Torture: Not Only Doesn't Work, is Un-American, InHumane, Sadistic!!

Those that put out Policies of Torture, Those that Except and Perform those Policies, and Those that Except/Support those Policies show their True Sadistic Ideologies/Natures, for they get a Perverse Pleasure out of the Acts of Torture, Performing or just Hearing/Reading about the Acts!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 3, 2006
10:51 AM
CONTACT: Center for Constitutional Rights
Mahdis Keshavarz, Riptide Communications 212.260.5000


Shocking Torture at Guantanamo Confirmed in Government Documents Revealed Today
Attorneys Respond to Interrogation Log and Call for Judicial and International Scrutiny of Interrogations at Guantánamo
Center for Constitutional Rights and former Chief Judge John J. Gibbons Denounce Torture of Mohammed Al Qahtani

NEW YORK - March 3 - Today a government interrogation log from the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station was posted on the Internet, confirming that U.S. personnel inflicted torture and inhumane treatment on Guantánamo detainee Mohammed Al Qahtani. The 84-page log details interrogations during a six week period from November 2002 to January 2003, including how intelligence agents stressed Mr. Al Qahtani to physical and psychological limits.

Lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel from Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione are representing Mohammed Al Qahtani in his federal habeas petition, and today emphasized that the new log shows the urgent need for enhanced judicial and international scrutiny of such inhumane interrogation methods.

John J. Gibbons, a former Chief Judge of the Third Circuit who argued the landmark case Rasul v. Bush before the Supreme Court explained the significance of the new documents, "This revelation confirms the reason why the Administration has been fighting so vigorously for over four years to prevent our federal courts from examining what is happening in the United States' detention centers and why the Administration negotiated with Senator Graham to pass jurisdiction-stripping legislation recently. The Administration continues to act absolutely lawlessly, doing everything in their power to prevent the courts from turning over this rock and discovering the truth."

After months of torture and severe interrogation, the government asserts that Mr. Al-Qahtani made statements indicating involvement in an extremely broad range of terrorist activities. This reliance on statements extracted through torture has drawn extensive criticism from experts and attorneys.

"The government has recklessly accused Mohammed of many different crimes with no real evidence, just dubious interrogation statements." said Gitanjali S. Gutierrez, a CCR attorney who recently visited her client. (Department of Defense rules permitting attorney access to Mr. Al-Qahtani prohibit his attorneys from commenting on the classified sections of the interrogation log.) "Now the government's own log proves the statements were extracted through torture - undermining the entire case against Mohammed. The new disclosures reveal that our client was systematically tortured until he would say anything to stop the torment. This should remind Americans that torture is immoral and ineffective in its attempt to produce accurate information."

Previously released government documents have also indicated that Mr. Al-Qahtani was threatened with dogs, placed in extreme and debilitating isolation for three months prior to the period the interrogation log covers, and subjected to unlawful "aggressive" interrogation tactics in a manner that raised concerns even among FBI observers and military commanders in Washington. These tactics were authorized by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the "First Special Interrogation Plan," as discussed in the Schmidt Investigation. (This documentation is available at Center for Constitutional Rights-NY.)

"The evidence shows the government's despicable torture of detainees has produced worthless information. Since the majority of detainees are not even affiliated with Al Qaeda, it is no wonder that they have few relevant facts to provide. After four years of illegal detentions and abuse, the government has failed to prove a legal, moral or security rationale for these actions. The new revelations confirm this failure, and it is time for comprehensive scrutiny and accountability of the Guantánamo detentions," said CCR Legal Director Bill Goodman.

Statements extracted through torture are not generally considered reliable. In one example during a torture and interrogation session in Egypt in 2001, current Guantánamo detainee Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi provided false information about nonexistent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The U.S. Government repeated the claims, but no WMDs were found in Iraq and the claim was further discredited by reports from the DIA in 2002 and the CIA in 2003.

CCR is representing Mr. Al-Qahtani in a federal court challenge to his detention and the use of statements extracted through torture to justify his continued imprisonment without a fair hearing.

###