US Vice President Dick Cheney has insisted the controversial Guantanamo detention centre in Cuba will not be closed despite more evidence of ill-treatment of detainees.
Dick Cheney
A classified log detailing the interrogation of Saudi man Mohammad al-Kahtani, suspected to have been an intended September 11th hijacker, was published by Timemagazine on Sunday and gave new details of interrogation methods at the camp.
Techniques used against Mr Kahtani included inflicting a "sissy slap" with an inflated latex glove, forcing him to "bark to elevate his social status up to that of a dog," and rejecting his request to pray, Timesaid, citing the log.
Interrogators also played Christina Aguilera music to keep him from dozing off, Timesaid.
But Mr Cheney told Fox News Channelthere was "no plan to close" Guantanamo, but options were reviewed "on a continuous basis."
"The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people," Mr Cheney said.
“I mean, these are terrorists for the most part. These are people who were captured in the battlefield of Afghanistan or rounded up as part of the al-Qaeda network.”
Mr Kahtani, a Saudi citizen, is suspected to have been an intended fifth member of the team that hijacked United Airlines flight 93 on September 11th, 2001, the Pentagon said.
He was denied US entry in August 2001, and was captured on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 2002.
The Pentagon described the document in Timeas a "compromised classified interrogation log," and said it had notified appropriate congressional committees.
Mr Kahtani gave interrogators information on bin Laden's health and methods of evading capture, and on al-Qaeda's infiltration routes, the Pentagon said.
He also gave information on convicted "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, suspected "dirty bomb" plotter Jose Padilla, and about 30 of bin Laden's bodyguards held at Guantanamo, it said.
The log spanned 50 days in the winter of 2002 and 2003. Timesaid water was poured on Mr Kahtani's head to keep him awake in midnight sessions. He was also
reportedly questioned in a room decorated with pictures of September 11th victims, made to urinate in his pants, and forced to wear pictures of scantily clad women around his neck.
He once asked to commit suicide, and was connected to a heart monitor after he became seriously dehydrated from refusing to drink water and his heartbeat slowed, the magazine said.
The Pentagon said the interrogation was conducted by "trained professionals," and yielded "valuable information" about al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden.
After former US President Jimmy Carter and others called for Guantanamo's closure, President George W. Bush said last week he was "exploring all alternatives."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he knew of no one in the administration who was thinking of closing Guantanamo.
Agencies