http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_F46jl_xxQPI/SfN8OkDa2bI/AAAAAAAAAAM/M9FdzVHHV_c/s320/John+Walker+Lindh.jpgWhen this photo appeared of John Walker Lindh, the country shamefully cheered. Now we need to categorically admit, that this young man was being tortured. He was in horrific pain from a wound and left strapped to a stretcher, mocked by soldiers, and by Americans who were not told the facts or circumstances regarding John Walker's situation. Look closely, make no mistake about it: this is torture.
Lindh was shot in the leg while fleeing the carnage. He lay on the ground for 12 hours, surrounded by corpses and pretending to be dead, while US aircraft bombed the compound, blowing living and dead prisoners to bits. In the middle of the night, Lindh and several other survivors in the yard made their way back into the basement. Wounded, starving and freezing, Lindh was trapped there for the next seven days. Dostum’s troops periodically dropped grenades down air shafts, killing many. One wounded Lindh with shrapnel.
On the fourth day, Northern Alliance troops poured gasoline into the basement and ignited it, incinerating several men. Then Dostum’s soldiers fired rockets into the areas of the basement where the men had fled to escape the flames, littering the area with body parts.
On the sixth day, Dostum’s troops flooded the basement with near freezing water. According to government disclosures, an eyewitness said that the water “was about waist high for one full day. Those who were too injured to stand drowned, and the water was full of blood and waste.” According to the proffer, “Mr. Lindh and others were forced to drink the water to stay alive. Unable to stand without assistance, Mr. Lindh alternated between leaning on a stick and a fellow soldier to keep from falling under the water and drowning. At least once, Mr. Lindh tripped over a dead body and was submerged in the freezing water, which resulted in his suffering hypothermia.”
On December 1, “wounded, starved, frozen and exhausted,” Lindh emerged from the basement with the other survivors, less than 85 of the more than 300 prisoners brought to the Qala-i-Jangi fortress the week before. Dostum’s forces bound his arms behind his back once again, and he was crammed into a metal shipping container with other wounded and sick prisoners for six hours, doubled over with abdominal cramps caused by drinking the polluted water in the basement.
Lindh was transferred to an open-air truck full of dying prisoners and learned that there were media and Red Cross representatives in the area. One told him that Dostum would have killed all the survivors were they not there. Still wet from the basement, Lindh was driven three hours through the cold night to Sheberghan, where he was taken by stretcher into a room about 10 feet by 10 feet, where he was left with approximately 15 other dead or dying prisoners.
It was there that CNN correspondent Robert Pelton found Lindh and began questioning him on videotape. According to the proffer, Lindh at first refused to be interviewed, but relented after Pelton arranged for him to receive food and medical attention from the US military. He was moved into a room without other prisoners. While armed US soldiers stood guard, a medic removed Lindh’s clothes and began treatment. As he answered Pelton’s questions, Lindh was receiving morphine and other medications intravenously. The interview was widely shown on CNN during the month of December.
Pelton told Lindh’s parents about his predicament. They quickly retained prominent San Francisco trial lawyer James Brosnahan, who immediately faxed demands that the US government not interrogate Lindh until they consulted him, and offered to travel to Afghanistan to meet with his new client. Although these letters were faxed to US Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government officials on December 3, Brosnahan was not allowed to speak to his client until January 25, almost two months later, moments before Lindh’s first court appearance in the United States.
Following the Pelton interview, Lindh was interrogated by a member of the US Special Forces at Dostum’s compound without first being advised of his right to remain silent and his right to counsel. The next day, the same Special Forces officer bound Lindh’s hands with rope and placed a hood over his head. Lindh was taken to a schoolhouse in Mazar-i-Sharif, where he was held in a room with the windows covered so that he could not tell the time of day. Round-the-clock armed guards taunted Lindh with epithets like “shitbag” and “shithead.” Lindh was given some food, but was always left hungry. Military interrogations began again, lasting several hours and continuing for several days. Lindh was not advised of his constitutional rights, and when he asked for a lawyer, he was told none was available. His bullet wound was left untreated, “to preserve the chain of custody” of the bullet for its use as evidence at trial.
On December 7, heavily armed US soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed Lindh, scrawled “shithead” across the blindfold, and posed with him for photos. One US soldier told Lindh that he was “going to hang,” and then the pictures could be sold and the proceeds donated to a Christian organization. Another told Lindh that he wanted to shoot him then and there. Lindh was cuffed so tightly that his wrists were scarred, and his hands were numb for months.
Lindh was flown to a Marine airbase in the Afghanistan high desert dubbed Camp Rhino. According to a statement provided in government discovery, a Navy doctor claims a US Special Forces officer told him at Camp Rhino that “sleep deprivation, cold and hunger might be employed” while Lindh was interrogated. That certainly seems to have been the case. Once at Camp Rhino, Lindh’s guards stripped him naked, and fastened him to a stretcher with duct tape and placed him in a metal shipping container. Conditions inside the container would have tested the endurance of anyone, much less someone in Lindh’s weakened condition. There was no light, heat or insulation. Two small holes provided all the ventilation. Guards taunted Lindh through the holes, threatening to spit in his food. Lindh’s hands were tied together. At first he was fully exposed, but eventually the guards covered him with a blanket and placed one underneath him.
For two days, Lindh was provided minimal food and medical attention. He was freezing cold and in constant pain because of the wrist restraints that were too tight. The loud noise of an electric generator echoed in the container. He could not move. Lindh was not even released from the stretcher when he needed to urinate. Instead, guards propped him upright.
On December 9, Lindh was dressed in a hospital gown and taken into a room or tent. When his blindfold was removed, an FBI agent presented him with a form waiving his constitutional rights. The note Lindh’s parents sent to him through the Red Cross, advising that they had retained a lawyer for him, was not delivered. Although Brosnahan was still trying to reach him, the agent repeated than no attorneys were available. Desperate to improve the conditions of his confinement, Lindh signed the waiver and answered the FBI agent’s questions.
The FBI interviews continued for two days. There is no tape or transcript of the interrogations, only the agent’s summary. After the interrogations, Lindh’s conditions improved somewhat. On December 14, he was transferred to the USS Peleliu, where he was treated for dehydration, hypothermia and frostbite. The next day the bullet was removed from his leg. There was no further questioning.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jun2002/lind-j25.shtml
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