The big problem in prosecuting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: tortureProsecuting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the confessed architect of 9/11, should be a no-brainer. But the torture he endured at the hands of Guantanamo interrogators may have ruined the entire case.
Guantanamo
What will Obama do with the leftover Gitmo prisoners?
Barack Obama is honouring his pledge to close down the notorious Guantanamo prison, but how and where will the detainees be trialled in a fair manner? NPR explores the options, examining what justice means for Gitmo prisoners.
No. 1 with a bullet: which songs are on Guantanamo’s greatest hits list?
A coalition of musicians is calling on the US government to reveal which songs have been used to torture prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. One prisoner claims to have been subjected to 20 straight hours of “The Real Slim Shady”.
Guantánamo guard: “Why I converted to Islam”
Six months into his work in the US military as a guard at the notorious Gitmo, Terry Holdbrooks converted to Islam with the help and mentoring of the prisoners. What made him do it?
The death penalty: clumsy, costly and morally dubious
Stories of grotesque bungles abound in death penalty literature, writes Lizzie O’Shea. So, why does the US continue to hand it out?
Greenwald: Obama’s Guantanamo closure was a sham
Obama’s pledge to close Guantanamo is the “biggest sham in American politics”: the administration just filed a legal brief [PDF] stating that detainees at Bagram Airfield have no constitutional rights whatsoever — including habeas corpus.
Photos emerge from Gitmo of 9/11 ringleader
New photos have been released of Guantánamo Bay inmate Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, regarded as the mastermind of 9/11, looking far different to his famous dishevelled capture photos. Will they inspire further terrorist attacks?
US court for terror suspects: Gitmo 2.0?
Barack Obama may have promised to close Gitmo, but there are ‘a thousand little Gitmos’ across the US, where terror suspects are being given unfair trials, writes Petra Bartosiewicz.
Norfolk Island attempts to recruit Guantanamo detainees
Norfolk Island is apparently in a spot of trouble with the federal government after they went behind Canberra’s back by allegedly offering to take in some former Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Gitmo Uighurs to Palau: “Er, we’d rather not…”
Five of 13 Uighur Guantanamo Bay detainees set for resettlement in Palau don’t want to go there, according to the country’s president.
Gitmo’s youngest detainee goes free
The youngest detainee being held in Guantanamo Bay, seized when he was just 14 years old, has been released after seven years in captivity.
Palau agrees to take Uighur detainees
In order to avoid diplomatic issues with China and keep their own hands clean, the US will pay the tiny Pacific island of Palau up to $200 million to take in 17 Uighurs formerly held in Guantanamo Bay.
Bottled waterboarding
CIA interrogators at Guantanamo employed a civilised tool for the brutal task of waterboarding — bottled water, straight from the fridge.
Guantanamo: the herpes of international politics
Jeff Sparrow and Greg Barns on the 17 Guantanamo detainees and Chinese Uighur men that President Obama wants Australia to resettle.
Humanity and torture: effective interrogation or brutality?
A fascinating panel on the difficult questions of torture raised by the controversies over interrogations of Al Qaida prisoners and others engaged in or suspected of terrorism since 9/11.
We are a nation of law: Powell takes on Cheney
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell made an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation, hitting back at Dick Cheney and other critics Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo.
The Obama-Cheney face-off
It was close as it gets to a grand Lincoln-Douglas-style debate: on Thursday, Obama and Dick Cheney both addressed audiences on the issues of national security and civil liberties. Guess who was Lincoln?
Military attorney: Waterboarding just the “tip of the iceberg”
A military attorney who represented a former Guantanamo detainee tells CNN that waterboarding is only “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of torture in the prison.
Backing away from Gitmo pledge
The White House seem to be having second thoughts about their hasty closure of Guantánamo Bay prison, Cuba, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs now calling it a “hasty decision”.
Essay: The many renditions of Mamdouh Habib
Let’s take a swift trip into the heart of darkness, writes Richard Neville.
Australia’s role in the American Inquisition
Did Australian authorities aid and abet the US in the torture and kidnap of Mamdouh Habib?
I interrogated Zubaydah: we didn’t need to use torture
A former FBI agent claims waterboarding wasn’t necessary to uncover any intelligence from Abu Zubaydah — they had it all before the torture even started.
