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Washington Post - January 3, 2007
FBI Reports Duct-Taping, 'Baptizing' at Guantanamo
By Dan Eggen
FBI agents witnessed possible mistreatment of the Koran at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including at least one instance in which an interrogator squatted over Islam's holy text in an apparent attempt to offend a captive, according to bureau documents released yesterday.
In October 2002, a Marine captain allegedly squatted over a copy of the Koran during intensive questioning of a Muslim prisoner, who was "incensed" by the tactic, according to an FBI agent. A second agent described similar events, but it is unclear from the documents whether it was a separate case.
In another incident that month, interrogators wrapped a bearded prisoner's head in duct tape "because he would not stop quoting the Koran," according to an FBI agent, the documents show. The agent, whose account was corroborated by a colleague, said that a civilian contractor laughed about the treatment and was eager to show it off.
The reports amount to new and separate allegations of religiously oriented tactics used against Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. After an erroneous report of Koran abuse prompted deadly protests overseas in 2005, the U.S. military conducted an investigation that confirmed five incidents of intentional and unintentional mishandling the book at the detention facility. They acknowledged that soldiers and interrogators had kicked the Koran, had stood on it and, in one case, had inadvertently sprayed urine on a copy.
The reports released yesterday were the result of an internal survey conducted in 2004 by the FBI, which asked nearly 500 employees who had served at Guantanamo Bay to report possible mistreatment by law enforcement or military personnel. More than two dozen incidents were reported, including some that the government had revealed in earlier document releases.
The new documents were turned over as part of an ongoing lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.
In them, FBI employees said they had witnessed 26 incidents of possible mistreatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including previously reported cases in which prisoners were shackled to the floor for extended periods of time or subjected to sexually suggestive tactics by female interrogators.
In a previously unreported allegation, one interrogator bragged to an FBI agent that he had forced a prisoner to listen to "Satanic black metal music for hours," then dressed as a Catholic priest before "baptizing" him.
One agent reported being told that while questioning male captives, female interrogators would sometimes wet their hands and touch detainees' faces in order to interrupt their prayers. Such actions would make some Muslims consider themselves unclean and unable to continue praying…..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010201219.html
MPAC bulletin January 3, 2007
MPAC calls on Catholic & Jewish leaders to speak
out against religious abuse of Gitmo detainees
Washington, DC – January 3, 2007 -- The Muslim Public Affairs Council today called new revelations that guards at Guantanamo Bay had used religiously-oriented interrogation tactics "morally reprehensible and un-American", following the release of an an FBI report earlier this week.
MPAC also sent letters to Catholic and Jewish leaders, including Cardinal Roger Mahoney and Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center, asking them to speak out publicly against the use of religiously-oriented interrogation methods as an insult to all Abrahamic religions.
The report included new allegations that guards staged a mock baptism of a Muslim inmate. One interrogator bragged to an FBI agent that he had forced a prisoner to listen to "Satanic black metal music for hours," then dressed as a Catholic priest before "baptizing" him. Other cases involved interrogators wrapping a prisoner in an Israeli flag, and squatting over the Quran to offend Muslim detainees.
In the letters, MPAC Senior Advisor Dr. Maher Hathout calls such methods "a danger to our national security at a time when religious and political extremists around the world can use this new information to bolster their argument for a clash of civilizations".
The FBI report, which shows 26 agents raised concerns about the camp in 2004, describes the abuse as 'over the top'. The document was released as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of former detainees who allege they were abused.
"Our nation's ability to win the war depends on our willingness to stick to the principles that define us," said MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati. "This latest news do not aid us in that endeavor."
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