US military in Iraq uses banned tactics

Washington: A secretive military Special Operations group in Iraq used several unauthorised interrogation tactics on detainees in early 2004 after it erroneously received an outdated policy from commanders in Baghdad, according to a high-level military investigative report at the Pentagon.

As a result of the error, interrogators at temporary holding facilities washed down detainees and questioned them in overly air-conditioned rooms, fed them only bread and water when they were uncooperative, and made them kneel for long periods of time as part of an approach using "stress positions".

The tactics also included giving detainees minimal amounts of sleep and using loud music and yelling to keep them from sleeping or communicating.

This occurred at the same time similar methods used at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were under intense internal scrutiny.

Army Brigadier General Richard P. Formica found that members of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula used official guidance that had been developed in September 2003 to create its own set of rules for interrogations, unknowingly including the forbidden tactics.

Pentagon released a heavily redacted version of Formica's report on Friday, more than 18 months after its completion.

The report, however, says the soldiers were not responsible for violating policy because they believed what they were doing had been approved.