Cockburn
/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
Now Available!
Today's
Stories
May
18, 2004
Bob
Wing
The Color of Abu Ghraib
May
17, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
The John-John Ticket: Kerry Woos McCain
Laura
Santina
Military Conditioning and Abu Ghraib
Mickey
Z.
With Friends Like These: More Election 2004 Madness
Frederick
B. Hudson
Police Terror: Three Mothers Search for Justice
Shakirah
Esmail-Hudani
Inside Abu Ghraib: the Violence of the Camera
Boris
Leonardo Caro
The Revelations of Mr. W.
Alex
Dawoody
Iraq: From Saddam to Occupation
Victor
Kattan
On Watching the Execution of Nick Berg
Ron
Jacobs
Rumsfeld's Sovereignty Shell Game
May
15 / 16, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Green Lights for Torture
Douglas
Valentine
ABCs of American Interrogation: Phoenix Program, Revisited
John
Stanton
Kings of Pain: UK, US and Israel
Ben
Tripp
Torture: a Fond Reminiscence
Brian
Cloughley
Where are You Heading, America? Taking a Closer Look at the Patriot
Act
Justin
E. H. Smith
Islam and Democracy: the Lesson from Turkey
Brandy
Baker
Equal Opportunity Torture: Lynddie England, the Right and Feminism
John
Chuckman
Peep Show on Capitol Hill: Sex, Lies and Videotape
Bill
Glahn
RIAA Watch: Goon Squad
John
Holt
Fencing the Sky
Ron
Jacobs
The Power of Patti Smith
Brian
J. Foley
Why the Outrage Over Abu Ghraib?
Robin
Philpot
Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide
Eric
Leser
The Carlyle Empire
Ray
Hanania
From Abu Ghraib to Nick Berg: There's No Such Thing as a Good
War Crime
Jeff
Halper
Dozers of Mass Destruction
Joe
Surkiewicz
Inside the Baltimore Detention Center
John
Whitlow
Iraq Goddamn
Michael
Leon
Invitation to a Beheading: Why Bush Should Watch the Berg Video
Poets'
Basement
Krieger, Ford, LaMorticella, Smith and Albert
May
14, 2004
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's POW Porn
Ron
Jacobs
Secret History of the War on Drugs
William
Blum
God, Country and Torture
Michael
Donnelly
The People v. Corporate Greed: A Victory on the North Coast
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
India Shines
Stephen
Gowans
Building Democracy in Iraq and Other
Absurdities
May
13, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Where is Kerry?
Colm
O'Laithian
Torture and Degradation: Revenge American Style?
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassan
Wal-Mart: Scrooge with Hi-Tech Accounting
Practices
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush on the Inhumane Treatment of Iraqi Prisoners
Willliam
James Martin
Deir Yassin Massacre Recalled
Marc
Salomon
Reality TV Bites
Forrest
Hylton
Law 'n Order in La Paz: All Quiet
on the Southern Front?
May
12, 2004
Blanton
/ Kornbluh
Prisoner Abuse: Cheney Warned in
1992
Virginia
Tilley
So, Who's to Blame?
Bruce
Jackson
James Inhofe, the Dumbest Senator
of Them All
Thomas
P. Healy
No Enemies: Making Peace with Bert Sacks
Linda
S. Heard
Racism and Ignorance: a Lethal Cocktail in Iraq
Norman
Solomon
Spinning Torturegate
Lisa
Viscidi
The People's Voice: Community Radio in Guatemala
Jack
Heyman
View from the Bay Bridge: Longshoremen Plan Mass Workers March
on DC
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Rummy's Reprieve
CounterPunch
Wire
Teamsters Corruption Scandal: Hoffa Exec. Assistant Alleged to
Have Quashed Investigation into Mob Influence
Christopher
Brauchli
Detention Camp, USA
William
S. Lind
Bush's Waterloo?
