A detailed log, obtained by Time magazine and verified by the Pentagon, describes harsh treatment of a Guantanamo prisoner who was interrogated for 50 days. The man, who the U.S. government says helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks, was forced to urinate on himself and wear pictures of naked women around his neck.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News.  I'm Renee Montagne.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: And I'm Steve Inskeep.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The debate over the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo now includes a      detailed log of how one detainee was treated.  A man considered      especially dangerous was interrogated for 50 days, forced to urinate on      himself and to wear pictures of naked women around his neck.  The log was      compiled by interrogators starting in late 2002.  They were working at      the naval base in Cuba where the US holds hundreds of detainees, and this      log, which was obtained by Time magazine, and verified by the Pentagon,      describes the way the interrogators tried to get information out of him.      Adam Zagorin reported this story for Time.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Good morning.</s>Mr. ADAM ZAGORIN (Time Magazine): Good morning.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: So who was this suspect, Mohammed al-Qahtani?</s>Mr. ADAM ZAGORIN (Time Magazine): Well, he's the so-called 20th hijacker.  And he bears that      name because he tried to get into the United States on a commercial      flight, landing at Orlando, shortly before 9/11, in August 2001.  He was      deported after giving a story that didn't cut the mustard with the      immigration officials at the airport.  But the United States later      determined that Mohamed Atta had been waiting in the parking lot to pick      him up and there were various other indications that he was to have been      on one of the flights--actually, the flight that went into Pennsylvania      and crashed in the countryside was the flight they believe he was      supposed to be on.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: So he didn't get into the country.  He was later arrested,      captured in Afghanistan.  He was taken to Guantanamo.  A guy originally      from Saudi Arabia--What did the government do to get information out of      him?</s>Mr. ADAM ZAGORIN (Time Magazine): Well, they used a whole variety of tactics--sleep      depravation. Humiliation was quite a big theme.  They got him to bark      like a dog at one point.  They had a female interrogator violate his      personal space in a way that the detainee, at least according to the log,      found extremely objectionable.  He at one point threatened to commit      suicide in response to those violations of his personal space.  They also      engaged him in theological debates, about God's will, the meaning of the      Koran and whether he had been carrying out God's will in trying to kill      all these people.  In other words, they tried to--they used guilt.  They      showed him videos of the 9/11 episode, the twin towers, and so forth.      They showed him victims of the crime.  They asked him to write letters of      apology to the victims' families.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Was this treatment typical based on the reporting you've done      on other prisoners, detainees at Guantanamo?</s>Mr. ADAM ZAGORIN (Time Magazine): Well, some of it would have been applied to other detainees      that were being interrogated, but, on December 2nd, which was relatively      early in his interrogation, Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of Defense,      specifically authorized a ratcheting up of the harsh tactics that were      going to be used because they were not satisfied that the information he      was giving was adequate.  They felt he knew more.  And that specific      authorization was rescinded by Rumsfeld on January 12th, 2003, one day      after the log that we obtained ends.  So he had a special regime that was      cooked up by the Pentagon specifically for him, and, I believe, one other      detainee that we know of, who they wanted to apply special pressure to.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Is there any record here of beatings or of torture in this      particular log?</s>Mr. ADAM ZAGORIN (Time Magazine): In this log there's no record of beatings.  There's no      record here that we can see for certain of physical torture.  He does      lapse into a quite apparently dangerous medical condition.  It's not      clear what causes that.  His heartbeat goes down quite dramatically at      one point in the log. Why or how that happens is not immediately clear.      One cause could be dehydration.  He's refusing food and water      intermittently through the interrogation but it's not absolutely certain.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: And one other thing, Mr. Zagorin, in your report in Time      magazine, you detail a wide range of information that the US military      says it ultimately got out of this man through these techniques.  How      confident can we be that the information this man provided was reliable?</s>Mr. ADAM ZAGORIN (Time Magazine): Well, the Pentagon told us that he gave up various      important, quote, unquote, "actionable intelligence," which means that      they would find out about it and be able to use it in ways that would      cause them to take actions that they wouldn't otherwise take.  And he did      talk about meeting bin Laden, meeting other key al-Qaeda figures, being      at a very important, elite al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.  If he      did, indeed, say and did all these things, one can see that they would be      quite useful in all likelihood to the government.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Adam Zagorin of Time magazine, thanks very much.</s>Mr. ADAM ZAGORIN (Time Magazine): Thank you.