Investigative journalist Jason Leopold returns to detail his in-depth report on the life and death of an innocent prisoner at Guantanamo, Adnan Latif of Yemen. Leopold’s report offers a human dimension to the nightmare in America’s gulag. Adnan Latif had serious health problems after an auto accident, and went of Pakistan and Afghanistan seeking treatment. When the US invaded in late 2001, he was picked up at the AfPak border and sold for $5,000 bounty.
Before we get to the Latif story, we talk about the Gitmo tribunal under way for Khaild Sheik Muhammed and 4 alleged co-conspirators, and why the Obama administration caved after announcing they would be tried in federal court in Manhattan; the tribunal has limited the evidence they can use to avoid revealing the torture of these men, which is not a secret. We contrast this with the detention and trial of the British cleric al-Masri, which is just starting in…..Manhattan.
We also talk about the recent appeals court ruling in favor of Salim Hamdan, who was bin Laden’s driver; the 3-judge panel ruled that his conviction for “material support” could not stand, since there was no such crime until the 2006 Military Commissions Act.
Then we delve into the Latif story, and how he languished for years after BushCo and then ObamaCo said he should be sent home to Yemen. It’s tragic in many ways–and even 6 weeks after his death, his body his not reached his native country–it’s being held at Ramstein AFB in Germany.
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