Using torture in the war on terrorism? (Insider Report).

In a CIA-controlled facility at Bagram air base in Afghanistan, captured al-Qaeda operatives and Taliban commanders "are sometimes kept standing or kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles," reported the December 26th Washington Post. "At times they are held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights--subject to what are known as 'stress and duress' techniques. Those who cooperate are rewarded with creature comforts, interrogators whose methods include feigned friendship, respect, cultural sensitivity and, in some cases, money. Some who do not are turned over--'rendered,' in official parlance--to foreign intelligence services whose practice of torture has been documented by the U.S. government and human rights organizations."

Occasionally detainees are subjected to "false flag" operations, "using fake decor and disguises meant to deceive a captive into thinking he is imprisoned in a country with a reputation for brutality, when, in reality, he is still in CIA hands," continued the report. "Sometimes, female officers conduct ...