May 11, 2004
Mark
Engler
On the "Necessity" of Torture
Ray
McGovern
More Troops? A March of Folly
Kurt
Nimmo
Dirty Nukes and Jefferson's Grand Experiment
Mickey
Z.
Less Than Hero
Christopher
Reed
Torture on the Homefront: America's Long History of Prison Abuse
Dennis
Hans
When John Negroponte was Mullah Omar
Bruce
Jackson
Pete Seeger at 85
Mike
Whitney
Killing al Sadr
Simon
Helweg-Larsen
Shrinking the Guatemalan Military
William
A. Cook
The Unconscious Country: Righteous Indignation,
Nakedly Displayed
May
10, 2004
Robert
Fisk
From Hollywood to Abu Ghraib: Racism
and Torture as Entertainment
Wayne
Madsen
The Israeli Torture Template: Rape,
Feces and Urine-Soaked Cloth Sacks
Col.
Dan Smith
The Shame of Abu Ghraib
Joe
Bageant
John Ashcroft, Keep Your Mouth Off My Wife!
Ron
Jacobs
Rummy's Prisongate Blues: Don't Leave Mad; Just Leave
Ben
Tripp
Getting in Touch with Your Inner Savage
Ray
Hanania
Why They Hate Us: Racism, Bigotry and Abuse
Reza
Fiyouzat
"Mishandled" Invasions
Diane
Christian
Images & Abstractions &
Genitals
Website
of the Day
Crushing Iraqi Skulls with Tanks for Sport?
May
8 / 9, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Torture: as American as Apple Pie
Adam
Jones
America's Srebrenica: What About the Hundreds of POWs Suffocated
and Shot at Kunduz?
Douglas
Valentine
Who Let the Dogs Out?: Torture, the CIA and the Press
Kurt
Nimmo
Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib
Brian
Cloughley
Humpty Dumpty is Falling
Lucia
Dailey
Forbidden Games
Joanne
Mariner
* * * *: Redacting Moussaoui
Mickey
Z.
Please Forgive U.S.? (There Are No Innocent Bystanders)
John
Chuckman
The Thing with No Brain
Doug
Giebel
Someone Knew: There Were No WMDs
Norm
Dixon
How the Bush Gang Exploited 9/11
Sam
Bahour
A Guiding Light Falls on Ramallah
Susan
Davis
Disorderly Conduct as Fine Art
Dave
Marsh
In a Pig's Eye: Alan Lomax, Dead But Still Stealing
Laura
Flanders
Life with Dick and Lynne
Dave
Zirin
Fans Push Spiderman Off Base
Carolyn
Baker
Why I Won't Vote in 2004
Prince
"Ain't No Sense in Voting"
Dr.
Susan Block
Onan for Two: Liberating Masturbation
Poets'
Basement
Smith, Sleeth, Ford, Albert and Saska
May
7, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
10 Prisons; 9,000 Prisoners: US Detention
Facilities in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
UnAmerican? I Wish It Were So
Robert
Fisk
An Illegal and Immoral War
Ahmad
Faruqui
The 50th Anniversary of Dien Bien
Phu
Alexander
Zaitchik
From Terrell Unit in Texas to Abu Ghraib: Doesn't It Ring a (Prison)
Bell?
Mike
Whitney
The Price of Victory
Norman
Solomon
This War, Racism and Media Denial
M.
Shahid Alam
A Comic Apology
May
6, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
They Did It for Jessica: Smeared with
Shit; Kicked to Death
Kathy
Kelly
May Day in Pekin Prison: Prison Labor
for the War Machine
Werther
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: War as Vegas
Casino Game
Lawrence
Ferlinghetti
Totalitarian Democracy
Robert
Fisk
"Smoke Him": Video Shows Wounded
Men Being Shot by US Helicopter
John
Janney
Torturing the Way to Freedom?
Christopher
Ketcham
Outlaw Heterosexual Marriage Now!
