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Guantanamo log details interrogation tactics used against 9/11 suspect

* Pentagon offered no excuses for its interrogation techniques

WASHINGTON: A top Saudi terror suspect held at a US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was forcibly injected with fluids, grilled near military dogs and straddled by a female soldier, according to secret US logs published.

Mohammed al-Qahtani was forcibly injected with three and a half bags of fluid after refusing food and water in late 2002 at the Guantanamo camp, according to US interrogation logs obtained by Time magazine and released on Sunday.

The logs, parts of which are incomplete, detail measures used against a captive at the prison, many of which have been criticised by rights groups. President George W Bush said on Wednesday he was ready to examine alternatives to the camp for “war on terror” detainees at Guantanamo after former president Jimmy Carter called for its closure.

Al-Qahtani was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 and transported to Guantanamo.

US authorities then discovered he had been deported from Florida in August 2001 and believe he had sought entry to America to participate in the September 11, 2001 attacks, Time said.

The logs reveal that al-Qahtani was interrogated from early November to early January 2002-2003, during which 16 additional interrogation methods were approved by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. At one point, al-Qahtani mounts a food-and-water strike and becomes so dehydrated that medics “forcibly administer fluids by IV (intravenous) drip,” according to Time. Al-Qahtani subsequently tells his interrogators he works for Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, before urinating in his pants.

After Rumsfeld approved the new interrogation measures on December 2, 2002, interrogators poured water over al-Qahtani, shaved his beard and head and forced him to stand for the US national anthem among other tactics. He was also subjected to a drill known as an “Invasion of Space by a Female.” On December 7, al-Qahtani’s condition deteriorated so badly, he was examined by two doctors.

In a statement released later on Sunday, the Pentagon offered no excuses for its interrogation techniques, saying al-Qahtani questioning followed “a very detailed plan” and that prevention of new attacks justified the means. afp

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