CIA146;s 145;terror146; technique

Deep inside the forbidden zone at the US-occupied Bagram air base in Afghanistan, around the corner from the detention centre and beyond the segregated clandestine military units, sits a cluster of metal shipping containers protected by a triple layer of concertina wire.

The containers hold the most valuable prizes in the war on terrorism 8212; captured Al-Qaeda operatives and Taliban commanders. Those who refuse to cooperate inside this secret CIA interrogation centre are sometimes kept standing or kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles, according to intelligence specialists familiar with CIA interrogation methods.

At times they are held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights 8212; subject to what are known as 8216;8216;stress and duress8217;8217; techniques. Those who cooperate are rewarded with creature comforts, interrogators whose methods include feigned friendship, respect, cultural sensitivity and, in some cases, money.

Some who do not cooperate are turned over 8212; 8216;8216;rendered,8217;8217; in official parlance 8212; to foreign intelligence services whose practice of torture has been documented by the US government and human rights organisations.

US officials have said little publicly about the captives8217; names, numbers or whereabouts, and virtually nothing about interrogation methods. But interviews with several former and current intelligence officials provide insight into how the US government is prosecuting this part of the war.

While the US government publicly denounces the use of torture, each of the current national security officials interviewed for this article defended the use of violence against captives as just and necessary.

The CIA, which has primary responsibility for interrogations, declined to comment.

The off-limits patch of ground at Bagram is one of a number of secret detention centres overseas where US due process does not apply. Another is Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. US officials oversee most of the interrogations, especially those of the most senior captives.

In some cases, highly trained CIA officers question captives through interpreters. In others, the intelligence agency undertakes a 8216;8216;false flag8217;8217; operation using fake decor and disguises meant to deceive a captive into thinking he is imprisoned in a country with a reputation for brutality, when, in reality, he is still in CIA hands.

In other cases, usually involving lower-level captives, the CIA hands them to foreign intelligence services 8212; notably those of Jordan, Egypt and Morocco 8212; with a list of questions the agency wants answered.

These 8216;8216;extraordinary renditions8217;8217; are done without resort to legal process and usually involve countries with security services known for using brutal means.

According to US officials, nearly 3,000 suspected Al Qaeda members and their supporters have been detained worldwide since 9/11. About 625 are at the US military8217;s confinement facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Some officials estimated that fewer than 100 captives have been rendered to third countries. At a September 26 joint hearing of the House and Senate intelligence committees, Cofer Black, then head of the CIA Counter-terrorist Centre, spoke cryptically about the agency8217;s new forms of 8216;8216;operational flexibility8217;8217; in dealing with suspected terrorists. 8216;8216;After 9/11 the gloves come off,8217;8217; Black said.

Some countries are known to use mind-altering drugs such as sodium pentathol, said other officials involved in the process. Abu Zubaida, who is believed to be the most important Al Qaeda member in detention, was shot in the groin during his apprehension in Pakistan in March. He is now said to be cooperating, in apprehending other Al Qaeda members.

US National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said: 8216;8216;The US is treating enemy combatants in US government control, wherever held, humanely and in a manner consistent with the principles of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949.8217;8217;

The convention outlined the standards for treatment of prisoners of war. Other US government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that interrogators deprive some captives of sleep, a practice with ambiguous status in international law.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the authoritative interpreter of the international Convention Against Torture, has ruled that lengthy interrogation may incidentally and legitimately cost a prisoner sleep. The State Department8217;s annual human rights report routinely denounces sleep deprivation as an interrogation method.

In a speech on December 11, CIA director George Tenet said that interrogations overseas have yielded significant returns recently. Many of these successes include capture of Al Qaeda leaders Ramzi Binalshibh in Pakistan, Omar Al-Faruq in Indonesia, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in Kuwait and Muhammad al Darbi in Yemen. LATWP