From the Gainesville Times (Georgia): A jury awarded a Stephens County woman $15,000 in compensatory damages Monday in a strip-search lawsuit against Habersham County Sheriff's Office in U.S. District Court in Gainesville...a female officer strip-searched Snyder in a bathroom of the county jail...[for suspected drunk driving which a breath analysis negated.]...Snyder is the first of more than a dozen people suing the department over alleged illegal strip searches.
From True Crimes: The assault on Abner Louima involved the officers "shoving a wooden stick into his rectum and mouth while his hands were handcuffed behind his back." Louima suffered a torn bladder and intestine and required several surgeries to repair the damage. $8.75 million settlement over police brutality...was the largest police brutality settlement in New York City history.
We continue to believe a false image of ourselves. The reality is that we are an incredibly violent, abusive, sexually dysfunctional society. If you have trouble believing that, take another look at current TV shows, movies, and criminal records of spousal abuse, child abuse, sexual assault, and murder. Just a passing glance at TV fare should give you pause.
A nation in denial.
Pres Gaggle, May 3, 2004
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, our military does not tolerate prisoner abuse. The images are appalling, and such action is inexcusable. And the shameful actions of a few do not represent the 99 percent of our men and women in uniform who are performing superbly and representing the United States with honor and distinction. It is -- we believe in treating all people, including prisoners, with dignity and respect. And that is a stark contrast from the regime of Saddam Hussein, who encouraged and tolerated prisoner abuse.
In late August and early September, 2003, a team from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, visited Iraq to see whether it could help U.S. forces there obtain better information from detainees. That team was overseen by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, commander at Guantanamo.
Among its recommendations were that military police guards act as "an enabler for interrogation," Taguba's report found.
Source
October 22, 2001
AMERICAN investigators are considering resorting to harsher interrogation techniques, including torture, after facing a wall of silence from jailed suspected members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, according to a report yesterday.
More than 150 people who were picked up after September 11 remain in custody, with four men the focus of particularly intense scrutiny. But investigators have found the usual methods have failed to persuade any of them to talk.
Options being weighed include “truth” drugs, pressure tactics and extraditing the suspects to countries whose security services are more used to employing a heavy-handed approach during interrogations.
“We’re into this thing for 35 days and nobody is talking. Frustration has begun to appear,” a senior FBI official told The Washington Post.
...“We are known for humanitarian treatment, so basically we are stuck. Usually there is some incentive, some angle to play, what you can do for them. But it could get to that spot where we could go to pressure . . . where we don’t have a choice, and we are probably getting there,” an FBI agent involved in the investigation told the paper.
Source
Press Briefing, May 5, 2004
MR. McCLELLAN: First of all -- and I'll come to that -- what took place is appalling and it is shameful. It is inexcusable. It does not represent what America stands for, nor does it represent our values. We do not tolerate prisoner abuse, and when it comes to light we take steps to address it, as you heard from the President. That stands in stark contrast to regimes like Saddam Hussein's, who -- which tolerated, encouraged, and praised such activity.
Frederick's letters and email messages home also offer clues to problems at the prison. He wrote that he was helping the interrogators:
"Military intelligence has encouraged and told us 'Great job.' "
"They usually don't allow others to watch them interrogate. But since they like the way I run the prison, they have made an exception."
"We help getting them to talk with the way we handle them. ... We've had a very high rate with our style of getting them to break. They usually end up breaking within hours." Source
Q -- the President in his interview was asked, "Would you allow the International Red Cross and other human rights organizations to visit prisons under the control of the U.S. military?" And the President replied, "Of course, we'll cooperate with the International Red Cross." So does that suggest that he will allow them access to prisons under the control of the U.S. military?
MR. McCLELLAN: They already have access to prisons under the control -- we work with them and cooperate with the International Red Cross.
Q And the second part of the question was about other human rights organizations, will the President allow human rights organizations to see conditions in the prisons?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, what's important is that as we move forward on these series of investigations that are underway, is that the process is open and transparent. That's another value that America stands for.
MR. McCLELLAN: They already have access to prisons under the control -- we work with them and cooperate with the International Red Cross.
Q And the second part of the question was about other human rights organizations, will the President allow human rights organizations to see conditions in the prisons?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, what's important is that as we move forward on these series of investigations that are underway, is that the process is open and transparent. That's another value that America stands for.
Sunday May 25, 2003
The United States is illegally holding thousands of Iraqi prisoners of war and other captives without access to human rights officials at compounds close to Baghdad airport, The Observer has learnt.
There have also been reports of a mutiny last week by prisoners at an airport compound, in protest against conditions. The uprising was 'dealt with' by the Americans, according to a US military source.
The International Committee of the Red Cross so far has been denied access to what the organisation believes could be as many as 3,000 prisoners held in searing heat. All other requests to inspect conditions under which prisoners are being held have been met with silence or been turned down.
Source
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