I made the mistake of reading this article by Jeremy Scahill just after dinner. It's tough reading, not because it is poorly written but because of the subject. The point of the article is that Americans are still exhibiting vicious, inhuman behavior at Guantanamo. While waterboarding and other "extreme" measures are no longer being practiced, the behavior of the Immediate Reaction Force (IRF) is really just as nasty.
The IRF was established as part of the Standard Operating Procedures for Camp Delta at Guantanamo. The IRF consists of groups of five MPs who are on call for emergencies. An IRF team specializes "in the extraction of a detainee who is combative, resistive or if the possibility of a weapon is in the cell at the time of extraction". According to some detainees who have testified at a Spanish investigation into Guantanamo, the IRF has gone into action with very little, if any provocation; an Army Chaplain claims the behavior could be brought on by not answering a guard.
And when they go into action, they really go into action, starting with "spraying the detainee with mace twice before entering the cell". What they do after that is a catalogue of brutal behavior: mass beatings by MPs, forcing heads into toilets and flushing, sticking fingers in eyes, squeezing testicles, urinating on the detainee, banging heads on floors and walls, throwing the detainee in the air and letting him fall, smearing feces on the detainee's face, force feeding in a brutal, unsanitary manner, covering toilet paper with pepper spray. In some cases medical personnel observed this behavior and did nothing.
According to the Standard Operating Procedures all interventions were to be video taped and sworn statements given by the IRF. The ACLU was unable to obtain any of this information. One IRF member says that either the video camera would never be turned on or it would be focused on the ground.
One strong example in the article is that of Sgt. Sean Baker, who played the role of an uncooperative prisoner as part of a training drill. Although he was given a code word to use if things got too much for him, it took quite a while for the IRF to stop. Today, Baker has 10 -12 seizures a day as he has traumatic brain injury. Again, there was no video tape available of his beating.
The saddest part of the article is that this behavior is still going on. Why?
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