Ex-US military on Guantanamo: “It was torture”

For the first time in the world, former US military personnel publicly admit that they mistreated Guantanamo inmates. One speaks to him NDR and the “time” even of torture.

“His fear was absolute. He probably thought he was about to be killed.” This is how an ex-employee of the “Special Project Team” who calls himself “Mister X” describes his victim. The identity of “Mister X”, who does not want to be named by real name, is that NDR known.

In the interview, “Mister X” initially speaks of “robust technologies” that are illegal today. When asked, the former member of the US interrogation team admits: “That was torture”. Other guards had also tortured, and once his victim had a bloody nose, cracked and swollen lips and eyes.

“Almost killed twice”

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who now lives in Mauritania, describes the processes congruently. A tormentor kept pouring buckets of cold water over his body to get him to talk. “I was supposed to make a confession, but even if I had had something to say, I would not have been able to speak anymore. I was already too hypothermic. This man almost killed me twice,” reports the now 51-year-old Slahi.

Trained in the Al Qaeda camp

Slahi came to Germany from Mauritania in 1988 as a scholarship holder of the Carl Duisburg Society. During his studies, he volunteered to join the mujahideen in Afghanistan who, with the help of the United States, were fighting against the Afghan government, which was supported by the Soviet Union. He spent several months in a training camp run by the later al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

After his return to Germany he broke off his contacts with Al Qaeda – according to his own statement – but still had contact with friends in the Islamist scene. Slahi was kidnapped by the US to Guantanamo and held in the controversial camp from 2002 to 2016. The US Department of Defense accused him of having recruited three of the four death pilots involved on behalf of bin Laden. But that never resulted in an indictment or regular legal process. After both the US military justice and intelligence services came to the conclusion that there was no evidence against Slahi, the US government released him in 2016.

Allegedly threatened with rape

Slahi had always protested his innocence. An alleged confession only came about when the head of the “Special Projects Team”, a police superintendent from Chicago named Richard Zuley, changed the interrogation methods. Zuley reports that in 2003 he presented Slahi with a letter that looked like an official letter from the US State Department, simulating a threat. The letter suggested that Slahi’s mother could be taken to Guantanamo and left there for male inmates.

Zuley describes the success of his fake threat of rape: “I watched his eyes scanned the four of the five paragraphs of the letter. I saw tears forming in his eyes and streaming down his face.” After that, Slahi provided a lot of information that allegedly described the inner workings of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.

“Confession” wrong according to the polygraph

However, the US interrogator’s great, albeit dubious, success was undone a few months later when an official polygraph test carried out by the Americans showed that Slahi’s “confession” after the threat of rape consisted essentially of false information. A repetition of this test also confirmed the finding.

An analyst from the “Special Projects Team”, who questioned Slahi extensively, confirmed that the “special interrogation methods” in the case of Slahi had been personally approved by then Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld. In Guantanamo she herself recommended isolating the Mauritanian from the other prisoners, which then happened. She also watched Slahi being beaten by other guards.

Prosecutor sees torture

“What was done to Slahi was torture,” admits former US military attorney Stuart Couch, who was investigating the Slahi case. Couch, who now works as a judge, says the statements could not have been used in court anyway because they were illegally obtained.

Today, the members of the US interrogation team look back on their work in Guantanamo in different ways. While “Mister X” expresses regret over his acts of violence against Slahi and describes them as “wrong”, former team leader Zuley insists that the methods were appropriate. “Our job was to get hidden information to prevent another possible terrorist attack on the United States,” says Zuley.

“It wasn’t enough”

The former analyst of the “Special Projects Team” also justifies the procedure to this day: “After all, Slahi spent 14 years in Guantanamo. That is more than nothing. But it was not enough.” When asked what would have been “enough”, the former government employee replied: “Death. He would have had to atone with his life.” A guard said today, “I can’t apologize for the government. You can’t. But I can ask to forgive myself.”