Banned tactics used in detainee interrogations

Special Operations interrogators gave some detainees only bread or crackers and water if they did not cooperate, according to the investigation by Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica of the Army.

One prisoner was fed only bread and water for 17 days. Other detainees were locked for as many as seven days in cells so small that they could neither stand nor lie down, while interrogators played loud music to disrupt sleep.

Some detainees were stripped naked, drenched with water and then interrogated in air-conditioned rooms or in cold weather.

Despite the findings, Formica recommended that none of the soldiers be disciplined, saying what they did was wrong but not deliberate abuse.

He faulted "inadequate policy guidance" rather than "personal failure" for the mistreatment, and cited the dangerous environment in which Special Operations forces carried out their missions.

"It is regrettable," Formica said in an interview.

The report made public by the Pentagon on Friday was a heavily redacted copy of the 75-page classified document that Formica completed 20 months ago; but this one was released only in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In my opinion, if the tables were turned, Formica and the whole of the USA would definitely look at it differently, least of all "regrettable". At least the American Civil Liberties Union got a foot in. Shows that there are people in America itself who also wants answers.