Red Cross Accuses US of Torture at Guantanamo

According to The New York Times, an ICRC inspection team that spent most of June at Guantanamo, has prepared a report confirming the application of "psychological and sometimes physical coercion" on prisoners. The report was submitted to the Bush administration but its details were not released to the press. It reportedly states that prisoners were treated badly through "humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, and the use of forced positions." The Times also said the ICRC report describes a system applied to prisoners that involves "degrading treatment and a form of torture." US government and military officials have denied the findings of the report. A spokesperson for US Defense Department, Lawrance Di Rita, said that the Bush administration disagrees with the claims of torture made by the Red Cross. Di Rita argued, "The detainees at Guantanamo are not under the protection of the Geneva Convention and they are not prisoners of war as defined by the law." There are over 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay that were arrested by the US during its occupation of Afghanistan in October of 2001.