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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: Secret memos reveal CIA interrogation methods Washington - President Barack Obama on Thursday blew the lid on harsh CIA terror interrogations approved by ex-president George Bush, including the use of insects, simulated drowning, and sleep deprivation. But despite releasing four partially blacked-out memos detailing the tactics, Obama said operatives who carried out the interrogations would not be prosecuted, saying they acted on orders and were defending their country. The memos offered a stunning glimpse inside the covert interrogation programme introduced after the September 11 attacks in 2001, which critics say equated to torture, and Obama said undermined America's moral authority. The memos were written by Bush administration legal officials and made the case that a long list of coercive techniques did not equal torture as they did not amount to the infliction of severe mental or physical pain. Detailing methods used to question al-Qaeda terror suspects, the memos reveal the use of dietary manipulation, forced nudity, facial and abdominal slaps, and the use of confined or "stress positions" for suspects. In one technique known as "walling", interrogators could push a suspect against a false wall, so his shoulder blades hit the wall with a loud noise, to make him think the impact is greater than in reality. The memos also show interrogators asked for a ruling on whether the placing of a harmless insect in a cramped box with al-Qaeda terror suspect Abu Zubaida equated to torture. The technique "certainly does not cause physical pain" and therefore could not be termed as torture and should be permissible, one of the memos said. Similarly, techniques included water-boarding or simulated drowning, walling and sleep deprivation also fell short of torture, the memos said. Another memo details a 'prototypical interrogation,' which begins with a detainee stripped of his clothes, shackled, and hooded, "with the walling collar over his head and around his neck". "The interrogators remove the hood and explain that the detainee can improve his situation by co-operating and may say that the interrogators will do what it takes to get important information," the document said. "As soon as the detainee does anything inconsistent with the interrogators' instructions, the interrogators use an insult slap or abdominal slap. "They employ walling if it becomes clear that the detainee is not co-operating in the interrogation." In a statement, Obama said the tactics adopted by the administration of his predecessor George Bush after the September 11 attacks in 2001 "undermine our moral authority and do not make us safer". He said he was releasing the documents to avoid "an inaccurate accounting of the past", which would "fuel erroneous and inflammatory assumptions about actions taken by the United States". Obama stressed that the interrogators would not be prosecuted for their work. "In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution," he said in a statement. "The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world," he said. "We must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs." Attorney General Eric Holder meanwhile said that the government would provide legal representation to any CIA employee involved in the interrogations in any state or federal court case brought against them. A federal court had given the government until Thursday to either turn over the memos in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union or explain why they cannot be released. The memos were authored by Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury, who at the time were lawyers for Bush's Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that intense debate was under way within the new administration over whether to release the memos. The report said Holder and others in the Justice Department had argued aggressively in favour of release, but the CIA countered that disclosure of such secrets would undermine its credibility and effectiveness. The day after taking office, Obama ordered the closing of the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within a year and the immediate cessation of the special interrogation regime used by the CIA. - Sapa-AFP
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