Tainted

One of the fourteen "high value" detainees at Gitmo, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who the Pentagon had announced earlier this month had confessed to the attack on the USS Cole, has claimed during his closed-door hearing that he was tortured to obtain the confession.

The BBC yesterday reported:

A Saudi man held in US custody for five years has told a military hearing he was tortured into confessing a role in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 41, said he had faced years of torture after his arrest in 2002, a Pentagon transcript from the closed-door hearing said.

Mr Nashiri said he made up stories to satisfy his captors, the transcript said, but gave no details of torture.

...Mr Nashiri's testimony was given at a military tribunal held at Guantanamo to determine his status as an "enemy combatant" on 14 March, AFP news agency reports.

"From the time I was arrested five years ago, they have been torturing me," the transcript of his hearing read.

"It happened during interviews. One time they tortured me one way, and another time they tortured me in a different way.

According to his testimony he eventually "confessed" to playing a key role in the bombing of the USS Cole.

"I just said those things to make the people happy," the transcript read.

"They were very happy when I told them those things."

Among the apparent confessions contained in the transcript, Mr Nashiri told his interrogators that he met al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden several times and received significant amounts of money from him.

Several commentators noted yesterday that one military prosecutor had refused to act against another high value detainee because of allegations of torture. Along with the too convenient "mislaying" of the DVD of Padilla's interrogation and the plea deal entered into by David Hicks - which included an undertaking that he would not pursue the US government for any suit relating to possible torture during his detention - there is now a deep shadow cast over any and all detainee "confessions" or hearings.

The evidence is tainted, and with it America's reputation.