BONUS: Inside the Secretive Court at Guantanamo Bay as CIA Torture Architect Testifies

The Intercept Briefing

The Intercept

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.7 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2020

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

Last month, The Intercept's research editor Margot Williams reported from Camp Justice at Guantanamo Bay during an extraordinary moment in the 40th pre-trial hearing for the five men accused of plotting 9/11. The men are being charged with crimes that can result in the death penalty and pre-trial hearings have been continuing in this case since 2012. During this hearing, the architect of the CIA's torture program, Dr. James Mitchell, was brought to the war court as a witness. This was the first time that Mitchell appeared in open court. Williams describes her reporting trip, Mitchell's testimony, and how the legacy of CIA torture, with FBI complicity, has marred every aspect of the 9/11 case for nearly eight years.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is intercepted.
0:30.0	I'm Jeremy Skahill coming to you from the offices of the Intercept in New York City,
0:36.0	and this is a special bonus episode of Intercepted.
0:44.0	Barry deep under headlines about Donald Trump's impeachment, quote-unquote acquittal,
0:49.0	the Democratic primaries, Pete Bernie Bloomberg, was news out of camp justice in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
0:56.0	Last month, the two masterminds of the CIA's torture program were called as witnesses
1:02.0	in a pretrial hearing for the men accused of plotting the 9-11 attacks.
1:07.0	Dr. James Mitchell was in the courtroom for a pretrial hearing for 5-9-11 suspects
1:12.0	who had been subject to torture, youth domestically called enhanced interrogation techniques.
1:19.0	When the Capitol trial at Guantanamo's war court finally happens next year in 2021,
1:24.0	it will have been two decades since the crime took place.
1:28.0	Here are some of the truths that have long been forgotten.
1:31.0	The prison at Guantanamo is still open.
1:34.0	The people who engineered torture were never held accountable,
1:37.0	and the men who may have been involved with the September 11 attacks have not yet been convicted.
1:43.0	The problem of Guantanamo Bay has only been mentioned in one Democratic debate.
1:49.0	Why couldn't the Obama administration close Guantanamo Bay?
1:52.0	You have to have congressional authority to do it. They've kept it open.
1:56.0	And the fact is that we, in fact, think it's the greatest, it is an advertisement for traquerading terror.
2:03.0	Look, what we have done around the world.
2:05.0	When Trump took office, he canceled transfers for men who were cleared to leave the Guantanamo prison.
2:10.0	He also campaigned to fill that prison back up.
	...

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