Edited on Fri May-16-08 11:42 PM by L. Coyote
A special essay by Philippe Sands about Detainee 063 at Guantanamo.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05162008/sandsessay.htmlWATCH May 16 -
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05162008/watch3.htmlMay 16, 2008
BILL MOYERS: Now I want to update some of the stories we've been reporting over recent weeks.
You'll recall that last week I interviewed the international lawyer Philippe Sands. He had just testified in Congress about his book TORTURE TEAM. The book is based on his conversations with the Bush administration insiders responsible for the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" - torture - on detainees at Guantanamo. Sands mentioned in particular Detainee 063 - Mohammed al-Qahtani....suspected of being the missing "20th hijacker" in the 9/11 attacks. The administration offered al-Qahtani as proof that coercion works, and the White House said he had provided "valuable intelligence." But Sands knew differently...
PHILIPPE SANDS: I do have actual information on Detainee 063.
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ESSAY:
Philippe Sands on The Al Qahtani Debacle
May 16, 2008
On the May 9, 2008 edition of BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, legal scholar Philippe Sands, author of TORTURE TEAM, talked about the approval of coercive interrogation by high-level American officials. Below is a special essay from Sands about the man known as Detainee 063 at Guantanamo.
THE AL QAHTANI DEBACLE
by Philippe Sands
Over the past five years the name Mohammed Al-Qahtani - Detainee 063 at Guantanamo - has been indelibly associated with the Bush Administration's efforts to justify extreme measures in the 'war on terror.' This Saudi national was apprehended in Afghanistan in late 2001 and taken to Guantanamo in early 2002, included in a group labelled as the "worst of the worst." His identity got a full airing in June 2004, as the Administration struggled to contain the fallout from the Abu Ghraib pictures. Alleged to be the 20th hijacker, the Administration pinned on this man its justification for the abandonment of a longstanding prohibition on the use of cruelty by the military.
On June 22nd 2004, two of the Administration's most senior lawyers - White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Defense Department General Counsel Jim Haynes - stood before the world's media and laid out the official story to explain the move to aggressive interrogation: it occurred as a result of a bottom-up request from an aggressive combatant commander at Guantanamo; it was implemented within the law and on the basis of careful legal advice; and it produced useful and important results. Al Qahtani was living proof that coercion worked. Gonzales and Haynes stood alongside Daniel Dell'Orto (who has recently been appointed as Acting General Counsel at DoD, following Haynes' move to Chevron, where he now works as lawyer) as he introduced Al Qahtani as the man who explained the move to abuse: a person in whom the Pentagon had "a considerable interest," who had "been trained to resist our interrogation techniques" and, most significantly, who gave up important information when subjected to new techniques authorised by Rumsfeld on December 2nd 2002. This included information on Jose Padilla (the alleged "dirty bomber") and Richard Reid (the shoe bomber). The message was unambiguous: Al Qahtani was a bad man, aggressive interrogation works.
A few weeks later, the 9/11 Commission Report described Al Qahtani as a "candidate hijacker," explaining the circumstances in which he was denied entry to the US in August 2001. The narrative persisted, and Al Qahtani's name was frequently wheeled out in defence of the Administration's actions. ......
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May 9, 2008 VIDEO =
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05092008/watch2.htmlBritish law professor Philippe Sands, author of TORTURE TEAM, talks about the approval of coercive interrogation by high-level American officials.
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