Guantanamo probe finds violations

WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon investigation of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp has corroborated allegations that interrogators inappropriately touched inmates, used menacing dogs to force them to talk, and chained prisoners in the fetal position, and on at least three occasions violated the Geneva Conventions, according to congressional aides familiar with the previously undisclosed findings.

The investigation by the United States Southern Command in Miami, which was prompted by allegations of abuse from FBI agents stationed at the detention facility in 2002 and 2003, concluded there was no evidence that inmates were tortured or that the ill-treatment reached the level of being inhumane, the officials said.

Nevertheless, the lead investigators recommended that Major General Geoffrey Miller, who ran the Guantanamo prison during that period and later headed all detention operations in Iraq, should receive a formal reprimand for failing to monitor the interrogation of a terror suspect who experienced abusive treatment at the hands of his captors, the officials said.

The head of the Southern Command, which oversees Guantanamo, declined to reprimand Miller -- saying he did not violate the law or Pentagon policy -- but referred the matter to the Army Inspector General for further review, according to portions of the report described by congressional staff members who have read it.

That would make Miller the highest-ranking officer to be singled out for formal review since allegations of prisoner abuse first surfaced last year.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman did not return messages yesterday. The results of the investigation will be discussed at a Senate hearing today. The investigation was conducted by Air Force Lieutenant General Randall M. Schmidt and Army Brigadier General John T. Furlow.

In addition to recommending the reprimand of Miller and some lower-ranking interrogators at the Cuba prison, the two generals urged the Defense Department to send clearer instructions outlining the parameters for humane treatment, under what conditions interrogators may apply rougher methods, and the proper use of interrogation techniques when dealing with detainees not classified as prisoners of war.

Detainees from the war in Afghanistan and the wider war on terrorism have not been given POW status and instead have been labeled by the Bush administration as enemy combatants; officials insist, however, that they will still be provided the legal protections granted to POWs under the Geneva Conventions.

The Schmidt-Furlow investigation was launched after the American Civil Liberties Union obtained e-mails from FBI agents complaining of abuses at the camp, which was set up on a US naval base in January 2002 to hold suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

The FBI agents questioned the military's practice of using unmuzzled dogs to growl at detainees; binding a prisoner's head in duct tape to stop him from chanting verses from the Koran; impersonating FBI agents and State Department officers; playing loud music and yelling at detainees; depriving inmates of sleep; chaining detainees to the floor in the fetal position and denying them food and water; applying extreme heat and cold; allowing female interrogators to perform a lap dance on a detainee; and smearing one prisoner with fake menstrual blood.

The investigation found that female interrogators did, in fact, inappropriately touch detainees. They put perfume on one and in another instance leaned over a prisoner from behind and massaged his back. The investigators also substantiated the use of fake menstrual blood on one detainee. All such ''gender coercion" techniques were deemed inappropriate or unauthorized, an official who read the report said.

While the interrogators did use extreme temperatures to make detainees uncomfortable, the investigation concluded the technique was authorized by the Secretary of Defense. The use of sleep deprivation was also permitted, the official said.

But the investigation also found that duct tape was used improperly, and the interrogator responsible should be admonished. It also found the technique known as ''short-shackling," or chaining a detainee to the floor in the fetal position, was unauthorized. Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.