Posted on 06/13/2004 1:00:03 PM PDT by knighthawk
US military officials are holding a bodyguard of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the naval base prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Washington Post reports.
The report cites Defence Department memos and sources familiar with base captives.
The Post says the bodyguard is Moroccan Abdallah Tabarak, who enabled bin Laden to escape from the battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in late 2001 by making calls on his leader's personal satellite telephone.
The information is contained in memos documenting meetings between military personnel and inspectors from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
ICRC officials, who keep their prison reports confidential, have not been allowed to interview Tabarak as recently as February.
According to the memos, the ICRC officials express concern that US interrogators are keeping detainees in isolation holds for up to a month for refusing to give information.
They are concerned that lengthy interrogation sessions are having a "cumulative effect" on the mental health of the captives.
The ICRC also says the use of open-air cages instead of closed cells constitutes inhumane treatment under the international laws of war.
The memos say the meetings were cordial, even though an October 9, 2003 memo states that "there was no improvement in any of the four major areas of concern".
The Post says documents show the new arrivals thought they were going to be executed because they were clothed in reddish full-body jumpsuits, a colour reserved for condemned men in the Arab world.
Brightly coloured jumpsuits are commonly used by prisoners in US custody to make them easily identifiable, especially if they escape.
Charges have been presented to only a handful of the roughly 600 detainees from 42 countries being held in Guantanamo, including Australian David Hicks.
Most have been captured in Afghanistan as part of the US "war on terror" following the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The US has classified the prisoners as "illegal combatants" rather than as prisoners of war, drawing worldwide criticism from governments and human rights groups.
Ping
I hope that the underwear on his head are silk. After all, we need to treat him well.
He should be connected to a compressor and inflated.
That would really be cruel. Look what it did to Kirstie Alley.
I bet he would talk then.
Free Abdallah!
Free Abdallah!
Free Abdallah!
No justice, no peace!
Breakout the real dirty underpanties....
Coming from the Stone Age he probably will regard a laser beam with complete incomprehension. On another hand, the compressor...
He's gonna have a heck of a time collecting his backpay.
Has the ICRC made any progress improving conditions for Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg?
"Do you expect me to talk Mr. Bush?"
Word has it that Linda Rondsdadt got the same treatment.
If this was leaked from the IRC, then they have broken their vow to keep confidential.... I'm sure they are becoming the type of political enitity that the Red Cresent has long been know for, e.g., partisan. It seems security has been breached by those very people entrusted with the welfare of the captives due to their disagreement with the policies of those holding the keys. This instance could well be used in the future to deny the Red Cross access to prisions if they are the source!!!
ROTFLMAO! It's a good thing we don't use our real names and addresses, or you'd be getting the bill for a keyboard with Coca Cola spit all over it.
No Mr. Tabarak, I expect you to die.
I find nothing but great news in this article.
Like Berg's jumpsuit, which bring up the thought that
perhaps Berg was whacked *before* he left the prison.
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