survey… »
« a good thing…
slouching along…

Posted on Wednesday 7 October 2009


The Center for Constitutional Rights learned today of the existence of video and audio tapes of the abusive interrogations of client Mohammed al Qahtani, the victim of the “First Special Interrogation Plan” personally overseen by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

“After the intense scrutiny of the government’s torture and interrogation of Mr. al Qahtani, it is shocking that the government has hidden the existence of these tapes from the public for so many years,” said CCR Attorney Gitanjali S. Gutierrez. “The government’s interrogation of him has been the topic of multiple military, Justice Department and congressional investigations. These tapes should have been acknowledged long ago.”  

Until recently, the Government had adamantly denied that any U.S. personnel engaged in acts of torture during Mr. al Qahtani’s interrogation, but on January 14, 2009, Military Commission Convening Authority Susan Crawford conceded that by subjecting Mr. al Qahtani to systematic 20-hour interrogations, prolonged sleep deprivation, 160 days of severe isolation, forced nudity, sexual and religious humiliation, and other aggressive interrogation tactics, the government had engaged in acts of torture. Much of this information appeared in interrogation logs leaked to the press as early as 2006…

The videotapes the government is required to produce will reveal the time period at the end of three months of intensive solitary confinement and isolation that immediately preceded the implementation of the “First Special Interrogation Plan,” a regime of systematic torture techniques approved by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for use against Mr. al Qahtani.  In a letter to his superiors reporting possible abuse of men in U.S. custody, T.J. Harrington, Deputy Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, FBI described Mr. al Qahtani during this time as “evidencing behavior consistent with extreme psychological trauma [talking to non-existent people, reportedly hearing voices, crouching in a corner of the cell covered with a sheet for hours on end]”…

For more information on Mohammed al Qahtani’s case, click here…

Attached Files:
The reference in red is particularly damning. No, we haven’t forgotten about the Bush Administration Torture Program. Things are slowly happening. Right now, the OPR [Office of Professional Responsibility] has a report  due out soon about the DoJ OLC Lawyers – Bybee and Yoo. Mohamed al Qahtani was tortured and waterboarded. An actual tape would be a powerful "smoking gun." To borrow a line:
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.