US 'pressed British in Iraq to toughen up interrogations'

A British army brigadier in charge of intelligence gathering in Basra said on Dec. 13 that British forces had been put under pressure by the US to step up interrogation techniques because their current methods were failing to produce results. Brigadier Evan Duncan, director of the Intelligence Corps, was speaking at the court martial of seven British soldiers who face charges including the manslaughter of an Iraqi hotel receptionist in September 2003. Duncan said that US commanders had criticized the British forces for failing to extract enough intelligence from detainees. The implication was that "firmer" interrogation techniques should be used and there was a "growing diversion" of opinion on what practices were suitable. He said: "The US had the view that we weren't getting as much information out of prisoners we held as we should, in their opinion." But he had not advocated stepping up interrogations and his view was they should be released if "there was no value in them." He believed the use of "hooding"–placing sacks over a prisoner's head–was acceptable. He said they were necessary to protect the prisoner from being identified as a potential informer by fellow detainees in group cells. Duncan said the use of hoods was at the "milder end of the spectrum" of conditioning techniques being used by US forces in Iraq. These included placing detainees in stress positions, sleep deprivation, no chairs or beds in cells and no contact with the outside world.