All of these practices are carefully engineered to facilitate the interrogation process. Nudity, sleep deprivation and dietary manipulation are used as standard preparatory steps. It then details the standard "corrective techniques:" these are a series of physical assaults labeled with innocuous titles like insult slap, abdominal slap, facial hold and attention grasp. "Coercive techniques" used include: walling (slamming a prisoner's head against the wall, with some protective measures to avoid severe injuries), water dousing, the use of the stress position (known to the inquisition as the strapado, to the Germans in World War II as Pfahlbinden), wall standing (referred to by the NKVD and KGB as stoika) and cramped confinement. Because of substantial redactions, it seems unlikely that this list is complete.

None of this information is surprising. In fact it all tallies perfectly with the description of the renditions program that can be derived from the report prepared by the Intern

Cont....

But this is an historical document, right? President Barack Obama shut down the black sites and the extraordinary renditions program immediately after taking office, right? Well, not entirely. Consider the recent rendition of a Lebanese businessman accused of petty contract fraud, Raymond Azar. The first stage of these guidelines was followed with precision. He was seized in Afghanistan by U.S. Justice Department operatives. They claim they had the approval of the Afghan government. The Afghan government disagrees, saying it has no record of ever having permitted the "snatch" of Azar.

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According to papers filed by his lawyers, Azar was presented with "capture shock," stripped naked, subjected to a body cavity search for "health reasons," was shackled, subjected to hypothermia and sleep deprivation, and then was transported in a Gulfstream with the requisite hood, blindfold and earmuffs.