The International Committee of the Red Cross has charged in confidential reports to the US government that the American military has intentionally used psychological and sometimes physical coercion ‘‘tantamount to torture’’ on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The finding that the handling of prisoners detained and interrogated at Guantanamo amounted to torture came after a visit by a Red Cross inspection team that spent most of June in Guantanamo. The team also asserted that some doctors and other medical workers at Guantanamo were participating in planning for interrogations. Doctors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners’ mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators, the report said, sometimes directly, but usually through a group called the Behavioral Science Consultation Team, or BSCT. The team, known informally as Biscuit, is composed of psychologists and psychological workers . The US government, which received the report in July, sharply rejected its charges, officials said. —NYT
