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“The Terror Courts”: An Inside Look at Rough Justice, Torture at Guantánamo Bay

Dandelion Salad

democracynow·Feb 22, 2013

www.democracynow.org – Wall Street Journal journalist Jess Bravin reports on the controversial military commissions at Guantanamo. Describing it as “the most important legal story in decades,” Bravin uncovers how the Bush administration quickly drew up an alternative legal system to try men captured abroad after the Sept. 11 attacks. Soon evidence obtained by torture was being used to prosecute prisoners, but some military officers refused to take part.

We speak to Jess Bravin, author of “The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantánamo Bay,” and to Lt. Col. Stuart Couch, a former Guantánamo prosecutor featured in the book.

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Torture at Guantánamo: Lt. Col. Stuart Couch On His Refusal to Prosecute Abused Prisoner

democracynow·Feb 22, 2013

www.democracynow.org – On Sept. 11, 2001, Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Couch’s friend died co-piloting the second plane to hit the World Trade Center. Soon after, Couch became one of the first military prosecutors assigned to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay to prosecute men alleged to have carried out the terrorist plot. He ultimately would refuse to prosecute one detainee: Mohamedou Ould Slahi. “It became clear that what had been done to Slahi amounted to torture,” Couch says. “Specifically, he had been subjected to a mock execution. He had sensory deprivation. He had environmental manipulation, that is, cell’s too cold or the cell is too hot … He was presented with a ruse that the United States had taken custody of his mother and his brother and that they were being brought to Guantánamo.” Couch says he concluded Slahi’s treatment amounted to illegal torture. “I came to the conclusion we had knowingly set him up for mental suffering in order for him to provide information,” Couch said. “We might very well have a significant problem with the body of evidence that we were able to present as to his guilt.”

see

Michael Ratner: Zero Dark Thirty, Manhunt and Obama Admin. Justify Use of Torture + Globalizing Torture: Ahead of Brennan Hearing, International Complicity in CIA Rendition Exposed

America’s Indefinitely Detained + Close GITMO Protest

Gitmo

Torture on Dandelion Salad

from the archives:

Andy Worthington: Gitmo detainees stay imprisoned years after being cleared + SCOTUS Kills Habeas Corpus for Gitmo Detainees

Ten Years of Torture: On Anniversary of Abu Zubaydah’s Capture, Poland Charges Former Spy Chief Over “Black Site” by Andy Worthington

A Truly Shocking Guantánamo Story: Judge Confirms That An Innocent Man Was Tortured To Make False Confessions by Andy Worthington

6 thoughts on ““The Terror Courts”: An Inside Look at Rough Justice, Torture at Guantánamo Bay”

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  4. Couch says this case of the 9/11 conspirators is “the most significant criminal prosecution in the history of the nation.”

    The mills of the gods may grind slowly, but exceeding fine.

    The government should be sued far more often, maybe then we’d get somewhere.

  5. Pingback: Witnesses at a Drone Hearing by David Swanson | Dandelion Salad

  6. Pingback: America’s Disappeared by Andy Worthington | Dandelion Salad

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