A Lapse in Intelligence

Colonel Steven Kleinman, who has referred to himself as the "most unpopular officer" in all of Iraq, describes the previous administration's support of SERE tactics for interrogation as not only ineffective in securing accurate intelligence, but also as a systematic approach to torture that clearly compromises essential moral values upon which this nation was founded.

SERE, which stands for "survival, evasion, resistance, and escape," refers to a formal, structured group of strategies to resist hostile interrogation. During the period of the Cold War, American service people were trained in SERE in order to resist possible severe, torturous interrogations in situations such as the Korean War, at the hands of the Chinese. The Bush administration re-introduced the flip-side of SERE; that is, it encouraged and supported the very techniques of interrogation that earlier service people had been trained to resist and withstand.

In a recent interview with NPR (All Things Considered, April 23, 2009), Kleinman confirmed that the tenets of SERE had been employed against detainees in Iraq:

"Exactly, and I think a key point that your listeners need to understand, so they can grasp the gravity of the situation, is that the primary objective of that approach to interrogation was not truth … but somebody's political truth. In the Korean War, they actually compelled some of our pilots to admit to dropping chemical weapons on cities and so forth, when in fact that didn't happen. Now, that stands in stark contrast to intelligence interrogation, where the overriding objective is provide timely, accurate, reliable, comprehensive intelligence." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103421778

The Bush administration was well aware that these SERE techniques were not created to extract accurate intelligence; they were employed to make people say things that were not true, and to promote propoganda. These strategies are of little or no use if one's primary objective is to obtain important, useful information to help the young American men and women in harm's way. Colonel Kleinman referred to himself as the "most unpopular officer" in all of Iraq because a culture of systematic torture of detainees had become a deeply penetrated status quo by the time he arrived on the scene, and Kleinman was perceived as an unwelcome enforcer of morality. The standard defense of these tactics by those who in engaged in them was that this was, at the very least, the expected treatment our soldiers would receive from the enemy if they were ever captured. This is a very different justification, this "eye for an eye" reasoning, than the official position that the main purpose of these interrogations was to obtain intelligence.

Our government sanctioned, encouraged, and instituted a systematic regime of torture applied to detainees that not only compromised the safety and well-being of our enlisted men and women by wasting time on ineffective interrogation methods, but also indoctrinated those Americans involved in the torture process in a method of treatment that goes against our core American value of respect for basic human dignity.

Perhaps these SERE tactics were effective, at times, despite what research and experience has shown, but I question whether or not the information obtained through these methods could have been obtained through other, less damaging, means. Because, in the end, what has been damaged, once again, is our reputation and our sense of ourselves as Americans. On April 29th, President Obama addressed these concerns through the following statements:

"Could we have gotten that information without using these techniques?" (a core question) and "Are we safer?" (a broader question)

"Churchill understood...you start taking shortcuts, and it corrodes the character of a people."

"Hold true to your ideals when it's hard, not just when it's easy to." (This was said in reference to our actions against detainees now being used as an Al Quaeda recruitment tool.)

"...stick to who we are, even when dealing with unscrupulous enemies."

And, finally, our current president reiterated a primary focus of his leadership that he thinks about every day, and every night before he goes to sleep:

"I will be judged as a Commander in Chief by how safe I am keeping the people...the best way I can do that is by making sure that we are not taking shortcuts that undermine who we are."

The Bush adminstration should be held responsible for our government's engagement in systematic torture techniques. I support any and all investigations into this extreme and damaging lapse of moral judgement, even at a time when the present administration must deal with more than any other administration's share of moral, economic, and policy clean-up from the past eight dark, horrific years.

Where Will the Guantanamo Detainees Go?

President Obama made a change in direction, ordering the closure of Guantanamo Bay yesterday after signaling that it may stay open longer. What wasn’t said is more prescient than what was.

President Obama asked his White House Counsel Greg Craig whether moving the prisoners was part of his own executive order though you’d assume he’d know what’s in it. Anyway, we’ll learn the fates of the Gitmo residents in a later executive order sometime this year. The White House is going to wing it.

There’s a slight problem with the Gitmo detainees: no one wants them. Of the estimated 245 prisoners at least 60 have been rejected for repatriation to their home countries. These “worst of the worst” could be sent to prisons in the mainland U.S., however there will be resistance for that too. There is much squawking about taking them at Leavinworth because it would instantly change it from part of a sleepy Kansas community to a terrorist target. Prepare for protests no matter where they’re located. Maybe President Obama will have the good taste to put them in a blue area of a blue state, such as downtown Manhattan or Hollywood.

The results are easy to predict. The New York Times is reporting that the deputy leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen, Said Ali al-Shihri, is a graduate of Gitmo and a Saudi reeducation camp for terrorists. The camp apparently is like a 12-step program with a high rate of relapse. Mr. al-Shihri should be captured and sent back to make his own bed and have a group discussion about how his mother’s neglect caused him to kill nonbelievers.

Some of the Guantanamo Bay detainees will certainly be set loose and many will plan to attack us. If there is another terrorist attack carried out by those released from Gitmo we’ll have ourselves to blame for not analyzing campaign promises.

Goodbye to Guantanamo

President Obama set his moral compass strong and true through the issuance of executive orders to close Guantanamo Bay Prison and other secret CIA prisons throughout the world. Additionally, prisoners in Guantanamo and other such prisons must now be treated according to the tenets of the Geneva Convention. Through this sweeping and immediate decision, the Obama presidency announces to Americans, and to the world, that the United States will no longer compromise its essential values and principles in the treatment of the accused.

There are some who believe torture is justified in this "war on terror"; that it might be used to destroy one life, but preserve many. In reality, this belief is misguided.

Experience indicates that the use of force is not necessary to gain the cooperation of sources for interrogation. Therefore, the use of force is a poor technique, as it yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can induce the source to say whatever he thinks the interrogator wants to hear. (Army Field Manual 34-52)

Several weeks ago, I heard an interview on the radio with one of the chief Army negotiators for the Iraq War. He spoke eloquently about his interrogation techniques, which primarily consisted of forming relationships with the prisoners and gaining their trust. He was sometimes able to obtain accurate information through a combination of "psychological ploys" and "verbal trickery" (also describe in 34-52), but he mainly emphasized the creation of a series of agreements made with the prisoners. Through gaining their trust, he was able to interview a chain of prisoners, eventually leading him to those who were the most culpable.

We now have a moral, ethical leader of our country. The closing of Guantanamo is just the beginning of ending the ugly chapter of disregard for human rights introduced by the Bush administration in the name of "national security." I eagerly await the next coordinates on this new moral journey.