Doc. 11302 Report sources who has extensive knowledge of detainee treatment, we asked whether a known form of detainee treatment should be considered as abusive. “Here’s my question,” replied our source. “Was the guy a terrorist? ’Cause if he’s a terrorist then I figure he got what was coming to him. I’ve met a lot of them and one thing I know for sure is that they ain’t human – they ain’t like you and me.” 236. Yet what has struck me most often as I have examined the cases of scores of people held in secret detention – some of whom I have met – is precisely the opposite: these detainees’ ordeals have affected me profoundly as I have always thought of them as fellow human beings. The worst criminals, even those who deserve the harshest punishment, must be given humane treatment and a fair trial. This, moreover, is what makes us a civilised society. 237. It is for these reasons that we must combat their being seen as “ghost prisoners” by repeatedly pointing out that persons detained in the course of counter-terrorist operations are and remain human beings whose human rights must be protected and who are entitled to humane treatment as laid down in the ECHR. In this section of my report I have set out expressly to place the emphasis on the human aspects of these people held in secret detention. 6.2. Reconstructing the conditions in a CIA secret detention cell 238. We must try to visualise the ordeal of secret detention in order to be able to appreciate fully the physical and psychological plight of its victims. For this purpose, I am attempting in this section to reconstruct as many aspects as possible of the conditions in a CIA secret detention cell. 239. A reconstruction of this nature is the first step towards regaining respect for fundamental human rights, because it forces us to ask ourselves the question: “What if the tables were turned?” This is the root of the Geneva Conventions. 240. In this context, the policy debate in the United States around detainee treatment has given rise to interesting contributions, many of which rightly assert that “issues of detainee treatment raise profound questions of American values”.214In the United States political sphere, the McCain Amendment215to the Detainee Treatment Act seems to offer us a threshold for the specific acts that we should and should not allow with regard to the detention, transfer and interrogation of foreign captives. This threshold can be summarised as follows: If even one single American captive were to be held under these conditions or treated in this manner, and the American population would find it abhorrent or unacceptable, then America should not be practising the acts in question against detainees whom it holds from other countries. 241. The fact of being detained outside any judicial or ICRC control in an unknown location is already a form of torture, as Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said. All the member states of the Council of Europe have a duty not to tolerate such treatment either on their territory or elsewhere. 242. In the following paragraphs, I seek to convey the most intimate, always undeniably human experiences of being held and interrogated in such conditions. I have grouped these conditions under the following five thematic headings: confinement, isolation and insufficient provisions; careful physical conditioning of detainee and cell; permanent surveillance; mundane routines become unforgettable memories; and exertion of physical and psychological stress. Bay, President Bush states: “It’s important for Americans and others across the world to understand the kind of people held”. In his conclusion, President Bush states: “The adversaries are different … We’re fighting for the cause of humanity, against those who seek to impose the darkness of tyranny and terror upon the entire world.” 214. See, most notably: Kenneth Anderson and Elisa Massimino, “The Cost of Confusion: Resolving Ambiguities in Detainee Treatment”, part of the series entitled Bridging the Foreign Policy Divide, The Stanley Foundation, March 2007, available at http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/ resources.cfm?ID=212; hereinafter “Anderson and Massimino, Resolving Ambiguities in Detainee Treatment”. 215. The McCain Amendment, as it is popularly known, was the initiative of Republican Senator John McCain, who himself had been held captive during the Vietnam War. The amendment passed before the United States Senate on 5 October 2005 (90 votes in favour, nine against), but its force was weakened due to the use of a presidential signing statement in which President Bush said that his “constitutional authority” as Commander-in-Chief took precedence in “protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks”. 51