[JURIST] High-level military attorneys have told Congress that some interrogation methods used at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] are not consistent with guidelines in the Army Field Manual [interrogation manual; additional manuals]. In a written response to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee [official website], lawyers from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps wrote that certain tactics used to interrogate terrorism suspect Mohamed al-Qahtani [TIME report], the so-called "20th hijacker", could be considered violations of policy because they were humiliating or degrading. Interrogators forced al-Qahtani to wear women's undergarments, called him a homosexual and implied that others knew he was a homosexual, forced him to perform dog tricks, and forced him to stand naked in the presence of female soldiers. The lawyers said these methods do not follow policy.

Last July, a Pentagon report [PDF text; JURIST report] by two generals concluded that although the tactics as a whole may be degrading, each was individually authorized by the manual:

Despite the fact that the AR 15-6 concluded that every technique employed against the subject of the first Special Interrogation Plan was legally permissible under the existing guidance, the AR 15-6 finds that the creative, aggressive, and persistent interrogation of the subject of the first Special Interrogation Plan resulted in the cumulative effect being degrading and abusive treatment.