Alan
Farago
Dead Oceans: So Long, Thanks for the Fish
Sam
Hamod
Bush on Arab TV: Worthless and Demeaning
James
Brooks
Sullen Spring
William
S. Lind
On the Brink of Defeat in Iraq
May
5, 2004
Maj.
Gen. Antonio M. Taguba
Complete US Army Report on Abuse of
Iraqi Prisoners
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Kerry: a Lost Cause for Progressives?
Will
Youmans
Deal with the Devil: a Palestinian
Zionist and the End of the World
Patrick
B. Barr
Terrorists R Us: the Powerful are Exempt from the Label
Lawrence
Magnuson
Nightline's All-American Morgue
Greg
Moses
Pocketbook of Denuded Ideals
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Tormenting Prisoners, Torturing
Truth
Lee
Ballinger
Cinco de Mayo and Unity
Gilbert
Achcar
Bush's Cakewalk into the Iraq Quaqmire
Website
of the Day
Operation Phoenix & Iraq
May
4, 2004
Human
Rights Watch
A Timeline of Torture and Abuse Allegations
and Responses
Kurt
Nimmo
The CIA Privatized Torture
David
Peterson
CBS, Self-Censorship & Iraq
Barry
Lando
CACI's Private Torture Chambers
Patrick
Cockburn
Torture: Iraqis Disgusted, But Not Surprised
Dr.
Susan Block
Indecent Insurgents: Watch What You Say
Fidel
Castro
A Mindless, Unnecessary War
Mike
Whitney
Empire of Torture
Sonali
Kolhatkar
How to Stop the War: Demonstrate Against
John Kerry
Josh
Frank
The Lost Sierra Club
Stan
Goff
The Role: Another Open Letter to US Troops in Iraq
Agustin
Velloso
Spare Us Your Disgusting Ethics
Stew
Albert
American Know-How
Website
of the Day
Scenes from a Cover-Up
May
3, 2004
Virginia
Tilley
Let the Wall of Silence Fall
May
1 / 2, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
An Army in Disgrace, a Policy
in Tatters, the Real Prospect of Defeat
Robert
Fisk
"Good Guys" Who Can Do No
Wrong
Alexander
Cockburn
Watching Niagara: Stupid Leaders,
Useless Spies, Angry World
Heather
Williams
Gringo, We're Going Home: Latin
American Troops Flee Iraq
Diane
Rejman
An Army Vet on Torture in Iraq:
Abu Ghraib as My Lai?
Diane
Christian
Blood Spilling: Osama, Bush and
Sharon Speak the Same Language
Patrick
Cockburn
Seems Like Old Times in Fallujah
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Torturous Logic: Shocked,
Shocked, Shocked
Chris
Floyd
Suicide Bomber: Neocons, Nihilists
and Annihilation
April
29 / 30, 2004
Dave
Zirin
A Pawn in Their Game: the Unlonesome
Death of Pat Tillman
Kathy
Kelly
The Warden's Tour
Greg
Weiher
Fallujah and the Warsaw Ghetto: the
Banality of Evil
Michael
S. Ladah
Terrorism and Assassination: the
Ultimate Depception
Patrick
Cockburn
The Fallujah Mutinies
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
May
18, 2004
Imperial Policing
Why Abu Ghraib
Shouldn't Surprise Us
By DOUG STOKES
What is perhaps most surprising about
the abuses committed against civilians at Abu Ghraib prison in
Iraq is the fact that they came as a surprise at all. The 'sadistic,
blatant, and wanton criminal abuses' found by Major General Taguba
has a long history within the tradition of US imperial policing
of third world nations. The primary means for this policing had
traditionally been counter-insurgency warfare which has always
sought to contain and destroy social forces considered inimical
to US interests. Given the fragile social base of the US occupation
in Iraq coupled with the increasing ferocity of the Iraqi resistance
it comes as little surprise that the US has turned to counter-insurgency
warfare to help it undermine and destroy resistance to its rule.
