Alleging torture when no torture has taken place is a move straight out of the Al-Qaeda playbook. When Al-Qaeda operatives are jailed, they are told to claim that they have been tortured. From the Al-Qaeda playbook:
1. At the beginning of the trial, once more the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by State Security [investigators ]before the judge.2. Complain [to the court] of mistreatment while in prison.
3. Make arrangements for the brother 's defense with the attorney, whether he was retained by the brother 's family or court-appointed.
4. The brother has to do his best to know the names of the state security officers, who participated in his torture and mention their names to the judge.[These names may be obtained from brothers who had to deal with those officers in previous cases.]...
6. During the trial, the court has to be notified of any mistreatment of the brothers inside the prison.
This game has been played the world over, but nowhere has it achieved more success than in the demonization of American personnel at Guantanamo Bay. Even the President of the United States has lent the prestige of his office to this baseless smear.
"Pakistan: Note From 5 American Muslims in Custody Claims Torture," by Waqar Gilani for the Associated Press, February 3:
Five American Muslims in custody in Sargodha threw a handwritten note to reporters from a police vehicle while on their way to a court hearing on Tuesday, stating: "Since our arrest, the U.S.A., F.B.I., and Pakistani police have tortured us," according to their representative, Khalid Khawaja. A Pakistani relative of one of the men also claimed that the police had threatened to give them electric shocks. A spokesman for the American Embassy in Islamabad, Richard W. Snelsire, said that the United States "categorically rejects those allegations."...
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