This is coolbert: It has been suggested that the Israeli internal security force Shin Bet [called Shaback by Victor Ostrovsky], has either been advising the U.S. or actively participating in the interrogation of captured Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo or in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. This assertion has been denied by the Israelis. It would not be surprising if this is so [Israeli participation in the interrogations]. Shin Bet has a very long history, decades long, of interrogating captured or suspected Palestinian terrorists and fighters and getting "results". The Israeli General Sholomo Gazit was quoted that "in the war against terrorists, the hostile interrogation is the most valuable source of intelligence". Hostile is the operative word here. Not torture in the classical form of the word. But hostile in the uncomfortable sense of the word. Like what was done at Abu Ghraib. Create conditions favorable for the interrogator so that the prisoner will "break" and talk. What does hostile consist of? Well, here is what has been documented. A prisoner is stripped or his private parts are protruding through the fly in his pants as he is tied to a chair. Tied with tie wraps that have little sharp teeth on the inside. Tie wraps that continue to tighten even further and further if the prisoner struggles, the little sharp teeth of the tie wrap cutting deeper and deeper into the flesh around the wrists. A burlap sack saturated with water is placed over the prisoners head and tied at the neck [this makes it hard to breath]. The prisoner might be confined for very long periods of time in this position before the interrogation actually begins. A pair of interrogators will begin asking rapid fire questions at the prisoner, shouting from close up to disorient and deafen the unfortunate. During this time, slaps, kicks, hair pulling may accompany the questioning. Teams of interrogators will continue this process for maybe even a full day at a time. If the desired results are not obtained, this process can repeat itself over and over until the desired results are obtained. And between interrogations, a variety of techniques are also employed that are calculated to make the interrogators job easier. Sensory deprivation is most important in this regard. The prisoner is denied sleep, is kept in a befuddled state, not knowing what time of the day it is or what day of the week it is. Food, water, toilet access are also controlled to make the prisoners fate miserable. All this is calculated to produce a feeling of helplessness and the inevitability of a sorry fate for the prisoner.

In a book a number of years ago now, an ex-CIA case officer in Latin America named Chapman described in an anecdotal manner his experience with hostile interrogation. Hostile interrogation that probably went beyond what was described above. Chapman describes how a captured Latin American communist revolutionary was put at his disposal by the local police. It was the intention of Chapman to elicit information from this revolutionary using the psychological interrogation techniques that Chapman had been taught. Chapman wanted to turn this man and have him work for the CIA against his former communist masters. Chapman relates how he used all the psychological methods to no avail. Even to the point of withholding cigarettes [well, for smokers, that would be a form of torture, would it not be?]. Anyhow, failing after four continuous days of effort, and after not getting a word out of the captured revolutionary, Chapman turned the communist back over to the local police. Chapman then recounts that within thirty minutes, the locals had the guy singing "like a canary"!!! Whatever the local police did was not mentioned, but it must have involved a lot of pain.

coolbert.