Rumsfeld approved
"gay" interrogation of Guantanamo detainee

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld allowed an "abusive and degrading" interrogation of an al-Qaida detainee in 2002, according to the online magazine Salon.com. The interrogation included accusing the detainee of being gay, making him stand naked in front of a female interrogator, and forcing him to wear women's underwear, says MSNBC.

According to an Army report cited by Salon and denounced as "fiction" by a Pentagon spokesman, officers told of Rumsfeld's direct contact with the general overseeing the interrogation at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, comes amid a spate of calls by retired U.S. generals for the Pentagon chief to resign to take responsibility for U.S. military setbacks in Iraq.

Rumsfeld spoke regularly to Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, a key player in the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo, during the interrogation of Mohammed al-Kahtani, who is suspected to have been an intended 9/11 hijacker, Salon quoted the inspector general's report as saying.

Over the course of 54 days in late 2002, soldiers also required al-Kahtani to perform "dog tricks" on a leash, Salon reported. Kahtani was forced to undergo 18- to 20-hour interrogations during 48 of the 54 days, the magazine said. Salon cites Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt, an Army investigator, as saying in a sworn statement to the inspector general that "the secretary of defense is personally involved in the interrogation of one person." Rumsfeld had weekly contact with Miller, according to Salon. (The Advocate)