Ex-Pentagon Aide Denies Favoring Torture of Prisoners "Some people do bad things."

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http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-15-voa58.cfm

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
15 July 2008

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A key former defense official has testified under subpoena about the Bush administration's authorization of harsh interrogation techniques. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill, Douglas Feith denied he favored harsh interrogation of prisoners in the war against terror.


Douglas Feith (file photo)
Feith was Undersecretary of Defense for Policy from 2001 to 2005, serving under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He is one of a group of former Bush administration officials involved in high-level discussions about U.S. interrogation policies after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, as well as policy leading up to the war in Iraq.

Opening the hearing - the fourth so far dealing with interrogation at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility - panel chairman Jerrold Nadler said administration interrogation tactics have brought shame to the United States.

"It seems clear from the evidence that we have been able to assemble so far, that the administration decided early on to engage in torture, to use any rationale to do what generations of soldiers understood we could not do, and to conceal that face from the American people and the world," he said. "As a result our nation and especially our men and women in uniform are less safe today."

Republicans reflected the Bush administration's position that so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, including simulated drowning or water-boarding, provided important intelligence and were used only on three key al-Qaida suspects.




http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/removal-of-clothing

'Removal of Clothing' Is Different From 'Naked''
By Spencer Ackerman 07/15/2008 11:43AM
Doug Feith was just asked about Jim Haynes' 2002 memo on what tactics are legal in interrogation. He says in his recommendations in April 2003, what was and was not permissible in interrogations relied "on the general counsel... Mr. Haynes," Feith says, throwing Haynes under the bus.

But then Feith starts whining about how people haven't read the Oct. 11, 2002 memo on interrogations that give "great care" to how to apply, say, stress positions, isolation, removal of clothing, exploitation of "Arab fear of dogs" and 20-hour interrogations "humanely." Chairman Jerrold Nadler is incredulous. How could that possibly be humane?

"I imagine one could apply these things in an inhumane fashion," Feith replied. "'Removal of clothing' is different from 'naked.' ... It could be done in a humane way." He says that in the policy office's considerations, there was "great care" given to how these practices should be applied. "They could be used in a way that could violate the Convention," he explained, "they could be used in a way consistent with the Convention."


http://talkradionews.com/2008/07/feith-playing-defense-against-interrogation-accusations/
Feith playing defense against interrogation accusations
Staff

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held its fourth hearing on Guantanamo Bay Interrogation Rules. Subpoenaed former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith gave testimony to counter accusations that he encouraged inhumane interrogation techniques.

Chairman of the Subcommittee, Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), said that the Bush administration authorized the use of torture, calling it a “disgrace.” He said that laws set forth in the Geneva Convention cannot be ignored by the administration in its favor. Douglas Feith used his testimony to defend himself against accusations made by author Philippe Sands in his book “Torture Team.” Feith first said that his subpoena to testify before the Subcommittee was unnecessary. He said that Sands portrayed him inaccurately and misquoted him several times. Feith said Sands wrote recklessly and carelessly in his book. Feith said he actually championed the Geneva Convention and only said that detainees are not worthy of POW status, because that would make intelligence impossible to gather. Feith added that he even wrote the policy for returning detainees.

Sands said at the hearing that he is open to free discussion of his book and stands to be corrected, but denies making any mistakes. From an interview, Sands quoted Feith as saying that all of the Geneva Committee does not apply to al-Qaeda detainees.

When Congressman Nadler asked Feith if interrogation tactics of questionable humanity should be allowed, Feith replied that it depends on how they are used.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/15/douglas-feith-on-torture_n_112923.html



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At a hearing about interrogation techniques in Guantanamo, the former Under Secretary of Defense explains away abuse:

After going back and forth with Feith -- in which Feith conceded there were indeed abuses in Defense Dept. detention and interrogation operations -- Rep. Bobby Scott (D.-Va) asked why the abusers might think they could torture detainees. "I don't believe they necessarily did think they did" have authority to torture, Feith said. "Some people do bad things."

A former Human Rights First attorney, Deborah Perlstein, gently read into the record the testimony of a Chief Warrant Officer tried for murder at Abu Ghraib. The individual in question said that he thought he was allowed to suffocate a detainee in a sack because of "a memo written by Gen. Sanchez," the U.S. commander in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, who in September 2003 accepted a series of suggestions from Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, then the Guantanamo commander, to "Gitmo-ize" Abu Ghraib. Miller's trip to see Sanchez, of course, occurred on behalf of and with the full knowledge of the Defense Dept.

"I don't think there's a dispute that people misbehaved," Feith said defiantly.



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