Update on latest deceased detainee.......

Andy Worthington has this update on the man that the military claims committed suicide at Guantanamo last week. Carol Rosenberg at the Miami Herald has this interview with the man's attorney. Not only did the military have the incorrect name for this man-his real name is Hajji Nassim- but also the shocking information that the man suffered from serious mental health issues- since he was a very young man. His mental health issues were so serious that his attorney had arranged to bring a psychiatrist to the base to evaluate his condition.

Hajji's remains have now been "repatriated" to Afghanistan.

Seems that is the only way anyone gets repatriated from Guantanamo these days.

RIP Hajji.

ANOTHER FORM OF TORTURE, REMOVING THE EYE?

Jason Leopold at truthout has a very disturbing story today about Abu Zubaydah- as though being waterboarded 83 + times, placed in coffin like boxes, threatened with execution and other forms of torture -was not enough..... Seems we also removed one of his eyes. Was it gouged out? Damaged so badly during his torture that it was surgically removed? Or perhaps just removed for the heck of it? Who knows if we will ever learn the truth about that one.

Because I-as a habeas attorney with a security clearance- am not allowed to comment on wikileaks, I took out the link in Jason's article to the picture that led him to uncover this story. I did that because I am trying to be as cautious as possible about the wikileaks but I will say that the government did allow me to utilize a picture that the government claims is of my own client- in a public document that originated from wikileaks...

but anyway, that is a whole other story....for another day.

Click on the title to read Jason's investigation of Abu Zubaydah's missing eye.

Another Death....another lie

The military announced the death of a 37 year old Afghani man by the name of Inayatullah who was found dead in an outdoor area at the gulag. The military claims he committed suicide. Like most events at Guantanamo we will probably never learn the truth but I will tell you this- it is impossible to fathom how someone could commit suicide in the outdoor area- a place where the men are under constant watch. Perhaps that is why they are now trying to change the story to say that he died in his cell.

The Guardian has more here.

Rest in peace Inayatullah.

Scott Horton wins award for investigative piece on Gitmo "suicides"

In keeping with Scott's own style Foreign Policy asks six questions of Scott:

Last night, Harper's Magazine writer Scott Horton (pictured above left) won a National Magazine Award in the reporting category, beating out the favorite, Michael Hastings's Rolling Stoneprofile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who lost his job as commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. Horton's winning entry was "The Guantanamo 'Suicides': A Camp Delta Sergeant Blows the Whistle." The piece is an investigation of the suspicious deaths of three inmates at Guantánamo. I have known Horton since the mid-1990s, when we met in Central Asia. He was an unusual hybrid of corporate lawyer and human rights defender. His writing career began a bit later -- in the early years of the Bush administration with an email blast called "No Comment," a compilation of links and short commentary on national politics that he distributed to friends and interested colleagues. Its searing approach attracted much attention, led to the blog being absorbed by Harper's, and now recognition for this breakthrough article. Horton conducts his own email interviews in a "Six Questions" format, so I asked him to submit to the same. His replies follow.

O&G: In your main piece, you tell the story of Col. Michael Bumgarner. Can you catch us up as to what has happened in the meantime with the Justice Department's treatment of the three men's deaths, and in addition with Staff Sgt. Joseph Hickman, the main whistle-blower in your story?

Sergeant Hickman continues to serve with his unit, as do several other guards that night whose observations supported the article. In fact, after the story appeared a source in the office of Secretary of Defense told me that an effort would be made to "reach out" to these "disgruntled soldiers," but I'm sure the Pentagon discovered the same thing I did: These soldiers were not remotely "disgruntled." They were and are all proud to serve and proud of their service at Guantánamo, which won them commendations. They were concerned about telling the truth, however. There is no sign of any further examination of the facts by the Justice Department -- though it did use dubious national security claims to block a congressional investigation when a House Judiciary subcommittee attempted to look into it.

What more do we know now about Camp No, the black site at Guantanamo where the men appear to have been taken? Is this a CIA-run section of the camp?

I am still investigating Camp No. In the meantime I have developed more evidence that Camp No was used by the intelligence community in connection with interrogations -- including by the CIA from 2003 through 2006. But it's not clear that the CIA was the only agency authorized to use Camp No.

Click here to continue reading the interview.

For those of you in the San Francisco Area....

PROTEST ACTION AGAINST JOHN YOO...

Friday, May 13
Protest University of California complicity in torture
Fire, Disbar and Prosecute war criminal John Yoo
Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) Graduation
9:00 am
The Greek Theater (UC Berkeley campus)

http://tinyurl.com/3owv25p

And this from Juan Cole

Listen to Lawrence Wilkerson (former aid to Colon Powell) discuss the delusional Donald Rumsfeld and suggest that Rumsfeld should in fact be waterboarded to determine for himself whether or not waterboarding is torture.

http://www.juancole.com/2011/05/wilkerson-wants-to-waterboard-rumsfeld.html

Wax vs. Yoo

Federal Public Defender Steven Wax debated John Yoo at an Alaska bar event last week. Read a summary of it here....but I can tell you without your even looking at the summary that this was no even battle....Yoo never had a chance in debating Steven......

Good job Steven.

AND SO HE IS DEAD

Doesn't really matter for my clients....they had nothing to do with him anyway. I don't suppose this means we can move on????