The reports and pictures coming out of Abu Ghraib merely confirm
what has long been a legitimate tactic within US counter-insurgency
warfare: the targeting and torture of civilians. This terror
serves not only to break the will of those targeted but has a
wider symbolic psychological function in that it dramatically
raises the cost of dissent. Whether it is was a 'war on communism'
during the Cold War, or a 'war on terrorism' in the post-9/11
era, the targets and tactics have remained the same and the abuses
at Abu Ghraib are the logical outcome of what the US has long
been teaching both its own counter-insurgency specialists and
those of allied nations. This functional use of terror and torture
becomes clearer when we examine the very manuals used by US counter-insurgency
warfare experts to train others in the art of 'unconventional
warfare'. For example, in one US counter-insurgency manual called
Psychological Operations the manual argued that the primary target
'for tactical psychological operations is the local civilian
population'.1 After other means have failed, the manual stated
pro-US forces can legitimately target civilians to instil terror:
Civilians in the operational
area may be supporting their own government or collaborating
with an enemy occupation force. Themes and appeals disseminated
to this group will vary accordingly, but the psychological objectives
will be the same as those for the enemy military. An isolation
program designed to instil doubt and fear may be carried out
... If these programs fail, it may become necessary to take more
aggressive action in the form of harsh treatment or even abductions.
The abduction and harsh treatment of key enemy civilians can
weaken the collaborators' belief in the strength and power of
their military forces.2
Another manual, entitled Handling
Sources, continued along similar lines and advocated the harsh
treatment of civilians. The manual was used to teach CI forces
the art of cultivating government informants within alleged insurgent
organisations. The manual states that good techniques to force
people to inform were the targeting of family members and the
use of physical violence. The 'CI agent could cause the arrest
of the employee's parents, imprison the employee or give him
a beating as part of the placement plan of said employee in the
guerrilla organization'.3 The manual went on to outline how crucial
successful informants are, with an informant's worth increasing
through the number of 'arrests, executions, or pacification[s]'
the informants information led to, all the while 'taking care
not to expose the employee as the information source.'4 According
to the manual even children were to be used as potential information
sources: 'Children are, at least, very observant and can provide
precise information about things they have seen and heard, if
they are interrogated in the appropriate manner'.5 The use of
state terror was thus overtly advocated as a legitimate technique
to be employed by counter-insurgency forces, with recipient militaries
trained in the use of terrorism and the 'abduction and harsh
treatment' of civilians advocated so as to raise the associated
costs of dissent.
One of the key features of
US-backed throughout the third world was the institutionalisation
of torture against perceived enemies with torture practised routinely
and on a wide scale by US-backed counter-insurgency forces.6
The use of coercive techniques as part of the overall counter-insurgency
effort were advocated by US trainers and physical and mental
coercion was openly advocated as a legitimate part of the counterinsurgents
arsenal. For example, in the CIA's Human Resource Exploitation
Training Manual, it was stated that although US trainers 'do
not stress the use of coercive techniques, we do want to make
you aware of them and the proper way to use them'. The manual
outlines a number of coercive techniques including sensory deprivation,
solitary confinement and different forms of physical torture
including bizarre forms of water torture whereby subjects were
'suspended in water and wore black-out masks'. The manual continues
that the
stress and anxiety become unbearable
for most subjects ... how much they are able to stand depends
upon the psychological characteristics of the individual ...
the 'questioner' can take advantage of this relationship by assuming
a benevolent role.7
The manual cautioned that if
a 'subject refuses to comply once a threat has been made, it
must be carried out. If it is not carried out then subsequent
threats will also prove ineffective'. The training manual concludes
that 'there are a few non-coercive techniques which can be used
to induce regression, but to a lesser degree than can be obtained
with coercive techniques'.8 This manual was based on an earlier
manual used by the CIA. The older manual was called the KUBARK
Counterintelligence Interrogation Manual and dates from 1963.
