E/CN.4/2006/120 page 34 on the field manual is to cut down on the significant level of confusion that still exists with respect to which interrogation techniques are allowed. The Armed Services Committee has held hearings with a slew of high-level Defense Department officials, from regional commanders to judge advocate generals to the Department’s deputy general counsel. A chief topic of discussion in these hearings was what specific interrogation techniques are permitted, in what environments, with which DOD detainees, by whom and when. The answers have included a whole lot of confusion. If the Pentagon’s top minds can’t sort these matters out, after exhaustive debate and preparation, how in the world do we expect our enlisted men and women to do so? Confusion about the rules results in abuses in the field. We need a clear, simple, and consistent standard, and we have it in the Army Field Manual on interrogation. That is not just my opinion but that of many more distinguished military minds than mine.” To be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r109:1:./temp/~r1099i99u4:b0. 54 See also Press Briefing with National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on the McCain Amendment of 15 December 2005 at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/ releases/2005/12/20051215-5.html (last accessed on 21 December 2005): “As you know, our policy has been not to use cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment at home or abroad. That has been our policy. The legislative agreement that we’ve worked out with Senator McCain now makes that a matter of law, not just policy. And it makes it a matter of law that applies worldwide, at home and abroad.” 55 Jerald Phifer to Commander of Joint Task Force 170, memorandum of 11 October 2002, “Request for Approval of Counter-resistance Techniques”, which was attached to William J. Haynes II to Secretary of Defense, memorandum of 27 November 2002, “Counter-resistance Techniques”, and approved by Secretary Rumsfeld on 2 December 2002. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/dodmemos.pdf). 56 Secretary of Defense memorandum for the commander, US Southern command of 15 January 2003 on “Counter-Resistance Techniques”. 57 See footnote 51. See also overview given by the Executive Summary of the Church report (“Executive Summary”, US Department of Defense, available to the public since March 2005, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050310exe.pdf). 58 The technique of using dogs, as confirmed in various interviews with ex-Guantánamo Bay detainees, was explicitly authorized as part of the “First Special Interrogation Plan” (pp. 13 and 14) - see in Army Regulation 15-6, Final Report: Investigation into FBI Allegations of Detainee Abuse at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba Detention Facility (1 April 2005, amended 9 June 2005) (The Schmidt Report). See also point 12, “Using detainees individual phobias (such as fear of dogs) to induce stress” of the Jerald Phifer to Commander of Joint Task Force 170, memorandum, “Request for Approval of Counter-resistance Techniques,” 11 October 2002, which was attached to William J. Haynes II to Secretary of Defense, memorandum, “Counter-resistance Techniques”, 27 November 2002, and approved by Secretary Rumsfeld on 2 December 2002 available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/ documents/dodmemos.pdf.