2002-2007: GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

Background

At least 39 detainees were tortured from 2002-2007 by CIA officers in order to obtain counterterrorism intelligence.
In December 2014, a Senate Intelligence Committee report revealed the extent of the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation tactics after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were shacked to the floor in fetal positions for more than 24 hours at a time, left without food and water, and allowed to defecate on themselves, an FBI agent who said he witnessed such abuse reported in a memo to supervisors according to documents released in 2004.
In memos over a two-year period that ended in August 2004, FBI agents and officials also said that they witnessed the use of growling dogs at Guantanamo Bay to intimidate detainees—contrary to previous statements by senior Defense Department officials—and that one detainee was wrapped in an Israeli flag and bombarded with loud music during interrogation.
Prisoner statements were made to counsel during in-person interviews conducted at Guantanamo Bay Prison beginning in the fall of 2004.
Samir Naji, a Yemeni who was accused of being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, stated that he was deprived of sleep, drugged, and forced to watch pornographic footage or videos of other prisoners being abused. He was cleared for release in 2009 but remained in detention along with 135 other inmates.
In 2011, former U.S. military police officer Brandon Neely, who was deployed to Guantanamo Bay’s Camp X-Ray detention facility, told of violence by fellow guards against detainees.
Detainees Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul sued for damages against Donald Rumsfeld, former secretary of state, and other senior military officers over alleged inhumane treatment at Guantanamo. The case was dismissed because the alleged abuse occurred before the U.S. Supreme Court said that the constitution covered detainees in Guantanamo.

Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose. Photo: AFP/GETTY http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8471907/WikiLeaks-Guantanamo-Bay-terrorist-secrets-revealed.html

Life Threatening Toll: Death and Injury

Torture survivors experienced “learned helplessness” according to psychologists from the CIA’s torture program. Torturers broke down detainees’ self-control until they were emotionally and psychologically unequipped to disobey. Recovery is an arduous process that can last a lifetime and be full of setbacks, if it succeeds at all.
Depression, anxiety, self-blame, personality shifts, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts can manifest and persist for years afterward. Anger and frustration over the impotence inflicted upon them can be experienced.
Stigma for being Muslim experienced by detainees who were released and resettled into unfamiliar countries. They struggled to find or hold jobs and access medical care.
U.S. and international outrage over CIA torture. Current medical staff at Guantanamo are viewed as the enemy of the detainees by torture survivors still in captivity.