Lakhdar Boumediene Speaks
Lakhdar Boumediene was held for 7.5 years in Guatanamo without being convicted of a crime. He was finally released by a federal judge. ABC’s Jake Tapper interviewed Boumediene and he talks about what happened to him.
Boumediene said he endured harsh treatment for more than seven years. He said he was kept awake for 16 days straight, and physically abused repeatedly.
Asked if he thought he was tortured, Boumediene was unequivocal.
“I don’t think. I’m sure,” he said.
Boumediene described being pulled up from under his arms while sitting in a chair with his legs shackled, stretching him. He said that he was forced to run with the camp’s guards and if he could not keep up, he was dragged, bloody and bruised.
He described what he called the “games” the guards would play after he began a hunger strike, putting his food IV up his nose and poking the hypodermic needle in the wrong part of his arm.
“You think that’s not torture? What’s this? What can you call this? Torture or what?” he said, indicating the scars he bears from tight shackles. “I’m an animal? I’m not a human?”
For review, here’s the Boumediene case in a nutshell:
In early October 2001, less than a month after al Qaeda’s attack on September 11, 2001, American intelligence analysts in the Embassy became concerned that an increase in chatter was a clue that al Qaeda was planning an attack on their embassy. At their request Bosnia arrested Bensayah Belkacem, the man they believed had made dozens of phone calls to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and five acquaintances of his. All six men were residents of Bosnia, who were born in Algeria. Five of the men were Bosnian citizens.
In January 2002, the Supreme Court of Bosnia ruled that there was no evidence to hold the six men, ordered the charges dropped and the men released. American forces, including troops who were part of a 3,000 man American peace-keeping contingent in Bosnia were waiting for the six men upon their release from Bosnia custody, and transported them to Guantanamo.
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On 20 November 2008 US District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that the USA had no credible evidence to justify the detention of Boumediene and four of the five other men. According to the Washington Post Leon took the extraordinary step of encouraging the Department of Justice to not appeal his ruling, because seven years was enough. Because the Government claimed the evidence should be considered classified Leon considered the evidence in camera. But it was revealed that evidence the five men had planned to travel to Afghanistan was based on a single un-named source.
All but two of the men have been released from Guantanamo. Seven years is a heckuva a long time to be held on no evidence.
Boumediene is best known as the lead plaintiff in Boumediene v. Bush, which eventually led to a decision by the Supreme Court that detainees had the right of habeus corpus.
Tags: Boumediene, torture
Democrat Franklin Roosevelt incarcerated thousands of American citizens in camps with no right to appeal or evidence of subversive activities.
You again employ selective outrage to validate your hatred for America.
Mike Protack
“You again employ selective outrage to validate your hatred for America.”
You again employ your defective equipment for being human to come to the wrong conclusion.
Who said they weren’t outraged by FDR’s Japanese internment? But it’s a bit late the debate that one isn’t it? You know, the more you type the biggest douche bag you look like. Does one need to list every outrage in history to debate a current issue? I was also outraged by the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, the crucifixion of Christ and the Cosner film Waterworld. Go fuck off you turd. And you know what, as fun as it is to mock the stupid bit of pubic hair on your upper lip… shave that fucking thing. I know your living in past so let me be as direct as I can. It isn’t 1977.
Dope Protack: the torturers are the ones who hate America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Liberties_Act_of_1988
Mike Protack employs World War II to validate his hatred for Japanese Americans, Muslims, FDR, Democrats, donsquish, pandora, cassandra, delacrat, jason, unstable iso …
Can you imagine the flying spittle if a Democratic president signed a reparitions bill and apology for those illegally imprisoned at Guantanamo?
This is just selective outrage. When reports of war crimes first leaked after the Battle of Hastings all you “liberals” stood mute! Double standard.
delacrat – don’t forget about his disdain of gays in the military, too.
I’ll admit to standing mute at the outrage of Hastings.
I think the internment of Japanese-Americans in WWII was a great wrong done by the U.S. I think the internment of people without trial by the U.S. right now is a great wrong. We have held innocent people there, for years. People that we tortured.
Protack can’t even argue the facts here, folks. All he has is misdirection.
I don’t think you people understand the pressures that William the Conquerer was under.
And clearly torturing Boumediene didn’t make any of us safer, either.
I hope that I am never scared enough of anything to be able to justify in my mind letting my government inflict the kind of treatment that Boumediene had to endure.
It is really heartbreaking that here in the 21st century we have so-called Americans justifying a modern day Spanish Inquisition.
LG – 1066 changed everything before 911 changed everything.
Holding someone for 7 years without evidence is a reason why 25% of the world’s prisoners are in US jails.
Can we stop pretending we are the freest country in the world?
I swear, people have such a 1065 mindset!
And if I hear one other person say that Grosvenor only uses a noun a verb and 1066, I’m gonna scream!