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The Documentary Podcast

From the Archive: Heart and Soul - Faith, terrorists and mercy at Guantanamo

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.32.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

An episode of Heart and Soul from our Archive. Dr Jennifer Bryson interrogated suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists at the infamous Guantanamo Bay. She worked at the detention centre in Cuba for two years and says that some of the inmates bragged openly about helping to organise the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that killed 3,000 people. Bryson was the first woman to take up the role of lead interrogator at Guantanamo, and the first who was not a member of the military. She would carry out interrogations herself but was also responsible for signing off methods and techniques used by other interrogators. After some time, she started to feel uneasy about some of the 'enhanced interrogation' methods she was asked to approve, such as playing extremely loud music to inmates for prolonged periods, exposing them to strobe lighting, etc. In her gut, she felt something was not right. She says it was her faith-formed conscience that led her to deny her colleagues’ requests to use such interrogation techniques.

What are the moral challenges of this work for a person of faith? Are 'enhanced interrogation techniques' ever justified? What if these methods help to prevent more deaths in the future? In this edition of Heart & Soul for the BBC World Service, Colm Flynn explores these questions with Dr Jennifer Bryson. He discovers how her faith guided her through what she regards as the most radical time of her life.

Producer/ Presenter: Colm Flynn Series Producer: Rajeev Gupta Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno Editor: Helen Grady

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service and another chance to hear an episode of Heart and Soul from our archive.

0:08.0

In this edition, originally published in September 2023,

0:12.0

Colm Flynn talks about faith, terrorists and mercy at Guantanamo Bay

0:17.0

with Jennifer Bryson, a former interrogator at the infamous. Detention Center. I'm walking up to a stunning monastery hidden

0:25.0

I'm walking up to a stunning monastery hidden away in the hills of Austria to meet a

0:34.1

a woman called Dr. Jennifer Bryson.

0:37.3

Jennifer, great to meet you.

0:38.6

Hi, Colin, good to see you.

0:40.0

How are you?

0:40.8

I'm doing just fine today.

0:42.4

This monastery we're standing in is called

0:44.4

Heilinengroitz, around 40 minutes south of Vienna, and it's one of the oldest monasteries in the world.

0:52.0

Founded in 1133. We're in the main entry courtyard of

0:56.3

the monastery in front of the Abbey Church. Jennifer is an academic researcher

1:01.1

here on a two-year scholarship translating the work of a mid-20th century

1:05.6

German Catholic author.

1:07.5

Her name is Ida Friedricha Geris.

1:10.6

She's fallen into being forgotten today, but she was a wonderful mid-20th century Catholic author.

1:18.0

Every now and then we spot one of the cloistered monks walking by, with a silent smile and not of the head.

1:24.0

We're walking through a part of the monastery now.

1:27.0

Is it incredible that this has been here for almost 900 years?

1:31.0

It is and it's been a continuous monastery the whole time.

...

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