Guantanamo Interrogation Tape Released

Canadian Detainee, Arrested At Age 15, Weeps, Shows Wounds In Clips Released By Lawyers

(CBS/AP)  In a video released Tuesday, a 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan cries out for his mother and says he needs treatment for his battle wounds during questioning by Canadian officials at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

"Oh Mommy," he cries in despair in Arabic when he is alone in the room, watched only by hidden cameras.

The 10 minutes of video - selected by Omar Khadr's Canadian lawyers from more than seven hours of footage recorded by a camera hidden in a vent - provides the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison. It shows Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands, as he is questioned by Canadian intelligence agents over four days in 2003. The lawyers hope to pressure Canada into seeking Khadr's return, but the government said its position was unchanged.

The video, created by U.S. government agents at the prison in Cuba and originally marked as secret, provides insight into the effects of prolonged interrogation and detention on the Guantanamo prisoner.

A Canadian Security Intelligence Services agent in the video grills Khadr about events leading up to his capture as an enemy combatant when he was 15.

American officials say Khadr, a Canadian citizen, may look like a little boy lost but he is really a hardened terrorist, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. He allegedly served as a translator for a top al Qaeda operative being hunted by American commandos who leveled the compound where Khadr was hiding.

Sgt. Christopher Speer was killed when someone threw a grenade from the rubble. Khadr was the only one still alive in there, although no one actually saw him throw the grenade, reports Martin.

At one point in the interrogation, Khadr pulls off his orange prisoner shirt and shows the wounds he sustained in the firefight. He complains he cannot move his arms and says he had not received proper medical attention, despite requests.

"They look like they're healing well to me," the agent says of the injuries.

"No, I'm not. You're not here (at Guantanamo)," says Khadr, the son of an alleged al Qaeda financier.

The agent later accuses Khadr of using his injuries and emotional state to avoid the interrogation.

"No, you don't care about me," Khadr says.

Khadr also tells his interrogator that he was tortured while at the U.S. military detention center at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where he was first detained after his arrest in 2002.

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60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon reported in November 2007 that Khadr was the only person in modern history to have been charged for war crimes he allegedly committed as a minor.

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Later on in the tape, a distraught Khadr is seen rocking and moaning, his face in his hands. His family said he was calling out for his mother in Arabic, repeatedly crying "Ya Umi." His lawyers, listening to the same audio, said they believed he was calling out 'help me' but acknowledged they were unsure.

On the final day, the agent tells Khadr that he was "very disappointed" in Khadr's behavior, and tries to impress upon him that he should cooperate.

Khadr says he wants to go back to Canada.

"There's not anything I can do about that," the agent says.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, Khadr's U.S. military lawyer, said the video shows "a frightened boy" who should be permitted to return to Canada. He said Khadr is cooperative at the beginning of the four-day stretch of interviews, because "he believed that if he was cooperative and told them what he thought they wanted to hear that they would take him home."

"So between Day One and Day Two he figures out that that is not going to happen and so you see a very emotional reaction on Day Two when this very scared 16-year-old boy finally figures out that the Canadians aren't going to do anything for him and are going to leave him there. He is devastated," Kuebler said.

"The tapes do not show a dangerous terrorist, but instead a frightened, wounded Canadian boy pleading for help from Canadian officials. But instead of helping, they casually dismiss his claims of abuse and mistreatment, and tell him they will do nothing for him," Khadr's Canadian lawyer Nathan Whitling told reporters in Edmonton Tuesday before releasing video of the seven-hour interrogation.

"This kid has suffered enough," added Whitling's co-counsel Dennis Edney. "Which one of us would allow our children to be treated the way Khadr was?"

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, denied that Khadr was mistreated. "Our policy is to treat detainees humanely and Khadr has been treated humanely," Gordon said.

The video was made by U.S. authorities and turned over to Khadr's defense team, Gordon said. The tapes are U.S. property.

A Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs report said Canadian official Jim Gould visited Khadr in 2004 and was told by the American military that the detainee was moved every three hours to different cells. That technique, dubbed, "frequent flyer," was one of at least two sleep deprivation programs the U.S. military used against Guantanamo prisoners. Detainees were moved from cell to cell throughout the night to keep them awake and weaken their resistance to interrogation.

The document also says Khadr was placed in isolation for up to three weeks and then interviewed again and noted in an aside that at least one of his interrogators "seemed to be trying to intimidate (Khadr) or force (him) to talk rather than trying to cajole him into cooperation."

"What you see in the video is a teenager begging for help and what you see is an interrogation that violates U.S. law and any international law concerning the rights of children," said Wells Dixon, a lawyer for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents dozens of Guantanamo prisoners. "If this is the way a teenager in Guantanamo has been treated, you can just imagine how anyone else has been treated."

