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Journalism of Courage
Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by touching them sexually, wearing skimpy clothing such as a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man’s face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider’s written account.
A rough manuscript obtained by the Associated Press is classified as secret pending a Pentagon review for a planned book that details ways the US military used women as part of tougher physical and psychological interrogation tactics to get terror suspects to talk.
‘‘I have really struggled with this because the detainees, their families and much of the world will think this is a religious war based on some of the techniques used, even though it is not the case,’’ the author, former Army Sgt. Erik R. Saar, 29, said. Saar said he witnessed about 20 interrogations and about three months after his arrival at the base he started noticing ‘‘disturbing’’ practices.
One female civilian contractor wore a miniskirt, thong underwear and a bra during late-night interrogations with prisoners. In another case, Saar describes a female military interrogator questioning an uncooperative 21-year-old saudi detinee who allegedly had taken flying lessons in arizona before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. She wanted to ‘‘break him,’’ Saar adds, describing how she removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt and began taunting the detainee.
The detainee looked up and spat in her face, the manuscript recounts. The interrogator left the room to ask a Muslim linguist how she could break the prisoner. The linguist told her to tell the detainee that she was menstruating, touch him, then make sure to turn off the water in his cell so he couldn’t wash. The interrogator used ink from a red pen to fool the detainee, Saar writes. —PTI
