The hearings on the case of abuse of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisoners started in the USA. The scandal started several years ago, when several excerpts of video footage depicting tortures of prisoners were distributed by the media all over the world. The tapes were subsequently destroyed. However, the videos made it obvious that the prisoners were tortured through sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation and drowning.
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The trial may have launched another major scandal. It was revealed that US military men were abusing not only the prisoners, but their own fellow soldiers too. It was an experiment they arranged to find out how a US soldier would behave in case he becomes a captor of the Iraqis. US servicemen were particularly exposed to sleep and light deprivation and imitation of drowning. There is a whole training program called S.E.R.E. – Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape – which provides military personnel, Department of Defense civilians, and contractors with training in the Code of Conduct, survival skills, evading capture, recovery and dealing with captivity.
The Pentagon does not acknowledge the use of tortures. The US administration believes that the used methods do not go beyond the limits of necessary pressure. They were authorized by Donald Rumsfeld at the end of 2002, who took the position of the US Defense secretary at the time.
Several US, French and German human rights groups sued Rumsfeld in 2005 and then in 2007. Human rights activists wanted the official to carry responsibility for the prisoner abuse in US jails outside the USA.
The hearings may seriously undermine the reputation of presidential runoffs Barack Obama and John McCain. Borht of them deny the facts of excessive brutality used against prisoners. However, Obama stands for the withdrawal of troops form Ira, whereas McCain supports the idea of continuing the campaign.
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