from SLATE: >The Washington Post leads with the Bush administration official in charge of >deciding which detainees at Guantanamo Bay will go to trial declaring that the >U.S. military tortured Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi who allegedly intended to >be a part of the Sept. 11 attacks. "We tortured Qahtani," Susan Crawford, the >convening authority of military commissions, said. Crawford has now become >"the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing >practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a detainee was tortured," >declares the WP's Bob Woodward. ...
>In her first interview since becoming the point person in the military >commissions, Crawford stated that she refused to allow Qahtani to be >prosecuted because the treatment he received while in custody "met the legal >definition of torture." Crawford was careful to emphasize that all the >interrogation techniques used with Qahtani were authorized at the time, but it >was the way the different methods were combined, as well as their duration, >that had an adverse impact on the detainee's health. "It was abusive and >uncalled for," she said. "And coercive. Clearly coercive." >Although military prosecutors have said they would refile charges against the >alleged 20th hijacker based on information gleaned from later interrogations >that didn't use harsh techniques, Crawford emphasized that she wouldn't allow >it to move forward. Crawford recognized that her unwillingness to let the >prosecution go forward means that Obama faces a tough choice. "He's a very >dangerous man," she said. "I would be hesitant to say, 'Let him go.' " [syntax >problem! is it Obama who's dangerous?] >In a related story, the WP goes inside with a former Guantanamo prosecutor >saying in a declaration filed in federal court that the evidence against >detainees at the prison in Cuba is such a mess that it is impossible to carry >out a proper prosecution. Darrel Vandeveld was the lead prosecutor against an >Afghan who has been held in Guantanamo for six years but left his post last >year due to what he described as a crisis of conscience. Vandeveld affirms >that most of the important evidence was missing or suffered from a "complete >lack of organization." The chief military prosecutor isn't buying it and says >Vandeveld is just bitter because he wasn't chosen to be a team leader.< -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
