Spring Break
Video offers glimpse of Gitmo interrogations
The Associated Press
Issue date: 7/16/08 Section: News
TORONTO - In a video released Tuesday, a 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan cries out for his mother and says he needs treatment for his battle wounds during questioning by Canadian officials at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
"Oh Mommy," he cries in despair in Arabic when he is alone in the room, watched only by hidden cameras.
The 10 minutes of video - selected by Omar Khadr's Canadian lawyers from more than seven hours of footage recorded by a camera hidden in a vent - provides the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison. It shows Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands, as he is questioned by Canadian intelligence agents over four days in 2003. The lawyers hope to pressure Canada into seeking Khadr's return, but the government said its position was unchanged.
The video, created by U.S. government agents at the prison in Cuba and originally marked as secret, provides insight into the effects of prolonged interrogation and detention on the Guantanamo prisoner.
A Canadian Security Intelligence Services agent in the video grills Khadr about events leading up to his capture as an enemy combatant when he was 15.
Khadr, a Canadian citizen, is accused of throwing a grenade that killed one U.S. Special Forces soldier during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan that left another soldier blinded.
He was arrested after he was found in the rubble of a bombed-out compound - badly wounded and near death.
At one point in the interrogation, Khadr pulls off his orange prisoner shirt and shows the wounds he sustained in the firefight. He complains he cannot move his arms and says he had not received proper medical attention, despite requests.
"They look like they're healing well to me," the agent says of the injuries.
"No, I'm not. You're not here (at Guantanamo)," says Khadr, the son of an alleged al-Qaida financier.
The agent later accuses Khadr of using his injuries and emotional state to avoid the interrogation.
"No, you don't care about me," Khadr says.
Khadr also tells his interrogator that he was tortured while at the U.S. military detention center at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where he was first detained after his arrest in 2002.
Later on in the tape, a distraught Khadr is seen rocking and moaning, his face in his hands.
His family said he was calling out for his mother in Arabic, repeatedly crying "Ya Umi." His lawyers, listening to the same audio, said they believed he was calling out 'help me' but acknowledged they were unsure.
On the final day, the agent tells Khadr that he was "very disappointed" in Khadr's behavior, and tries to impress upon him that he should cooperate.
Khadr says he wants to go back to Canada.
"There's not anything I can do about that," the agent said.
"Oh Mommy," he cries in despair in Arabic when he is alone in the room, watched only by hidden cameras.
The 10 minutes of video - selected by Omar Khadr's Canadian lawyers from more than seven hours of footage recorded by a camera hidden in a vent - provides the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison. It shows Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands, as he is questioned by Canadian intelligence agents over four days in 2003. The lawyers hope to pressure Canada into seeking Khadr's return, but the government said its position was unchanged.
The video, created by U.S. government agents at the prison in Cuba and originally marked as secret, provides insight into the effects of prolonged interrogation and detention on the Guantanamo prisoner.
A Canadian Security Intelligence Services agent in the video grills Khadr about events leading up to his capture as an enemy combatant when he was 15.
Khadr, a Canadian citizen, is accused of throwing a grenade that killed one U.S. Special Forces soldier during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan that left another soldier blinded.
He was arrested after he was found in the rubble of a bombed-out compound - badly wounded and near death.
At one point in the interrogation, Khadr pulls off his orange prisoner shirt and shows the wounds he sustained in the firefight. He complains he cannot move his arms and says he had not received proper medical attention, despite requests.
"They look like they're healing well to me," the agent says of the injuries.
"No, I'm not. You're not here (at Guantanamo)," says Khadr, the son of an alleged al-Qaida financier.
The agent later accuses Khadr of using his injuries and emotional state to avoid the interrogation.
"No, you don't care about me," Khadr says.
Khadr also tells his interrogator that he was tortured while at the U.S. military detention center at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where he was first detained after his arrest in 2002.
Later on in the tape, a distraught Khadr is seen rocking and moaning, his face in his hands.
His family said he was calling out for his mother in Arabic, repeatedly crying "Ya Umi." His lawyers, listening to the same audio, said they believed he was calling out 'help me' but acknowledged they were unsure.
On the final day, the agent tells Khadr that he was "very disappointed" in Khadr's behavior, and tries to impress upon him that he should cooperate.
Khadr says he wants to go back to Canada.
"There's not anything I can do about that," the agent said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Craig Hawley / McCain YES Obamanation Hell NO
posted 7/19/08 @ 10:39 PM MST
BOO F'ING HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't Care!!!!!!
Maybe next time he will stay home with Mommy and not go out and throw grenades and fight trying to kill American troops. (Continued…)
Post a Comment