{"id":46458,"date":"2021-05-25T16:50:41","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T16:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/25\/army-interrogation-manual-still-leaves-opening-for-torture-advocates-warn\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:34:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:34:41","slug":"army-interrogation-manual-still-leaves-opening-for-torture-advocates-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/05\/25\/army-interrogation-manual-still-leaves-opening-for-torture-advocates-warn\/","title":{"rendered":"Army interrogation manual needs revisions to prevent torture, advocates warn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An Army field manual<\/a> that guides all national security interrogations needs revisions to prevent Americans from engaging in torture, such as an explicit ban on notorious CIA techniques used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, advocates said in a recent letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other key officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revisions are not needed to curb any currently known activities, but they would prevent future administrations from finding the kind of legal loopholes that allowed torture during the George W. Bush years, according to Scott Roehm, Washington director for the Center for Victims of Torture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat happens when the U.S. faces the next crisis? Will somebody take a look at this [Army field] manual and try to lawyer around it in the same way we saw what was done with the \u2018torture memos\u2019 <\/a>in the aftermath of 9\/11?\u201d Roehm said by telephone Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd there are ways in which the field manual could be more protective against that kind of \u2018acrobatic\u2019 effort to allow for torture or cruel treatments,\u201d Roehm added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The May 20 letter<\/a> was cosigned by Roehm\u2019s organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others. It was sent to Austin, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revising interrogation guidelines, the letter to senior officials said, would help fulfill President Joe Biden\u2019s campaign promise to \u201creaffirm the ban on torture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to an amendment <\/a>to the 2016 defense budget bill, there\u2019s one key document to revise. All national security interrogations, excluding law enforcement, adhere to the methods described in Army Field Manual 2\u201322.3, \u201cHuman Intelligence Collector Operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A U.S. Soldier assigned to 64th Military Police Company, 91st Brigade Engineer Battalion interrogates a simulated suspect during Combined Resolve XV at the Hohenfels Training Area, Hohenfels, Germany, on Feb. 27, 2021. Combined Resolve XV is a Headquarters Department of the Army directed Multinational exercise designed to build 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division’s readiness and enhance interoperability with allied forces to fight and win against any adversary. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Esmeralda Cervantes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The manual currently has a list of prohibited actions, including waterboarding, mock executions and electric shocks. But advocates want that expanded to include all of the CIA\u2019s \u201cenhanced interrogation techniques\u201d and any other \u201ccruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment\u201d identified in Senate reports from 2008 <\/a>and 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis should include, for example, specifically banning \u2018rectal rehydration\u2019 and \u2018rectal feeding,\u2019\u201d the letter reads. \u201cSome, but not all, of these prohibitions existed in the 1992 version of the [Army field manual] but were deleted from the 2006 version.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter also seeks the removal of interrogation methods like the \u201cEmotional Fear-Up Approach,\u201d which creates or preys upon a detainee\u2019s existing fears, and the \u201cEmotional-Futility Approach,\u201d which \u201cengenders a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness on the part of the source,\u201d according to the Army field manual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intelligence collectors are instructed by the manual to \u201cbe extremely careful\u201d not to \u201cthreaten or coerce\u201d sources. However, they can use phrases like, \u201cYou know what can happen to you here?\u201d and \u201cWe have heard many allegations of atrocities committed in your area and anyone that was involved will be severely punished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t