WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The US Army is preparing to issue a new interrogation manual that expressly bars the harsh techniques disclosed in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, The New York Times reported Thursday.

    The new manual, the first revision in 13 years, will specifically prohibit practices like stripping prisoners, keeping them in stressful positions for a long time, imposing dietary restrictions, employing police dogs to intimidate prisoners and using sleep deprivation as a tool to get them to talk, Army officials were quoted as saying.

    Accompanying the new manual, which runs more than 200 pages, will be a separate classified training document that will provide dozens of interrogation scenarios and go into exacting detail on what procedures may or may not be used, and in what circumstances.

    "It's going to be specific yeses and noes," said Thomas A. Gandy, director of human intelligence and counterintelligence for the Army. The document would require adherence to the Geneva Conventions, as does the current manual, he said.

    The revamped manual is part of a wide-ranging overhaul of interrogation and detention policies and operations undertaken by the Army, and the military in general, officials said.

    The manual also calls for several safeguards, including requiring soldiers to report anything that appears to violate international treaties or standards of humane treatment.

    After the Abu Ghraib scandal, military investigations have faulted senior officials, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top commanders in Iraq, for adding to confusion by approving, and then rescindingapproval, for limited use of harsh techniques that went beyond what was allowed in the manual. Enditem