The "Ghosts" that Haunt the CIA
New FOIA disclosures show the agency may have used a loophole in the Geneva Convention to justify stashing "ghost" prisoners in Abu Ghraib
What role did the CIA play in the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq?
That question has hovered at the edges of the detainee abuse scandal ever since Manadel al-Jamadi, the Ice Man, died in November 2003 during CIA interrogation in the prison’s shower room.
Jamadi was one of the CIA’s “ghost” prisoners. These prisoners were kept away from the Red Cross, the organization responsible for ensuring that detainees were being treated humanely, as required by the Geneva Conventions.
The official military inquiry into the abuses at Abu Ghraib, led by Major General Antonio Taguba, found that the practice of of ghosting was “deceptive, contrary to Army Doctrine, and in violation of international law.”
At the CIA, however, it was a different story. A never-before-seen CIA Inspector General report suggests that agency lawyers found a legal loophole in the Geneva Convention to justify ghost prisoners. Under the CIA’s reading of the Geneva Conventions, spies, saboteurs, and members of underground g…