Freed Gitmo Detainee to Sue US for Damages

(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»

But Mohammed Jawad may still face conventional prosecution

(NEWSER) - A Guantanamo Bay inmate may be released to Afghanistan next month after successfully challenging his detention under habeas corpus, the Washington Post reports. US District Judge Ellen Huvelle ordered Mohammed Jawad’s release based on the dodgy evidence against him—mainly, a confession allegedly obtained by threatening to kill Jawad or his family—and the fact that the detainee has already spent 6 years at Gitmo. More»

(NEWSER) - The youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay has been freed to his native Chad, Reuters reports. Mohammed El Gharani was seized in Pakistan in 2001 at 14, and accused variously of being an al-Qaeda operative, messenger, and combatant. Five months ago a judge found the evidence against him insufficient. “That it took 7 years and a federal judge to sort this out demonstrates just how failed an experiment Guantanamo Bay is,” Gharani’s lawyer said. More»

In reversal, president says images would endanger US troops

(NEWSER) - President Obama has reversed position and will oppose the release of abuse photos of detainees in US custody, the Washington Post reports. "The publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals," said Obama, who insisted the similar abuse is no longer tolerated. "In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger." More»

Operation's architects lacked training in conducting interrogations, say CIS records

(NEWSER) - Two US psychologists with no training in conducting interrogations boasted of earning $1000 a day designing and helping to implement use of waterboarding techniques on CIA detainees, reports ABC News. Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, former military officers, are considered the architects of the interrogation operation that Barack Obama has labeled torture. More»