52 | Towards the Closure of Guantanamo 2340A, necessity or self-defense” could justify it. 89 In the second memorandum, issued in the course of interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, later transferred to Guantanamo, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that the interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did not constitute torture. According to several emails between the FBI agents at Guantanamo and their superiors in Washington D.C., which were disclosed in a military investigation, some agents refused to participate in this and other interrogations because the techniques were “borderline torture.” 90 103. Among the ten techniques described are cramped confinement (“placement of the individual in a confined space [usually dark], the dimensions of which restrict the individual’s movement”); wall standing (the individual’s “arms are stretched out in front of him, with his fingers resting on the wall. His fingers support all of his body weight. The individual is not permitted to move or reposition his hands or feet”); stress positions (“designed to produce the physical discomfort associated with muscle fatigue”); sleep deprivation; and waterboarding. 91 In addition, other interrogation practices, such as sensory deprivation, severe beatings, electric shocks and induced hypothermia are alleged to have been authorized by the Director of the CIA in the “war on terror.”92 Many of the techniques used against Al-Qaeda suspects by the CIA are based upon the military’s “Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape” (SERE) program, a training program previously used to train U.S. soldiers during the Cold War to withstand torture during interrogation. 93 104. In addition, guards used the so called “frequent flyer” program, which consisted of moving detainees repeatedly from cell to cell to cause sleep deprivation and disorientation as punishment and to soften detainees for subsequent interrogation, according to military documents. One detainee was reportedly moved six times a 89 90 91 92 93 Memorandum for John Rizzo, Acting General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency, Re: Interrogation of al Qaeda Operative, from Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, August 1, 2002. Available at: http://dspace.wrlc.org/doc/bitstream/2041/70967/00355_020801_004display.pdf. Memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President, Re: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A, from Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, August 1, 2002, p. 46. Section 2340A of the United States Code prohibits torture by public officials and implements the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Report of The Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment, Abridged Version, The Constitution Project, Washington D.C., 2013, p.46 (p. 207 of the full report). Full report available at: http://www.detaineetaskforce.org/read/ Memorandum for John Rizzo, Acting General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency, Re: Interrogation of al Qaeda Operative, from Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, August 1, 2002, pp. 2-3. Stephen Lendman, Torture As Official US Policy, Global Research, July 18, 2008. Available at: http://www.globalresearch.ca/torture-as-official-us-policy/9610 Memorandum for John Rizzo, Acting General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency, Re: Interrogation of al Qaeda Operative, from Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, August 1, 2002 Organization of American States | OAS