VP Torture: The Work of 6-26?

Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan has alleged that he was subjected to an array of tortures during the 22 days he was held by US forces at the Baghdad International Airport. Ramadan-- recently sentenced to death for his role in the 1982 Dujail massacre-- said in a sworn statement that after his arrest on 17 August 2003 he was taken to Baghdad International Airport and was led to a compound near the runway. After taken inside:

I was immediately asked to kneel down and I was asked again immediately `Where is he, Saddam Hussein? Where can we find him?'' as soon as I said I don't know, I was kicked to the floor. When I said I was tired, they began kicking me on my body, my shoulders, I was hit by the aluminum rod and forced to crawl and this went on. And when I asked for water to drink, they put the bottle in my mouth but I found it was hot. When I pleaded with them for cold water, they poured ice water on my body and my head, they said `This is how you will drink the water as you requested,' and that went on for two hours.

Then my elbows and knees started bleeding on the floor from crawling. Then they asked me to stand up, they tied my hands, they put the black bag on my head after they blindfolded me and they led me to a nearby place. I felt it was a wooden room. They asked me not to sit down and to keep walking back and forth inside the room non-stop, saying we will return in a few hours. We want you to think hard of our question and they left. They told the guards not to let me stop. After, I asked the guards to go to the restroom and an hour after my request they led me to the iron box (portable toilet). They led me in, took the bag off my head so I can see and they closed the door, without untying my hands. I said `How can I use the bathroom without untying my hands,' but they didn't answer.

Five minutes later I was led back to the room without having relieved myself. I resumed my walking back and forth and as a result of exhaustion and after 12 hours from my arrest, and some dizziness and numbness, some urine spilled on my body and on the floor. When the guards noticed they came and kicked me on the floor and took me by the neck and dragged me where the urine was and I was almost unconscious for five minutes.

Based on this description, plus the dates of the alleged torture, it is likely that Ramadan was interrogated by Task Force 6-26. This shadowy task force was the subject of two investigations last year, one by Human Rights Watch and the other by the New York Times. The unit was based until 2005 at Camp Nama, a former Baathist torture chamber on the outskirts of Baghdad International Airport. The unit was comprised, at least in part, of Pentagon Special Access Program (SAP) members. Pentagon SAPs are top-secret operations shielded from normal budgetary oversight. They've been linked to torture at other locales, including Abu Ghraib. At Nama, few rules, if any, governed their conduct. Posted throughout Camp Nama was a sign that reminded interrogators: ‘NO BLOOD, NO FOUL’.

According to one detainee held by the task force at Nama:

The interpreter told me to take off my clothes … So I took off all my clothes. Then he put the bag back over my head. I was taken to another room that had black walls and an air conditioner. Water was poured on the bag, my neck and shoulders, the air conditioner was turned very cold and I was made to stand in front of it. The only light in the room was a flashlight. There was a stereo in the room. They made me listen to a bad movie in English language, then some American music, then sounds of children crying. A box was put over my head and something wet on my neck. I was told to walk from wall to wall. I could not see and walked into the walls, which would press the box into my chest. This caused me pain which lasted a couple of weeks.

The interrogator asked if I would now tell the truth. I told him I had said everything I know. He asked me if I was tough enough to continue. I told him no. He put me in front of the air conditioner and poured more cold water on me, keeping me wet. Then he put an MRE [Meals Ready to Eat, the military’s pre-packaged food] in each of my hands and made me push them towards the ceiling. I held them up for a while then my arms began to drop. Someone punch me in my spine, below my shoulder blades with a fist. I passed out …

If Ramadan was tortured by Task Force 6-26 at Camp Nama, it is unlikely that an inquiry into his allegations of torture will provide any answers. An Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) inquiry into the ex-Nama detainee’s allegations above was hampered on several fronts. As I discuss in American Torture, one CID unit stated that they were ‘unable to thoroughly investigate … due to the suspects’ and witnesses’ involvement in Special Access Program’s (SAP) and/or the security classification of the unit they were assigned to during the offense under investigation’. Another noted that ‘6-26 had a major computer malfunction which resulted in them losing 70 percent of their files; therefore they can’t find the cases we need to review’. Still another agent found that it was impossible to investigate people known only by pseudonyms-- common practice for all 6-26 interrogators.

Due to a lack of evidence, the former detainee’s allegations were judged to have been ‘unfounded’ and the investigation was closed. According to one frustrated CID official: ‘This investigation meets the necessary requirements and does not need to be reopened. Hell, even if we reopened it we wouldn’t get anymore information than we already have.’