January 27, 2009

Nothing in that video happened at Gitmo

By: Sonny Bunch

This is what I mean when I ask when we can have a serious discussion about Guantanamo Bay. Andrew approvingly embeds this video (you can find it below), in which he writes “A Gitmo detainee tells a different and harrowing story – especially of outsourced torture in Morocco.” The tale is indeed harrowing. A detainee talks about how he was tortured in Morocco. They mutilated his genitals. They did awful things to him. But you know where every “harrowing” thing mentioned in that story takes place?

Morocco. Not at Gitmo. There’s literally nothing in that video about what has happened at Gitmo, other than a note at the end saying that the US has declined to release the guy. Which brings me to my larger point: extraordinary rendition typically involves torture. It is a policy that existed under Bill Clinton. Why isn’t Andrew (and every other enraged liberal) calling for Bill Clinton to be tried for crimes against humanity? Why isn’t Leon Panetta–Clinton’s chief of staff and the new head of the CIA–being questioned about what he knew of extraordinary rendition? Extraordinary rendition is bad times. But Gitmo isn’t the same as extraordinary rendition.

When are we going to have a serious discussion about Gitmo, “harsh interrogation,” and the role they played in the war on terror? I’d honestly like to know.