Moazzam Begg has written a book about the horrors he and fellow inmates faced at Gitmo while he was imprisoned there. It's the first known book of its kind.
Begg said he was handed over to the U.S. military by Pakistani forces in January 2002 after fleeing U.S. bombing in Afghanistan with his family. From there, he was held in Kandahar and Bagram, where he said he was beaten and threatened.
Begg also said he saw U.S. troops severely beating detainees.
In his book, he writes: "I heard a scuffle, and then some dull thuds behind cell three." He said he later saw two American guards, one of whom he knew from Kandahar, "dragging a limp body past our cell to the medical room. I could see bruises on the detainee's face." Begg said he later was told the man had died.
He said he also suffered abuse at Bagram. "Guards tied my hands behind my back, hog-tied me so that my hands were shackled to my legs, which were also shackled," he writes. "A barrage of kicks to my head and back followed...I lost track of day or night."
He also said a banner desecrating Islam hung at the detention center, where cells were named after previous terror attacks, such as the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
"The common denominator was Islam," Begg writes in the book.
However, don't forget--supposedly, we don't condone torture here in the U.S., even if at one time, we did acknowledge that some prisoners have been tortured.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement there was "no credible evidence that Begg was ever abused by U.S. forces." However, he declined to answer specific questions or say whether Begg's abuse allegations were ever investigated.
Well, of course not! The United States doesn't torture people! We merely interrogate them...and spy on them.
Did anybody really expect the Pentagon to just come out and admit that a mistake could have been made? No...?
"He (Begg) certainly is a sympathizer, a recruiter, a financier and a combatant," Whitman said in the statement. "He admitted, and this again is a quote from him, `I was armed and prepared to fight alongside the Taliban and al-Qaida against the U.S. and others and eventually retreated to Tora Bora to flee from U.S. forces when our front lines collapsed.'"
"So Begg's story today is a whole lot different than what we know about Begg and what Begg has told us about Begg. Why is his story different? Well, his story is different because he is clearly lying. It shouldn't surprise us that he's lying. We know that terrorists are trained to lie," the statement said.
Wow, Whitman sounds like the schoolyard bully who got caught and tried to blame his misfortune on his victim!
Begg says his story was twisted over a period of three years and if the United States had a case against him, they would have charged him.
He says the so-called confession he signed in Guantanamo came after nearly three years in prison. He said he thought if he agreed to the statements his U.S. captors had written--in their "terrible" English"--he would easily be able to prove his innocence in court.
He says he still hasn't seen a copy of the statement he signed despite requests. The government refused Monday to provide a copy to the AP.
That isn't shocking.
Honestly, is it really so hard for the Pentagon to admit that idiotic things just happen...that perhaps they don't condone torture, but for whatever reason, some guards could have committed some illegal acts to get their kicks? Why is that so difficult to believe?
Orlando A. Battista: An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.
No comments:
Post a Comment