Tony Lagouranis
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Specialist Tony Lagouranis, a former U.S. Army interrogator stationed in both Mosul and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq starting in 2004, publicly detailed a number of interrogation techniques he observed or took part in at the prison, including diet-alteration, the use of military dogs to induce terror, inducing hypothermia (with associated involuntary anal thermometer readings), sleep deprivation, and the presence of ghost detainees.[1]
Lagouranis is so far unique in his willingness to go on the record about his experiences and his knowledge of prisoner treatment in Iraq, although other military personnel, speaking off the record, have corroborated his facts.[citation needed]
Lagouranis wrote an essay for the New York Times Op-Ed page that appeared February 28, 2006, titled "Tortured Logic."[2] In it, he makes the case that senior officers and politicians are successfully evading the responsibility they should bear for the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Former U.S. Army Interrogator Describes the Harsh Techniques He Used in Iraq, Detainee Abuse by Marines and Navy Seals and Why “Torture is the Worst Possible Thing We Could Do”. Democracy Now! (2005-11-15). Retrieved on 2006-08-17.
- ^ a b Lagouranis, Anthony. "Tortured Logic", New York Times, 2006-02-28. Retrieved on 2006-08-17.
Tony Lagouranis never observed the use of dogs, dietary manipulation, or forced hypothermia used on detainees at Abu Ghraib prison because they weren't used while he was there. He arrived at the prison after those practices were stopped which was several months before the pictures came out. He observed those techniques when he was on a Mobile Interrogation Team in Mosul and other places.
These are his words:
AMY GOODMAN: So talk about going to Iraq, when you went.
TONY LAGOURANIS: OK. We flew to Kuwait first and then we convoyed up to Abu Ghraib, which is just outside of Baghdad. We were in humvees with no armor. But it was relatively safe at that time. The insurgency was just beginning. I arrived at Abu Ghraib, and as soon as we arrived there, the events that caused the scandal had already happened, in November of 2003, and I arrived there in January of 2004. So, they told us that bad things had happened, that, MPs had gotten in trouble for detainee abuse and that everything was going to change. But no one was really allowed to talk about it. So, we didn't know what had happened, exactly.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you knew as you got there that military police had abused prisoners?
TONY LAGOURANIS: Right. Yeah, the first briefing we got from the colonel at Abu Ghraib told us this. And, you know, there were interrogators who had been there during the time of the events of the scandal, but they weren't allowed to talk about it, and we really didn't ask them about it. So, we didn't know what was going on.
AMY GOODMAN: And the month you arrived at Abu Ghraib?
TONY LAGOURANIS: It was January of 2004.
AMY GOODMAN: And who were you responsible to? Who was the general in charge as you were military interrogator?
TONY LAGOURANIS: Honestly, I don't remember at that time who was in charge. I was only at Abu Ghraib for about a month, month-and-a-half until I got sent off on a mobile team. So, I don't know who it was.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us what happened at Abu Ghraib.
TONY LAGOURANIS: Well, you know, things had started to get a lot cleaner there. There was a lot more oversight. That progressed in the month that I was there and also -- all of my friends, my unit was working there the whole time. They saw things progress. So, Abu Ghraib became a pretty sterile interrogation facility by the time we left Iraq.
AMY GOODMAN: Did you interrogate prisoners at Abu Ghraib?
TONY LAGOURANIS: I did, yes. I was on a team that was -- we were the special projects team at that time we were working on people who were arrested with Saddam Hussein, and arrests that surrounded that case.
AMY GOODMAN: And who did you interrogate? Do you remember their names?
TONY LAGOURANIS: I can't say that.
AMY GOODMAN: And how did you interrogate them?
TONY LAGOURANIS: It was totally straightforward at Abu Ghraib. It was just like we were trained in the schoolhouse, right out of the Army field manual. We would just talk to them, ask them questions, maybe, you know, use some psychological approaches but nothing -- nothing too serious. But I knew that some interrogators there were still at that time, in January of 2004, using a little bit harsher techniques. Like, they -- if a prisoner wasn't cooperating, they could adjust his diet. People were in deep, deep isolation for months there, which I believe is illegal, according to Army doctrine. They would also take their clothes and their mattress so they would be cold in their cells if they weren't cooperating.
AMY GOODMAN: Naked?
TONY LAGOURANIS: I don't know if naked, but they would take blankets and take extra clothes that they would need to stay warm.
AMY GOODMAN: Tony, can you talk about the use of dogs?
TONY LAGOURANIS: We were using dogs in the Mosul detention facility which was at the Mosul airport. We would put the prisoner in a shipping container. We would keep him up all night with music and strobe lights, stress positions, and then we would bring in dogs. The prisoner was blindfolded, so he didn't really understand what was going on, 'but we had the dog controlled. He was being held by a military police dog handler on a leash, and the dog was muzzled, so he couldn't hurt the prisoner. That was the only time I ever saw dogs used in Iraq.'
