lawful
sanctions) upon another person within his
custody or physical control.
Interpretation of 18 U.S.C. §§
2340-2340A by Dept. of Justice
Ø Redefines meaning of "severe" pain under
the statute as not being limited to
"excruciating or agonizing" pain or pain
"equivalent in intensity to the pain
accompanying serious physical injury,
such as organ failure, impairment of
bodily functions, or even death."
Ø Refines the definition that certain conduct
specifically intended to cause "severe
physical suffering" is distinct from "severe
physical pain."
Optional Protocol to the
Convention against Torture
Ø Not signed or ratified by the United States
Ø Establishes an international inspection
system for places of detention modeled
on the system which has existed in
Europe since 1987
Ø Seeks to prevent torture and other forms
of ill-treatment through the establishment
of a system of regular visits to places of
detention carried out by independent
international and national bodies.
Currently Used Interrogation
Standards – Ben Holdsworth
Currently Used Interrogation
Standards – Ben Holdsworth
Overview -Current US Interrogation
Standards
ØKUBARK
ØFM 34-52
ØFM 2-22.3
KUBARK (1963)

Ø CIA Interrogation Manual

Ø Declassified in 1997
Ø Addresses Interrogation Process
Ø Includes section regarding “Coercive
Counterintelligence Interrogation of
Resistant Sources” (CIA, 1963)
KUBARK: “Coercive Counterintelligence
Interrogation of Resistant Sources”
Ø Disclaimer
Ø Techniques included
Ø Sensory Deprivation
Ø Threats/Fear
Ø Pain
Ø Narcotics
FM 34-52: Intelligence
Interrogation
Ø Written prior to GWOT (1992)
Ø Used for first few years of GWOT
Ø Details
Øinterrogation process
ØScreening
ØApproaches
Øquestioning
Øprocessing of captured documents
FM 34-52 Approaches

Ø Direct
Ø Incentive
Ø Emotional
Ø Increased Fear
Ø Pride and Ego
Ø Others
FM 34-52 cont.

Ø Questioning
ØDirect
ØFollow up
ØNon-pertinent
ØRepeated
ØControl
ØPrepared
FM 2-22.3

Ø 2006-Supercedes FM 34-52
Ø Current FM used by DOD
Ø Very concerned with US and International
Law
Ø Interrogation now called “Human
Intelligence Collection” or “HUMINT”
Ø Addresses many concerns raised by Abu
Ghraib scandal
Judicial application of Interrogation
Practices – Pete Dimonoski

Judicial application of Interrogation

Practices – Pete Dimonoski
Confessions are used to
produce show trials
Ø Designed to get criminal convictions
Ø Prosecutions take full advantage of
statements
Evidence against detainees is
weak
Ø Accusations as evidence
Ø Less than objective sources
Ø Additional evidence
Ø Hearsay and coerced evidence
Evidence may not be admitted

Ø Highly coercive evidence barred

Ø Statements made without witness
Classified evidence necessitates
Ø Prohibits civil rights groups and detainees
Ø Difficult to challenge sources
High-ranking government officials
Ø Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann
Ø Special Agent Robert McFadden
Poorly administered justice
undermines United States
Ø Supreme Court
Ø European statement
Public Perception of Torture – Wissem
Abid

Public Perception of Torture – Wissem

Abid
US public opinion on
interrogation techniques
Ø A large majority of Americans whether they are
democrats or republicans oppose the treatment of
detainees at Guantanamo bay.
Ø Two of three Americans say the United States should
change the way it treats detainees at Guantanamo Bay
as prescribed by the UN Commission on Human Rights.
Ø Most Americans believe that the rules for treating
detainees should be the same for citizens and non
citizens.
Ø A slight majority of Americans believe that US
interrogation techniques at Guantanamo bay are legal.
Ø A large majority of Americans think that the treatment
of the suspects should be binding by the UN treaties
and international law.
Public opinion on interrogation
techniques in the Arab and Muslim
Ø 54% of Egyptian believe that clear rules of
torture should be maintained.
Ø 46 % believe that some degree of torture
should be allowed in the case of terrorism.
Ø The large majority in the Middle East
believes that the US has violated
international law in treating the
Guantanamo detainees.
Ø Abu Ghraib scandal led to anger and anti-
Americanism in the Middle East
Case Study
Ø Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al Haj
Ø Captured in Pakistan while he was covering the war on
terrorism in 2001.
Ø He was held for nearly six and a half years without
charge or trial.
Ø He was released ON May 8, 2008

Ø "In Guantanamo ... rats are treated with more

humanity. But we have people from more than 50
countries that are completely deprived of all rights and
privileges.” Sami AL Haj
Ø "Our human condition, our human dignity was violated,
and the American administration went beyond all
human values, all moral values, all religious values.”
Sami Al Haj
Effects of Torture
Ø Torture has not been effective in reducing
the threat of Al-Qaeda
Ø Anti-Americanism has increased world wide
especially in the Middle East.
Ø Torture against suspects without charge may
destabilize the situation in the Muslim
countries.
Ø It may affect US Arab relations and hurt US
interests in the Middle East.
Ø It helps al-Qaeda leaders to recruit more
young Muslims.
Conclusion & Policy Recommendations
– Jason Cowling

Conclusion & Policy

Recommendations – Jason Cowling
Policy Recommendations
Ø Ratification of OPCAT
Ø Solely use Interrogation Techniques in FM 34-
52
Ø Close Guantanamo Bay
Ø Abolish Military Commissions
Ø Repeal ambiguous Executive Orders and
Judicial Interpretations supporting torture
and other misfeasance.
Ø Treating Terrorists as Criminals not Enemy
Combatants
Ø Account for Past Abuses - Transparency
Policy Blog:

http
://jihadistinterrogation.blogspot.com/