[News] The Israeli Torture Template

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Counterpunch May 10, 2004


The Israeli Torture Template


Rape, Feces and Urine-Dipped Cloth Sacks

By WAYNE MADSEN

With mounting evidence that a shadowy group of former Israeli Defense Force 
and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were 
hired by the Pentagon under a classified "carve out" sub-contract to 
brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, one 
only needs to examine the record of abuse of Palestinian and Lebanese 
prisoners in Israel to understand what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld 
meant, when referring to new, yet to be released photos and videos, he 
said, "if these images are released to the public, obviously its going to 
make matters worse."

According to a political appointee within the Bush administration and U.S. 
intelligence sources, the interrogators at Abu Ghraib included a number of 
Arabic-speaking Israelis who also helped U.S. interrogators develop the 
"R2I" (Resistance to Interrogation) techniques. Many of the torture methods 
were developed by the Israelis over many years of interrogating Arab 
prisoners on the occupied West Bank and in Israel itself.

Clues about worse photos and videos of abuse may be found in Israeli files 
about similar abuse of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners. In March 2000, 
a lawyer for a Lebanese prisoner kidnapped in 1994 by the Israelis in 
Lebanon claimed that his client had been subjected to torture, including 
rape. The type of compensation offered by Rumsfeld in his testimony has its 
roots in cases of Israeli torture of Arabs. In the case of the Lebanese 
man, said to have been raped by his Israeli captors, his lawyer demanded 
compensation of $1.47 million. The Public Committee Against Torture in 
Israel documented the types of torture meted out on Arab prisoners. Many of 
the tactics coincide with those contained in the Taguba report: beatings 
and prolonged periods handcuffed to furniture. In an article in the 
December 1998 issue of The Progressive, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb reported on the 
treatment given to a 23-year old Palestinian held on "administrative 
detention." The prisoner was "cuffed behind a chair 17 hours a day for 120 
days . . . [he] had his head covered with a sack, which was often dipped in 
urine or feces. Guards played loud music right next to his ears and 
frequently taunted him with threats of physical and sexual violence." If 
additional photos and videos document such practices, the Bush 
administration and the American people have, indeed, "seen nothing yet."

Although it is still largely undocumented if any of the contractor named in 
the report of General Antonio Taguba were associated with the Israeli 
military or intelligence services, it is noteworthy that one, John Israel, 
who was identified in the report as being employed by both CACI 
International of Arlington, Virginia, and Titan, Inc., of San Diego, may 
not have even been a U.S. citizen. The Taguba report states that Israel did 
not have a security clearance, a requirement for employment as an 
interrogator for CACI. According to CACI's web site, "a Top Secret 
Clearance (TS) that is current and US citizenship" are required for CACI 
interrogators working in Iraq. In addition, CACI requires that its 
interrogators "have at least two years experience as a military policeman 
or similar type of law enforcement/intelligence agency whereby the 
individual utilized interviewing techniques."

Speculation that "John Israel" may be an intelligence cover name has fueled 
speculation whether this individual could have been one of a number of 
Israeli interrogators hired under a classified contract. Because U.S. 
citizenship and documentation thereof are requirements for a U.S. security 
clearance, Israeli citizens would not be permitted to hold a Top Secret 
clearance. However, dual U.S.-Israeli citizens could have satisfied 
Pentagon requirements that interrogators hold U.S. citizenship and a Top 
Secret clearance. Although the Taguba report refers twice to Israel as an 
employee of Titan, the company claims he is one of their sub-contractors. 
CACI stated that one of the men listed in the report "is not and never has 
been a CACI employee" without providing more detail. A U.S. intelligence 
source revealed that in the world of intelligence "carve out" subcontracts 
such confusion is often the case with "plausible deniability" being a 
foremost concern.

In fact, the Taguba report does reference the presence of non-U.S. and 
non-Iraqi interrogators at Abu Ghraib. The report states, "In general, US 
civilian contract personnel (Titan Corporation, CACI, etc), third country 
nationals, and local contractors do not appear to be properly supervised 
within the detention facility at Abu Ghraib."

The Pentagon is clearly concerned about the outing of the Taguba report and 
its references to CACI, Titan, and third country nationals, which could 
permanently damage U.S. relations with Arab and Islamic nations. The 
Pentagon's angst may explain why the Taguba report is classified Secret No 
Foreign Dissemination.

The leak of the Taguba report was so radioactive, Daniel R. Dunn, the 
Information Assurance Officer for Douglas Feith's Office of the Under 
Secretary of Defense, Policy (Policy Automation Services Security Team), 
sent a May 6, 2004, For Official Use Only Urgent E-mail to Pentagon 
staffers stating, "THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT IS CLASSIFIED; 
DO NOT GO TO FOX NEWS TO READ OR OBTAIN A COPY." Considering Feith's close 
ties to the Israelis, such a reaction by his top computer security officer, 
a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), is 
understandable, although considering the fact that CISSPs are to act on 
behalf of the public good, it is also regrettable..

