An Ex-Detainee of the U.S. Describes a 6-Year Ordeal

[kpete]

Source: New York TImes

An Ex-Detainee of the U.S. Describes a 6-Year Ordeal

By JANE PERLEZ, RAYMOND BONNER and SALMAN MASOOD
Published: January 5, 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan — When Muhammad Saad Iqbal arrived home here in August after more than six years in American custody, including five at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he had difficulty walking, his left ear was severely infected, and he was dependent on a cocktail of antibiotics and antidepressants.

In November, a Pakistani surgeon operated on his ear, physical therapists were working on lower back problems and a psychiatrist was trying to wean him off the drugs he carried around in a white, plastic shopping bag.

The maladies, said Mr. Iqbal, 31, a professional reader of the Koran, are the result of a gantlet of torture, imprisonment and interrogation for which his Washington lawyer plans to sue the United States government.

The coming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is weighing whether to close the Guantánamo prison, which many critics have called an extralegal system of detention and abuse.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/asia/06iqbal.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all

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by BooMan
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:55:14 AM EST
Two people are responsible for the torture and illegal seven-year detainment of Muhammad Saad Iqbal. Those two people are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. No one else needs to be held responsible. Bush and Cheney should answer for Mr. Iqbal's treatment in a court of law. If they want to implicate their accomplices, that's fine with me.
more at:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/1/6/05514/22217

[mod mom]

1. I just finished reading this. There needs to be an international war crimes tribunal

[Baby Snooks]

9. It will never happen...

The United States is not a signatory to the International Court of Justice which would hold such a tribunal.

And since Madame Speaker decided they had not done anything sufficient to call for impeachment, conviction and removal, there is nothing for the Justice Department to even investigate once they leave office.

Although they will not all be leaving on the 20th - some are remaining at Barack Obama's table. His table. Not ours. I doubt Barack Obama will call for investigation of anyone at his table. Wouldn't look good.

[mod mom]

11. This Greenwald piece for Salon gives me hope that actions will be taken:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/05/olc/index.html

[Demeter]

2. I Thought Bush Demanded the Released Maintain Silence About Their Ordeals

as if that were possible, legal or right.

[democrank]

3. Some people won`t be bothered at all by this.

You know, the King-of-the-Hillers, those who pick and choose which laws to uphold.

[mnhtnbb]

4. They should close Gitmo in order to secure it as the permanent residence

of both Bushie boy and Cheney for the rest of their lives.

[grahamhgreen]

5. A country that tortures will fail.

[gratuitous]

6. If Bush or Cheney can tell me what crime Mr. Iqbal committed

I'll be willing to let both of them walk. But if Iqbal didn't commit a crime, then we are left with the stark fact that he was captured, detained for six years and tortured for nothing. And if that's not a crime against humanity, then our system of laws has no meaning. And if that's true, then we deserve whatever happens to us. If we don't prosecute the Bush administration's crimes, someone else will, and they might not be quite so careful about rules of evidence and procedure, or even punishing the actual perpetrators. You want to see another office building collapse or a jetliner crashed because Bush and Cheney have placed themselves beyond the reach of the law?

[nc4bo]

10. Seems his only crime was being a loud mouth bragger talking sh*t

He later said that it was someone else in the group that made the shoe bomb comment.

Who amongst us has never bragged about something or other?! Damn.

The article also said that he took a polygraph test and PASSED it!?!

Bush and Cheney deserve to be tried, convicted and punished to the fullest extent of the law for the war crimes they are responsible for committing.

Electing a new President is simply not enough.

[Solly Mack]

7. K&R

Stop the farce - indict and imprison. NOW.

[snappyturtle]

8. K&R I hope many, many people read this. Thanks for posting. nt

[Maestro]

12. Disgusting.

American officials even said that he was a wannabe but the runaway CIA and */Darth decided to steal 7 years of his life anyway.