Rumsfeld Knew!

Democratic Underground:

"What Rumsfeld knew

Interviews with high-ranking military officials shed new light on the role Rumsfeld played in the harsh treatment of a Guantnamo detainee.

By Michael Scherer and Mark Benjamin
April 14, 2006


Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was personally involved in the late 2002 interrogation of a high-value al-Qaida detainee known in intelligence circles as 'the 20th hijacker.' He also communicated weekly with the man in charge of the interrogation, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the controversial commander of the Guant�namo Bay detention center.

During the same period, detainee Mohammed al-Kahtani suffered from what Army investigators have called 'degrading and abusive' treatment by soldiers who were following the interrogation plan Rumsfeld had approved. Kahtani was forced to stand naked in front of a female interrogator, was accused of being a homosexual, and was forced to wear women's underwear and to perform 'dog tricks' on a leash. He received 18-to-20-hour interrogations during 48 of 54 days. "