Report: Interrogation Methods At Guantanamo Taken From Chinese Communists

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Interrogation techniques used by the Pentagon at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba after 2002 were directly copied from Chinese Communist interrogators during the Korean War, a New York Times report said on Tuesday.

A Senate Armed Services committee hearing on June 17 made public several documents about the U.S. prison camp, and one of them was a 1957 chart taken from an article titled, "Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions From Air Force Prisoners of War."

The article was written by Albert D. Biderman, a sociologist hired by the Air Force during the Korean War to interview American soldiers tortured by Chinese officials. The chart included interrogation methods such as "prolonged constraint," "sleep deprivation," "semi-starvation," and "exploitation of wounds."

The Times relied on an independent and unnamed expert to point out the source of the chart. The report was published the same day ABC said President George Bush is planning to announce his decision about whether to shut down Guantanamo Bay. The President reportedly will make the announcement before he leaves for th G8 summit in Japan over the weekend.

The prison camp in Guantanamo was opened in 2002. The White House has been trying to look for ways close down the camp, about which controversy has raged because of the Pentagon's use of harsh interrogation methods on prisoners. Last year, Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice asked for assistance from countries with nationals in the prison camp to guarantee that detainees would not "be a danger to society again"once released.