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Radiolab

The Other Latif: Cuba-ish

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2022

⏱️ 65 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Almost exactly twenty years ago, detainee 244 got transferred to Guantanamo Bay. Captured by American forces at the battle Tora Bora five months previous, Abdul Latif Nasser was shaved, hooded, shackled, diapered, and flown halfway across the world. The Radiolab special series, The Other Latif, kicked off when one of our hosts, Latif Nasser, made a bizarre and shocking discovery. He shares his name with detainee 244. A man the U.S. government paints a terrifying picture of as Al-Qaeda’s top explosives expert, and one of the most important advisors to Osama bin Laden. Nasser’s lawyer claims, on the other hand, that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that he was never even in Al-Qaeda. This clash launched our Latif into a years-long investigation, picking apart evidence, attempting to separate fact from fiction, and trying to uncover what the man with whom he shares a name actually did or didn’t do. Along the way, Radiolab’s Latif reflects on American values and his own religious past, and wonders how a fellow nerdy, suburban Muslim kid, may have gone down such a strikingly different path. Episode 5: Cuba-ish  To mark the solemn occasion of the other Latif's transfer to, "the legal equivalent of outer space," we thought we'd replay Cuba-ish, the fifth episode of our special series which first aired back in 2020. In this episode, our Latif heads to Guantanamo Bay to try to speak to his namesake. Before he gets there, he dives deep, seeking the answer to what seems like a simple question: why Cuba? Why in the world did the United States pick this sleepy military base in the Caribbean to house “the worst of the worst”?  Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab today.     Radiolab is on YouTube! Catch up with new episodes and hear classics from our archive. Plus, find other cool things we did in the past — like miniseries, music videos, short films and animations, behind-the-scenes features, Radiolab live shows, and more. Take a look, explore and subscribe!

Transcript

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0:00.0

Wait, you're listening.

0:03.1

Okay.

0:04.4

All right.

0:05.6

Okay.

0:07.0

All right.

0:08.4

You're listening to Radio Lab.

0:11.4

Radio Lab.

0:11.9

From W. N. Y.

0:13.9

C.

0:14.8

See?

0:14.9

Yeah.

0:19.2

Hey, it's Luthif.

0:20.6

We've been celebrating a lot around here recently for Radio Lab's 20th anniversary, and we're just so eager to celebrate it because there's so much that has happened in the last two decades that we're really proud of.

0:33.3

Today, I want to mark another 20-year anniversary.

0:37.5

One, I doubt that anyone else, anywhere else on planet Earth actually wants to mark, let

0:43.1

alone celebrate, in part because I think almost nobody is proud of it, which is all the

0:47.7

more reason it felt like we should mark it.

0:51.0

Almost exactly 20 years ago, a man who shares my name, Abdul Latif Nasr, got transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

0:58.7

I remember his family in Morocco telling me about the first time they heard where he wound up, and they were like, Cuba?

1:05.8

Why would he be in Cuba?

1:08.5

Two years ago, we did a six-part miniseries called The Other Latif. It is about how he got to Cuba. Two years ago, we did a six-part mini-series called The Other Latif.

1:12.6

It is about how he got to Cuba, as well as how that prison got there in the first place.

...

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