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Attorney Tells Why Guantanamo Detainee Attempted Suicide
in Front of Him
Almost 1,000 Days After U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Democratic
Senators Call in Secret Session for Investigation of Pre-War
Intelligence
Gilbert Achcar: “The Very Presence of U.S. Troops Fuels
the Insurgency”
Attorney Tells Why Guantanamo Detainee Attempted
Suicide in Front of Him
More than twenty detainees in the Guantanamo Bay prison
have attempted suicide and UN investigators continue to press
for visits at the prison camp despite refusals from the Bush
administration. We speak with lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan,
who recently witnessed a client’s suicide attempt during
a visit, about the ongoing desperation of prisoners and the
military’s reporting of the events. [includes rush
transcript]
The Bush administration has decided not to allow human rights
investigators from the United Nations to meet with any detainees
being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. For three years,
UN investigators have been trying to visit the prison camp.
A breakthrough appeared to have occurred last week when the
Pentagon invited three UN experts to visit Guantanamo, but
the invitation was on the condition that they had no access
to the detainees. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture,
Manfred Nowak, said it now makes no sense to send UN experts
to Guantanamo under these conditions. He said, "They
said they have nothing to hide. If they have nothing to hide,
why should we not be able to talk to detainees in private?"
Until now, the detainees have been largely held incommunicado
from the outside world with the exception of occasional visits
by attorneys. We speak with one of these attorneys -- Joshua
Colangelo-Bryan. He represents six men from Bahrain who have
been held without charges at Guantanamo. Two weeks ago, he
witnessed one of his clients, Jumah Dossari trying to commit
suicide. More than twenty other detainees have also tried
to commit suicide, but according to the Washington Post, this
is believed to be the first such event witnessed by an outsider
at the prison. Lawyers and human rights advocates say this
highlights the growing desperation among the more than 500
detainees there.
- Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, lawyer for Guantanamo Bay detainees
Almost 1,000 Days After U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Democratic
Senators Call in Secret Session for Investigation of Pre-War
Intelligence
Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an
unusual closed session Tuesday to question intelligence used
by the Bush administration to justify the Iraq invasion. We
speak with investigative journalist Robert Parry and Scott
Armstrong of the Information Trust about how the CIA leak
case indictment has highlighted questions about pre-war intelligence.
[includes rush
transcript]
The issue of pre-war intelligence remains in the spotlight
with last week’s indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney’s
chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby over the CIA
leak case. Shortly before forcing the closed session, Democratic
Senate Minority leader Harry Reid said, "The Libby indictment
provides a window into what this is really all about, how
this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence
in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy
those who dared to challenge its actions." He then invoked
a little-used Rule 21 to request the closed session.
- Sen. Harry Reid, “Mr. President, enough time has
gone by. I demand on behalf of the American people that
we understand why these investigations are not being conducted,
and in accordance with Rule 21, I now move the Senate go
into closed session.”
The Senate stopped work on legislation. The public was forced
to leave the chamber, the doors were closed and the lights
were dimmed. C-Span coverage was also turned off for the session
which lasted over two-hours. It marked the first time in 25
years one party has closed the Senate to the public without
consulting the other party. Republicans dismissed the move
as a political stunt. It provoked a sharp public confrontation
between the leadership of both parties.
- Sen. Bill Frist, “Democrats used scare tactics.
They have no convictions, they have no principles, they
have no ideas. This is the ultimate. Since I have been majority
leader, I’ll have to say not with the previous Democratic
leader or the current Democratic leader, have I ever been
slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership
of the grand institution.”
Frist went on to say, "For the next year and a half,
I can’t trust Senator Reid." Reid later responded
to Frist’s comments.
- Sen. Harry Reid, “It’s a slap in the face
to the American people that this has been – this investigation
has been stymied, stopped, obstructions thrown up every
step of the way. That’s the real slap in the face.
That’s the slap in the face, and today, the mesh people
are going to see a little bit of light.”
In the end, lawmakers agreed to name three members from each
party to assess the state of the Intelligence Committee’s
inquiry into prewar intelligence and report back by November
14th. Back in June 2003, Republicans on the Intelligence committee
resisted calls to investigate the administration’s WMD
claims. Finally in February 2004, they agreed to a two-step
investigation.
In July 2004, the committee issued the first phase of its
bipartisan report, which found the U.S. intelligence community
had assembled a deeply flawed and exaggerated assessment of
Saddam Hussein’s weapons capabilities. The second phase
was to focus on the administration’s deliberations over
the intelligence or how it was used. Democrats say there has
been little examination of these topics to date.
- Scott Armstrong, is executive director of the Information
Trust. A former reporter for The Washington Post, he founded
the National Security Archive and was a senior investigator
for the Senate Watergate Committee.
- Robert Parry, veteran investigative journalist and author
of the book "Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush
Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq." For years he worked
as an investigative reporter for both the Associated Press
and Newsweek magazine. His reporting led to the exposure
of what is now known as the "Iran-Contra" scandal.
Gilbert Achcar: “The Very Presence of U.S.
Troops Fuels the Insurgency”
We are joined in our New York studio by University of Paris
professor, author and analyst, Gilbert Achcar, who has been
engaged in a public online debate with University of Michigan
Professor Juan Cole about whether the U.S. should immediately
withdraw from Iraq. [includes rush
transcript]
Achcar has argued in favor of immediate withdrawal and Juan
Cole has warned that this could lead to a civil war. We play
an excerpt of what Juan Cole had to say and hear from Gilbert
Achcar.
- Gilbert Achcar, author of several books including "The
Clash of Barbarisms: September 11 and the Making of the
New World Disorder." Achcar lives in France and teaches
at the University of Paris. He is a contributor to Le Monde
Diplomatique but is perhaps best known in this country for
his frequent contributions to University of Michigan professor
Juan Cole"s popular blog, "Informed Comment"
- at www.juancole.com.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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