The Supreme Court of Canada in May ordered the Canadian government to hand over key evidence against Khadr to his legal team to allow a full defense of the U.S. charges against him, which include accusations by the U.S. that he spied for and provided material support to terrorists.

In June, a Canadian Federal Court judge ordered the Canadian government to release the video to the defense team after the court ruled the U.S. military's treatment of Khadr broke human rights laws, including the Geneva Conventions.

The Canadian report indicates that Khadr, who was born in Canada and raised in Afghanistan, is questioned about his family, which has a long history of alleged involvement with radical Islamic causes. His Egyptian-born father, Ahmed Said Khadr, and some of his brothers fought for al Qaeda and had stayed with Osama bin Laden.

"He acknowledges his family's responsibility for letting him be exploited as a child soldier," Whitling said, adding that Khadr emphasizes that "he had no choice but to do what his father told him to do" when he is questioned about his participation in the 2002 firefight in Afghanistan.

Khadr faces up to life in prison on U.S. charges that include murder.

Gould later wrote a briefing note related to his visit stating he had met a "screwed up young man" whose trust had been abused by just about everyone who had ever been responsible for him - including his family and the U.S. military.

Canada's Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has maintained he will not seek Khadr's return to Canada and his position was unchanged after the release of the video.

Anne Howland, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, repeated the statement Tuesday that was issued by the prime minister last week, that the Conservative government believes Khadr is in "a legal process that must continue."

Khadr's sister, Zaynab Khadr, who lives in Toronto, said she was pessimistic his situation would improve soon.

She noted that another brother, Abdullah Khadr, now in prison on terror charges in Canada awaiting extradition to the United States, was interrogated by Canadian agents despite having been abused in detention in Pakistan.

"He was tortured for their benefit and he still continues to be in jail and it hasn't changed much, so I can't expect it to be any different in Guantanamo," Zaynab Khadr said.

[libsluv2spit]

90% of people @ Guantanamo did nothing. Where do you get your information at?


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Posted by whiskyrocker at 11:19 PM

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i would not be suprised to hear from you that ''they are not terrorists but freedomfighters'' and 100% innocent.

[libsluv2spit]

CBS/AP) In a video released Tuesday, a 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan cries out for his mother and says he needs treatment for his battle wounds during questioning by Canadian officials at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

"Oh Mommy," he cries in despair in Arabic when he is alone in the room, watched only by hidden cameras.

The 10 minutes of video - selected by Omar Khadr''s Canadian lawyers from more than seven hours of footage recorded by a camera hidden in a vent - provides the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison. It shows Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands, as he is questioned by Canadian intelligence agents over four days in 2003. The lawyers hope to pressure Canada into seeking Khadr''s return, but the government said its position was unchanged.


************

a typical jihadist...I am sure its breaking the hearts of all liberals reading the article..

GOOD JOB CANADA!

[wogerwabbit]

90% of people @ Guantanamo did nothing. Where do you get your information at?


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Posted by whiskyrocker at 11:19 PM


ok, Einstein, count off the number of convictions.

[babooph]

I can just imagine the ones they destroyed-the inquisition likely compared to a pillow fight compared to what they are hiding-What are those fools bothering with the Sudan,when Washington is much more important to the world!

[whiskyrocker]

INFORMEDONE1 FOR PRESIDENT!

[informedone1]

Having had relatives that were murdered in the Holocaust, I do believe Sir that you are extremely crass , offensive, and have no idea what you''re talking about. The Nazis persecuted and murdered innocent Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, etc. Omar Khadr is not at all innocent. He is a vicious terrorist and killer. Next time you make a comparison, know what you''re talking about.

[informedone1]

I have absolutely no sympathy for this killer. I''m sure he wasn''t a whining baby when he was murdering American soldiers or other Afghanis. He should have been given a bullet in the head, not a lawyer. Enemy combatants have absolutely no right to the rights and liberties afforded to American citizens or protections as soldiers for a sovereign country (they are not) under the Geneva Conventions. Let''s see a videotape of Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer suffering horribly and dying from the wounds this murderer Khadr inflicted on him, and then let''s see how much sympathy there is for Khadr. And if Khadr thinks being in Guantanamo is that bad, let him end his stay there. Tell the interrogators everything they need to know and you won''t be interrogated anymore. What a POS Khadr is.

[kansas1946]

The Bush administration is evil and John McCain has gotten in bed with these evil creeps. He does not deserve to be president.

[o2bewealthy]

Well, if he wasn''t a terrorist, full of hate for the West at age 15, he certainly will be one now. Re-education would have been so much more easy and productive.

[whiskyrocker]

WogerWabbit
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90% of people @ Guantanamo did nothing. Where do you get your information at?

[edintex]

90% of the people they Gitmoized did NOTHING! They were INNOCENT! Don''''t you get that? [slap upside the haed]
... even if I have to shoot you''''re traitorous a$$es to do it.
Posted by WogerWabbit at 11:00 PM : Jul 15, 2008

Wow, I thought that you libs were angry that none of the Gitmo demons were given a TRIAL yet. I guess you were able to judge the 90% from the hole you live in!

