Probe Launched After Gitmo Lawyers Bare Secret CIA Pics

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration is fighting to keep details secret in the case of a former Guantanamo detainee who says he was tortured, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A San Francisco court has ruled Binyam Mohamed and four others can sue the company they allege flew them to secret CIA prisons—but the government has asked it to reconsider on the grounds of national security. More»

Khalid Mohammed 'made up stories' on bin Laden's whereabouts after torture

(NEWSER) - Guantanamo prisoners fabricated information to give CIA interrogators after being physically and mentally abused, they told a 2007 military tribunal in transcripts released yesterday under the Freedom of Information act. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and one of the prisoners who was repeatedly waterboarded, said he made up stories about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts after being tortured, CNN reports. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama appears ready to put the whole issue of CIA torture behind him. He owes it to the nation to do otherwise, writes Mark Benjamin in Salon. In particular, he should appoint a torture commission—a bipartisan group to evaluate what, if anything, the US gained from these interrogation techniques. Most likely, they just made "desperate prisoners say whatever they had to say to make the pain stop, yielding a few gems among a flow of muck." More»

UK a full partner in US terror effort, report says

(NEWSER) - Binyam Mohamed, a recently released Gitmo detainee, alleges that he was tortured in Morocco while asked questions on behalf of Britian’s MI5. His story so far has amounted to his word against MI5’s, but a new report supports the former detainee’s claim, the Economist reports. A UN report on human rights says Britain, France, Germany, and Italy all sent interrogators to Gitmo despite publicly condemning the American facility. More»

Orders directing sweeping detention, interrogation overhaul expected today

(NEWSER) - The president will sign orders today ordering the Guantanamo Bay detention center shut down within a year—and directing the CIA to dismantle its network of secret prisons overseas, government officials tell the New York Times. The CIA will still be allowed to detain terror suspects in foreign countries, but will be barred from holding them in long-term detention. More»