The new US Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation [
current version] will not contain a classified section, despite warnings from some in the Department of Defense that disclosing certain techniques would undermine the ability of interrogators to extract information, military officials said Tuesday.
Interrogation techniques originally slated to be classified will be released publicly in the new manual or abandoned by the military. Defense officials considered classifying portions of the manual to prevent enemy combatants from preparing for interrogations, but Congress resisted the idea, contending that it would cast doubt on US compliance with the Geneva Conventions.
Last week, DOD officials said the manual would not include references to Article 3 [
text], the provision common to all four of the 1949 Conventions that bans "cruel treatment and torture" and "humiliating and degrading treatment" of detainees.
The Pentagon has been working on a new version of the manual since the prisoner abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison surfaced in 2004, but has struggled to come to an agreement on revisions.
Delays in releasing the manual have been attributed to attempts to legitimize different interrogation techniques and allow the Army to obtain timely intelligence from prisoners, while complying with the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 [
document (via JurisLaw)], which explicitly prohibits any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of persons in US custody.
AP (via yahoo news):
Pentagon won't hide interrogation tactics