You should also be careful about making threats to people. Remember who/what the REAL enemy is. You know, the ones (and their kind) that killed nearly 3000 men, women and children in NY! The same ones who have NEVER returned a LIVE US prisoner! You know, the same ones who are sawing live heads and blowing innocent Iraqi men, women and children up.

[wogerwabbit]

Read the evil here! Kill them all! Let God sort them out!!!

So Kilroy, what''s your experience in war? Please enlighten me as to where you''ve gained your wisdom of life... and death. Or are you just one of those pimply faced, middle aged juvenile with beer muscles hanging over your belt kinda a$$hole you sound like?

90% of the people they Gitmoized did NOTHING! They were INNOCENT! Don''t you get that? [slap upside the haed]

Yes, draw and quarter the guilty... I''d buy tickets!

But to screw over so many innocent people in a paranoid neocon hissy fit is what fascists do... not Americans.

By God, we''re the good guys and I will defend that unwritten principle to the death again if I have to... even if I have to shoot you''re traitorous a$$es to do it.

Yeah. I''m a liberal... your wildest ****** nightmare kinda liberal... an ex-Republican.

[idnnsg]

cultusdeus said, "there''s nothing wrong with waterboarding; it''s harmless".

Arch-conservative Christopher Hitchens USED TO BELIEVE it was "harmless", until he was waterboarded himself! Here''s what he now says: "if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture."

Read about it here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808

The truth is, only evil, sub-human, cretins support torture. cultusdeus is one such creature.

[cultusdeus]

Maybe this brat and the others have been a little bruised and "watered" some of them (there''s nothing wrong with waterboarding; it''s harmless) or "softened up a little bit,. . whatever the term, it''s a far cry from what they would do to our soldiers. Would we get food? So they moved him around? Pooor baaabby! With our soldiers they would torture them to death, cut off the head send back to the nearest US base for a souvenir and then eat the body like the orcs that these barbaric Muslim terrorists truly are.

[edintex]

America should learn a lesson from Guantanamo AND the enemy combatants we are fighting. Our enemies have NEVER taken a US soldier prisoner. They have all been shot. Look what happens when the US takes prisoners alive...NOTHING BUT *** from the liberals and the other US hating people scattered aound the world.
"Enemy combatants" should never have made it to Cuba. I hope our men over there in raghead land start doing their own sawing.

[cultusdeus]

Well, I guess the little punk isn''t so tough is he? He knew exactly what he was doing and the only thing he''s sorry about is that he got caught. And if we hadn''t caught him, he''d be still translating to have us killed or killing our soldiers himself personally. The little punk got what he deserved. Let him rot him prison for life.

[wogerwabbit]

America is better than to torture him and imprison him for life. Many Americans say people like me ''''dont know the evil we are fighting against''''. I''''d say I do know it, and its the evil that would torture a 15 year old and imprison him for life for something his dad did.


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Posted by ubrew12 at 10:06 PM

Exactly, sir! Our country is rotting from within due to the neocon infection that''s killing our country. To condone our debasement through these acts before the world is not a patriotic act at all, as some neocon subversives would have you believe, but treason and a whole new brand of evil we''ve not seen in this country before.

[erasmus81]

"Where''''''''s erasmus?
She''''''''s always bragging about how wonderful Canada is and how evil the US is." Posted by HawkSprings at 12:44 PM : Jul 15, 2008

Maybe the U.S. is rubbing off on Canada?:)

[ubrew12]

If this child threw the grenade, is it possible he was shell-shocked at the time? The compound he was in had just been pancaked by American bombs, killing everyone else in the compound. As horrible as his killing an American soldier is, I find the circumstances rather different from the cool evil that executed 9-11. That is, they resemble actual combat, and we dont usually torture people and jail them for LIFE for being combatants.

Other than this ''crime'', the boy''s ''evil'' amounts to being a translator to an Al-Qaida operative. As he was 15 when caught, he may have been 13 or 14 when he joined, ie, he was probably following dad''s wishes.

America is better than to torture him and imprison him for life. Many Americans say people like me ''dont know the evil we are fighting against''. I''d say I do know it, and its the evil that would torture a 15 year old and imprison him for life for something his dad did.

[witchsince91]

WE SHOULD ALL RESPECT ONES RELIGIONS, ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY, THOSE WHO DONT BELEAVE. NOW, IF i CAN MAKE THE WHOLE WORLD FEEL AS ME AND MY ROOMATES DO, THIS WILL BE A LOVELY PEACEFULL LOVING PLACE.

lETS ALL JUST LOVE ONE ANOTHER. CUUUUUZ, LIFE IS GROOVY.