'20th Hijacker' Sues for Gitmo Torture Tapes

Doctors didn't inquire, despite evidence of physical, mental abuse

(NEWSER) - The Defense Department doctors and psychologists who tended to Guantanamo Bay detainees were complicit in covering up their torture, according to a new study released yesterday. Medical records and legal files reveal that the doctors saw evidence of bone fractures, contusions, and lacerations; heard stories of rape; and saw signs of PTSD in previously mentally healthy individuals; but didn’t inquire about any of it, according to the AFP . One doctor even told a detainee “to relax when the guards are being more aggressive.” More»

Don't let subordinates take the fall, Sullivan urges former president

(NEWSER) - The only way to remove the stain of torture from America's name is for the man who authorized it to step up and take responsibility, Atlantic editor Andrew Sullivan writes in an open letter to George W. Bush. Dodging blame while his subordinates take the fall—and watching the country go through the agony of prosecuting them—is dishonorable, Sullivan writes. Worse, it leaves the door open for future presidents to return to the policy in times of war, with the same "polarizing, demoralizing, war-crippling results." More»

Original charges were dropped because suspect was tortured

(NEWSER) - One of the "high-value" detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with planning the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, reports the LA Times . Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, faces the death penalty if convicted of planning and orchestrating the attack on the Cole as it was docked in a Yemeni harbor. More»

(NEWSER) - AG Eric Holder today named a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture against CIA operatives who interrogated terror suspects during the Bush administration, the Washington Post reports. John Durham, who is currently probing the destruction of interrogation tapes, will look into fewer than 12 cases detailed in a CIA report released today and determine if a full-scale investigation is warranted. The Bush-era Justice Department investigated and dismissed the cases. More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama and Dick Cheney conspired to perpetuate the same myth yesterday, writes David Brooks of the New York Times. In their telling, we have seen a sharp break between Bush-Cheney terror policies and Obama-Biden ones. “This is a completely bogus distortion of history.” In reality, the policies Cheney’s defending were in place for maybe three years after 9/11. After that, over Cheney's objections, Bush cleaned up his act. More»