Washington, June 18 (Prensa Latina) The Bush administration came under congressional fire this week due to its authorization of torture on prisoners, which has resulted in great criticism from the international community.
"How was it possible that members of the American Army stripped prisoners, hooded and humiliated them, used dogs to scare them and even deprived them of sleep?" asked Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI).
During a hearing on the matter in the Armed Services Committee of the upper house, Levin stated that the Pentagon twisted the law when authorizing mistreatment of inmates.
The Senator harshly questioned former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and accused General William Haynes of recommending the use of those techniques condemned by American laws and international regulations.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-N.C.), estimated for his part that a "weird legal reasoning" was used to justify the torture.
In 2002, Rumsfeld signed a memo in which he authorized those practices, including the use of dogs during questioning. In the last weeks the national press revealed new aspects of this scandal.
The New York Times stated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered its agents deployed in Guantánamo Bay, South East of Cuba, to ignore the mistreatments committed there.
According to the source, officials documented the torture of those arrested by American soldiers, but their superiors indicated they abandoned the so-called War Crimes Files project.
Attorney Clive Stafford recently to the Senate committee that the Pentagon holds about 27,000 people in secret prisons around the world to prevent legal supervision and avoid media attention.