In its introduction, the manual states that if bodily harm or
'medical, chemical or electrical methods or materials are to
be used to induce acquiescence' then prior approval from CIA
headquarters is required. The manual continues that if 'a new
safehouse is to be used as the interrogation site, it should
be studied carefully to be sure that the total environment can
be manipulated as desired. For example, the electric current
should be known in advance, so that transformers or other modifying
devices will be on hand if needed'.9 The Baltimore Sun conducted
an investigation into the use of these manuals. They were told
by an intelligence source that the 'CIA has acknowledged privately
and informally in the past that this referred to the application
of electric shocks to interrogation suspects'.10 In sum, torture
was condoned as part of the strategic arsenal available to counter-insurgency
forces in combating alleged subversion. Importantly, torture
not only provided an efficient means for inducing 'regression'
but also acted to instil terror within target populations. The
abuses committed at Abu Ghraib thus form part of a covert tradition
within the history of US imperial policing and counter-insurgency
warfare.
Dr Doug Stokes is a lecturer in International Politics.
His new book 'Terrorising Colombia: America's Other War' will
be coming in the fall of 2004 with Zed books. He can be reached
at: dws@aber.ac.uk
1 US Department of the Army,
Psychological Operations, FM33-5, 1962, p.125.
2 US Department of the Army,
Psychological Operations, FM33-5, 1962, pp. 115-116.
3 Department of Defense, US
Army School of the Americas, Manejo de Fuente, p.65 translated
by the National Security Archive.
4 Department of Defense, US
Army School of the Americas, Manejo de Fuente, p.66.
5 Department of Defense, US
Army School of the Americas, Manejo de Fuente, p.26; See also
Latin American Working Group, Declassified
Army and CIA Manuals, February 1997.
6 On the use of torture by
US-backed Latin American states see Cynthia Brown (ed.) With
Friends Like These: The Americas Watch Report On Human Rights
and US Policy In Latin America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985).
7 Central Intelligence Agency,
Human
Resource Exploitation Training Manual, 1983.; For background
see Dana Priest, Washington Post, September 21, 1996.
8 Central Intelligence Agency,
Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual, 1983.
9 Central Intelligence Agency,
KUBARK Counterintelligence
Interrogation Manual, 1963; For background see Tom Blanton,
The
CIA in Latin America, National Security Archive, March 14,
2000.
10 The Baltimore Sun, Monday,
January 27, 1997.
Weekend
Edition Features for May 15 / 16, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Green Lights for Torture
Douglas
Valentine
ABCs of American Interrogation: Phoenix Program, Revisited
John
Stanton
Kings of Pain: UK, US and Israel
Ben
Tripp
Torture: a Fond Reminiscence
Brian
Cloughley
Where are You Heading, America? Taking a Closer Look at the Patriot
Act
Justin
E. H. Smith
Islam and Democracy: the Lesson from Turkey
Brandy
Baker
Equal Opportunity Torture: Lynddie England, the Right and Feminism
John
Chuckman
Peep Show on Capitol Hill: Sex, Lies and Videotape
Bill
Glahn
RIAA Watch: Goon Squad
John
Holt
Fencing the Sky
Ron
Jacobs
The Power of Patti Smith
Brian
J. Foley
Why the Outrage Over Abu Ghraib?
Robin
Philpot
Re-writing the History of the Rwandan Genocide
Eric
Leser
The Carlyle Empire
Ray
Hanania
From Abu Ghraib to Nick Berg: There's No Such Thing as a Good
War Crime
Jeff
Halper
Dozers of Mass Destruction
Joe
Surkiewicz
Inside the Baltimore Detention Center
John
Whitlow
Iraq Goddamn
Michael
Leon
Invitation to a Beheading: Why Bush Should Watch the Berg Video
Poets'
Basement
Krieger, Ford, LaMorticella, Smith and Albert
|