US doctors accused over Guantánamo abuse

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Fri, 07 Jan 2005 09:44:48 -0800

US doctors accused over Guantánamo abuse

 

 

 

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,13743,1385095,00.html>

 

US doctors accused over Guantánamo abuse

 

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

Friday January 7, 2005

The Guardian

 

Doctors at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib used their medical knowledge to

help devise coercive interrogation methods for detainees including sleep

deprivation, stress positions and other abuse, it was reported yesterday.

 

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine provides the most

authoritative account so far that doctors were active participants in

the abuse of prisoners in America's " war on terror " .

 

" Clearly, the medical personnel who helped to develop and execute

aggressive counter-resistance plans thereby breached the laws of war, "

says the article, which is based on interviews with more than two dozen

military personnel and recently released official documents. It adds:

" The conclusion that doctors participated in torture is premature, but

there is probable cause for suspecting it. "

 

The issue that the administration had encouraged the use of coercive

interrogation techniques was raised yesterday in the Senate confirmation

hearings of Alberto Gonzales, the presidential nominee for attorney

general. Mr Gonzales was attacked for a memo which said only the most

severe types of torture were not permissible under US law.

 

The article accuses doctors of violating professional ethics by passing

detainee health records to military intelligence, and by watching

interrogation sessions.

 

It also describes collaboration with interrogators in which doctors and

medics helped set the parameters for abuse, determining 72-hour " sleep

management " schedules for detainees, approving bread and water regimens

for those subjected to " dietary manipulation " , and sanctioning long

periods of isolation.

 

 

At Guantánamo and at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, doctors had the final say on

the interrogation plan for each detainee. " The medic would screen him

and ensure he was fit for interrogation ... After that the medic would

watch over the interrogation from behind the glass, " the article quotes

a military police commander as saying.

 

Last August an article in the British medical journal the Lancet accused

medics at Abu Ghraib of failing to report the beating of detainees and

of forging death certificates. But the practices described yesterday

suggest for the first time that medical practitioners played an active

role in abuse.

 

" This is physicians and psychiatrists being involved in the design and

implementation of interrogation plans, " said Jonathan Marks, a British

barrister and fellow at the Georgetown University law centre, who

co-authored the report.

 

There was no comment from the US military yesterday, but the article

includes comments from the deputy assistant secretary of defence for

health, David Tornberg, which suggest the Pentagon believes professional

ethics do not apply in a time of war. That view has raised concern in

the medical community. " You have to protect physicians from being ...

used to serve military purposes, " said Leonard Rubinstein, director of

Physicians for Human Rights.

 

· Abu Ghraib abuse defendant Charles Graner faces a court martial today

in Texas for his alleged role in the scandal, and is expected to argue

that he was following orders from superiors. He faces more than 17 years

in prison on charges that include conspiracy to mistreat detainees,

dereliction of duty and assault.

 

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