Just to jog your memory- when Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan back in the spring of 2002 we were told he was the number 3 in al-Qaeda -so we water boarded him 100 times or so and subjected him to lots of other torture because that was the only way to save our country- however sometime thereafter we realized that he really wasn't number 3---or number 33 or even number 333. In fact, we realized he wasn't really a part of al-Qaeda after all. Oops on that one.
You might also recall that our torturers videotaped their handiwork but apparently after some higher ups took a gander at those tapes they decided no one else should see them and the tapes disappeared....we have been told that the tapes were destroyed (even though there was a court order to preserve the tapes). So as far as we know there are no longer any tapes depicting the torture that Abu Zubaydah and others were subjected.
However the tapes were not the only record of our misdeeds....Zubaydah of course remembered what happened to him and he drew pictures depicting his torture. As Jason tells us in the Truthout article the pictures are (or were) pretty detailed....but of course we will never see those drawings either- you see, if his drawings still even exist (the powers to be refuse to admit whether the drawings are still in existence) they are classified (wouldn't want those to get into the wrong hands would you?....I mean that could possibly make it harder for us to keep looking forward.....).
And so, Abu Zubaydah- the man who wasn't who we thought he was but who must be forever detained without charge because.....why is it again that he must be detained forever? Partly because being the most powerful country in the world we do not admit mistakes....maybe also so that Zubaydah cannot redraw those pictures?
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