The reference to "third country nationals" in a report that restricts its 
dissemination to U.S. coalition partners (Great Britain, Poland, Italy, 
etc.) is another indication of the possible involvement of Israelis in the 
interrogation of Iraqi prisoners. Knowledge that the U.S. may have been 
using Israeli interrogators could have severely fractured the Bush 
administration's tenuous "coalition of the willing' in Iraq. General 
Taguba's findings were transmitted to the Coalition Forces Land Component 
Command on March 9, 2004, just six days before the Spanish general 
election, one that the opposition anti-Iraq war Socialists won. The Spanish 
ultimately withdrew their forces from Iraq.

During his testimony before the Senate Armed Service Committee, Rumsfeld 
was pressed upon by Senator John McCain about the role of the private 
contractors in the interrogations and abuse. McCain asked Rumsfeld four 
pertinent questions, ". . . who was in charge? What agency or private 
contractor was in charge of the interrogations? Did they have authority 
over the guards? And what were the instructions that they gave to the guards?"

When Rumsfeld had problems answering McCain's question, Lt. Gen. Lance 
Smith, the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Central Command, said there were 37 
contract interrogators used in Abu Ghraib. The two named contractors, CACI 
and Titan, have close ties to the Israeli military and technology 
communities. Last January 14, after Provost Marshal General of the Army, 
Major General Donald Ryder, had already uncovered abuse at Abu Ghraib, 
CACI's President and CEO, Dr. J.P. (Jack) London was receiving the 
Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah's Albert Einstein Technology award at the 
Jerusalem City Hall, with right-wing Likud politician Israeli Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz and ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party 
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski in attendance. Oddly, CACI waited until 
February 2 to publicly announce the award in a press release. CACI has also 
received grants from U.S.-Israeli bi-national foundations.

Titan also has had close connections to Israeli interests. After his stint 
as CIA Director, James Woolsey served as a Titan director. Woolsey is an 
architect of America's Iraq policy and the chief proponent of and lobbyist 
for Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress. An adviser to the 
neo-conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Jewish 
Institute of National Security Affairs, Project for the New American 
Century, Center for Security Policy, Freedom House, and Committee for the 
Liberation of Iraq, Woolsey is close to Stephen Cambone, the Undersecretary 
of Defense for Intelligence, a key person in the chain of command who would 
have not only known about the torture tactics used by U.S. and Israeli 
interrogators in Iraq but who would have also approved them. Cambone was 
associated with the Project for the New American Century and is viewed as a 
member of Rumsfeld's neo-conservative "cabal" within the Pentagon.

Another person considered by Pentagon insiders to have been knowledgeable 
about the treatment of Iraqi prisoners is U.S. Army Col. Steven Bucci, a 
Green Beret and Rumsfeld's military assistant and chief traffic cop for the 
information flow to the Defense Secretary. According to Pentagon insiders, 
Bucci was involved in the direction of a special covert operations unit 
composed of former U.S. special operations personnel who answered to the 
Pentagon rather than the CIA's Special Activities Division, the agency's 
own paramilitary group. The Pentagon group included Arabic linguists and 
former members of the Green Berets and Delta Force who operated covertly in 
Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Titan also uses 
linguists trained in the languages (Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, and 
Tajik) of those same countries. It is not known if a link exists between 
Rumsfeld's covert operations unit and Titan's covert operations linguists.

Another Titan employee named in the Taguba report is Adel L. Nakhla. Nakhla 
is a name common among Egypt's Coptic Christian community, however, it is 
not known if Adel Nakhla is either an Egyptian-American or a national of 
Egypt. A CACI employee identified in the report, Steven Stephanowicz, is 
referred to as "Stefanowicz" in a number of articles on the prison abuse. 
Stefanowicz is the spelling used by Joe Ryan, another CACI employee 
assigned with Stefanowicz to Abu Ghraib. Ryan is a radio personality on 
KSTP, a conservative radio station in Minneapolis, who maintained a daily 
log of his activities in Iraq on the radio's web site before it was taken 
down. Ryan indicated that Stefanowicz (or Stephanowicz) continued to hold 
his interrogation job in Iraq even though General Taguba recommended he 
lose his security clearance and be terminated for the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

In an even more bizarre twist, the Philadelphia Daily News identified a 
former expatriate public relations specialist for the government of South 
Australia in Adelaide named Steve Stefanowicz as possibly being the same 
person identified in the Taguba report. In 2000, Stefanowicz, who grew up 
in the Philadelphia and Allentown areas, left for Australia. On September 
16, 2001, he was quoted by the Sunday Mail of Adelaide on the 911 attacks. 
He said of the attacks, "It was one of the most incredible and most 
devastating things I have ever seen. I have been in constant contact with 
my family and friends in the US and the mood was very solemn and quiet. But 
this is progressing into anger." Stefanowicz returned to the United States 
and volunteered for the Navy in a reserve status. His mother told the 
Allentown Morning Call in April 2002 that Stefanowicz was stationed 
somewhere in the Middle East but did not know where because of what 
Stefanowicz said was "security concerns." His mother told the Philadelphia 
Daily News that her son was in Iraq but she knew nothing about his current 
status.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and 
columnist. He served in the National Security Agency (NSA) during the 
Reagan administration and wrote the introduction to 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560254149/counterpunchmaga>Forbidden 
Truth. He is the co-author, with John Stanton, of 
"<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1893302296/counterpunchmaga>America's 
Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II." His forthcoming book is 
titled: "Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates."

Madsen can be reached at: <mailto:WMadsen777 at aol.com>WMadsen777 at aol.com



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