How closely involved was Rumsfeld in the detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and elsewhere?
He played an important role, and he had close involvement in the torture of one particular prisoner. Mohammed al-Qahtani was alleged to have been the “twentieth hijacker” and he may well have been, but he hadn’t been able to get into the country. They later picked him up in Afghanistan and sent him to Guantánamo. In 2002 Rumsfeld signed a now-famous directive that approved sleep deprivation, stress positions, and the refinement of various cruel methods. He had this guy in mind when he signed it. We know from Lieutenant General Randall Schmidt, who was appointed in 2005 to investigate FBI allegations of abuses at Guantánamo, that Rumsfeld was regularly calling in to find out what was happening with al-Qahtani’s interrogation, and it was clear that they were using techniques on him that had been approved by Rumsfeld. We know from former General Janice Karpinksi, who was at Abu Ghraib and who found a memo signed by Rumsfeld authorizing torture techniques. Of course, when all the allegatio
