On April 16th, OLC memos were released. All I could picture were the real live human beings the techniques described were being used on, their battered, bruised and bloody bodies, incoherent with exhaustion. I couldn't save my husband, Dan, who was a Vietnam vet who survived torture, but I could help people understand what torture is from a victim's perspective. Daily since then, I have been chronicling what these boys and men have been through, in Dan's name and memory.
Here is Dan's story:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Today is the third and final diary from the point of view of Shafiq, Rhuhel, and Asif, the Tipton Three, who were born and raised, and had lived their lives, in the United Kingdom. Then, on November 28, 2002, they were arrested in Afghnistand, and began a nightmare.
Today's excerpts, from Shafiq, Asif and Rhuhel's combined statement, are about what they witnessed happening to to other prisoners, especially the denial of medical care:
Mamdouh Habib:
One was Mamdouh Habib, who was Australian. He said there was no natural light at all there. Even when you went to the shower, which was 'outside' it was still sealed off so you couldn't see any natural light at all. You couldn't tell what time of day or night it was.
...
Habib himelf was in catastrophic shape, mental and physical. As a result of his having been tortured in Egypt where he was taken from Bagram and then brought back, he used to bleed from his nose, mouth and ears when he was asleep. We would say he was about 40 years of age. He got no medical attention for this. We used to hear him ask but his interrogator said that he shouldn't have any. The medics would come and see him and then after he'd ask for medical help they would come back and say if you cooperate with your interrogators then we can do something. (Shafiq says: "Habib told me this and I have also heard them say it to other detainees as well".) Asif recollects that " another man who'd been taken to Egypt and tortured there, Saad Al Madini, was also refused medical assistance for the same reason. We know from Al Madini that he had had electrodes put on his knees and that something had happened to his knees and something had happened to his bladder and he had problems going to the toilet. He told us that when he was in interrogation he was told by the interrogators that if he cooperated he would be the first in line for medical treatment.
Mohamed Rajab:
One man, a Yemini, Mohamed Rajab, was in a particularly bad state. Every two hours he would get moved from cell to cell, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes cell to cell, sometimes block to block, over a period of eight months. He was deprived of sleep because of this and he was also deprived of medical attention. He'd lost a lot of weight. We were aware that he had a painful medical problem, haemorroids, and that treatment was refused unless he cooperated. He said he would cooperate and had an operation. However, the operation was not performed correctly and he still had problems.
Algerian detainees kidnapped in Bosnia:
By Bosnians we mean six Algerians who were unlawfully taken from Bosnia to Guantanamo Bay. They told how they had won their Court case in Bosnia. As they walked out of Court, Americans were there and grabbed them and took them to Camp X-Ray, January 20, 2002. They arrived five days after us. They were treated particularly badly. They were moved every two hours. They were kept naked in their cells. They were taken to interrogation for hours on end. They were short shackled for sometimes days on end. They were deprived of their sleep. They never got letters, nor books, nor reading materials.
Now, if not having reading materials seems like no big deal, imagine what it would be like to not anything really to occupy your mind for weeks, months, and years on end.
"We were told by one Algerian (not one of the Bosnian Algerians) that he was taken to interrogations and been forced to stand naked. He also told us he had been forced to watch a video supposedly showing two detainees dressed in orange, one sodomizing the other and was told that it would happen to him if he didn't cooperate."
About David Hicks:
We were aware for instance that he needed essential medical treatment for a hernia and that he was told he would only get it if he cooperated.
After two years in US custody, Shafiq, Asif and Rhuhel were released from their nightmare, and returned to their native England. Since then, Rhuhel has become a spokesman for Amnesty International, and Asif has married.
Their journey was made into the docudrama "Road to Guantanamo."
Do you think it's acceptable for prisoners in US custody to be denied necessary medical treatment until they "cooperate with interrogators", until they tell the interrogators what they want to hear?
Hugs,
Standing for justice and acountability,
For Dan,
Heather
I am in the beginning of bringing together the people and organizations necessary to organize a March for Accountability. I think we need to show those in Washington how many will not stand for anything less than justice and accountability. If you are interested, please email me at the address in my profile.
I sent out the first brainstorming email today, so if you didn't get one, and you should be, or want to be, on the list, let me know.
I am also in the middle of planning speaking dates for me in Seattle and Olympia and Portland, Oregon, if anyone knows of groups in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or points in between, I could make it a west coast tour. I'm willing to go anywhere in North America to speak on this issue, as long as I can work out affording plane or train tickets, so please feel to email me with potential groups that might like to hear Dan's story and about this issue.
Thanks to rb and to zett and Otteray Scribe, I will be doing a radio interview with Veterans for Peace on Thursday evening, beginning at 8pm, in Olympia, Washington
I will add the links to the previous diaries in a moment.
Yesterday, I shared the second part of the story of Shafiq, Rhuhel, and Asif.
http://www.dailykos.com/...