On Capitol Hill, the Senate Armed Services Committee convened a hearing Thursday on the treatment of prisoners in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay. Air Force instructor and Iraq veteran Colonel Steven Kleinman testified he witnessed a deliberate program of what he called “punishment” against Iraqi prisoners. Kleinman said forced nudity, sleep deprivation and painful shackling were all used against those who wouldn’t cooperate with US interrogators. The techniques were the same as those taught in a Pentagon program to prepare US servicemembers for what they would experience under foreign captors who don’t respect the Geneva Conventions. In one case, Kleinman said he witnessed a prisoner forced to kneel beneath a spotlight and repeatedly hit across the face with every answer he gave. Kleinman said the interrogators were baffled when he tried to stop the beating. Democratic Senator and Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin was the lone senator to attend the hearing.