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WWII Vets Slam US 'Torture' Techniques

Vet says chess, ping-pong were old grilling tricks

By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 6, 2007 4:05 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Silent for 60 years, a handful of WWII vets are admitting their old interrogation tricks — and slamming alleged torture techniques used by the US today. Almost two dozen ex-fighters met for a ceremony by the Potomac yesterday, the Washington Post reports, but one refused the award, protesting the Iraq war and the grilling methods used at Guantanamo Bay.

“The military is using us to say, ‘We did spooky stuff then, so it’s okay to do it now,’” said Arno Mayer, 81, who now teaches at Princeton. Another vet recalled their grilling tactics, saying they felt bad if they bugged cells or edited letters. “We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or ping-pong than they do today, with their torture."

Suspected insurgents sit blindfolded and awaiting interrogation at the Iraqi police counterterrorism unit in Mosul, Iraq on Monday, Sept. 17, 2007. Violence is on the decline in northern Iraq, U.S. officials say. But the Americans believe key lasting peace is to resolve the region's most vexing political problem -...
Suspected insurgents sit blindfolded and awaiting interrogation at the Iraqi police counterterrorism unit in Mosul, Iraq on Monday, Sept. 17, 2007. Violence is on the decline in northern Iraq, U.S. officials...   (Associated Press)
President Bush makes a statement on the economy, Friday, Oct. 5, 2007, in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
President Bush makes a statement on the economy, Friday, Oct. 5, 2007, in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)   (Associated Press)
Mahmoud Slimane Aoun of Lebanon, right, is seen talking with Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed of Egypt in this July 2, 2007 file photo during the last day of the Madrid train bombings trial in Madrid, Spain. Judges overseeing the trial in the Madrid terror bombings of 2004 ordered Slimane Aoun,...
Mahmoud Slimane Aoun of Lebanon, right, is seen talking with Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed of Egypt in this July 2, 2007 file photo during the last day of the Madrid train bombings trial in Madrid, Spain. Judges...   (Associated Press)
A Guantanamo detainee, center, is escorted by U.S. military personnel on the grounds of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba, in this May 15, 2007, file photo reviewed by U.S. Department of Defense Official. The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the...
A Guantanamo detainee, center, is escorted by U.S. military personnel on the grounds of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba, in this May 15, 2007, file photo reviewed by U.S....   (Associated Press)
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Bush defends interrogation methods, says US doesn't torture
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US • Politics

 
CIA • veterans • torture • Nazi • World War II • interrogation techniques • Iraq war • George W. Bush

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