Here's a list of the techniques of interrogation that are banned. Are you in favor of these?

Maybe Obama should follow Bushs' example in 2001 and go on vacation for a couple of months - gee I'm sure nothing bad could happen.

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Army manual that bars 'waterboarding' now single standard

17 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US Army field manual that bars the use of "waterboarding" and other harsh interrogation techniques was set forth Thursday as the single standard for interrogations of prisoners.

President Barack Obama ordered the change, which brings to a close the CIA's secret prisons and special interrogration authorities for "war on terror" detainees.

The manual, known as FM 2-22.3, was revised and reissued by the army in September 2006 amid a storm of controversy over abuses of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and other detention centers.

It cites the Geneva Convention's prohibition of "cruel, inhman and degrading treatment" of prisoners.

Beyond that, it explicitly prohibits the following actions in intelligence operations:

-- forcing the detainee to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner:

-- placing hoods or sacks over the head of a detainee; using duct tape over the eyes.

-- applying beatings, electric shock, burns, or other forms of physical pain;

-- waterboarding;

-- using military working dogs;

-- inducing hypothermia or heat injury;

-- conducting mock executions;

-- depriving the detainee of necessary food, water, or medical care.

Although US laws required that military interrogations be subject to the army field manual, the Centrial Intelligence Agency until now had been allowed to use its own undisclosed rules for interrogating detainees.

The executive order requires that all interrogations conducted at US facilities worldwide follow the army field manual.

The order also prohibits the CIA from holding prisoners in third countries.

CIA director Michael Hayden has said the "enhanced" interrogation techniques have produced valuable information and saved lives.

But in a message to the agency's staff, he said, "We will review the order carefully and issue appropriate guidance to ensure that we continue to act in consonance with the law and with policy direction."

"When our government changes its law or policy, we will follow that direction without exception, carve-out, or loophole," Hayden said.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a former CIA director himself, said "the need for measures that go outside the Army Field Manual is dramatically less than it was several years ago."

He said it was a matter of weighing "the cost of the more severe interrogation measures with, as the president talked about in his inaugural address, our values."

Pete Gallatin
http://www.reverbnation.com/patiopete