Report Says Rumsfeld OKd Iraq Interrogation Methods

WASHINGTON —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved a plan that brought unconventional interrogation methods to Iraq to gain intelligence about the growing insurgency, ultimately leading to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the New Yorker magazine reported Saturday.

Rumsfeld gave the green light to methods previously used in Afghanistan for gathering intelligence from members of Al Qaeda, which the United States blames for the Sept. 11 attacks, the magazine reported on its website.

The New Yorker said the interrogation plan was a highly classified “special access program” that gave advance approval to kill, capture or interrogate so-called high-value targets in the battle against terrorism.

Such secret methods were used extensively in Afghanistan but more sparingly in Iraq until the insurgency grew and more U.S. soldiers were killed. Then, Rumsfeld and Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone expanded the scope to bring the interrogation tactics to Iraq, the article said.

A former intelligence official said Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, approved the program but may not have known about the abuse.