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 me in a vehicle and sent me somewhere. I don't know. It was at night. Then 
 from there to the airport right away. 
  
 Tribunal president: An airport in Gambia? 
  
 Detainee: Yes. We were in a room like this with about eight men. All with 
 covered-up faces. 
  
 Tribunal president: Were you by yourself at that time? 
  
 Detainee: Yes. They cut off my clothes. 
  
 Mr al-Rawi and Mr el-Banna were taken to the notorious "dark prison" in 
 Kabul, Afghanistan. There, both men were imprisoned underground in isolation 
 and darkness and tortured over two weeks. They were held in leg shackles 24 
 hours a day. They were starved, beaten, dragged along floors while shackled, 
 and kicked. Round-the-clock screams from fellow prisoners made sleep 
 impossible. 
  
 Subsequently, they were transferred to the US Air Force base at Bagram, 
 Afghanistan. Although they were chained hand and foot and hooded, while 
 waiting to be transported, their captors beat them. Mr el-Banna, in 
 particular, was beaten repeatedly. 
  
 In Bagram, they were imprisoned and tortured for another two months. They 
 were beaten, starved, and sleep deprived. What is particularly noteworthy is 
 the fact that the only information the interrogators were interested in was 
 information about Abu Qatada. Over the years, CIA and military interrogators 
 have repeatedly attempted to suborn testimony from both men, linking Abu 
 Qatada to al-Qa'ida. Mr el-Banna has repeatedly refused offers of freedom, 
 money, and passports in exchange for false testimony. 
  
 GUANTANAMO BAY 
  
 Ultimately, both men were transported to Guantanamo, a trip so harrowing 
 that a government informer, who was posing as a prisoner and had to be 
 transported and treated the same as other prisoners, stated in a television 
 interview that, at the time, he wished someone would shoot him. Forced to 
 wear darkened goggles, face-masks and earphones, chained at the ankles, 
 handcuffed behind their backs with thin plastic that caused incredible pain, 
 and, in some cases, lasting damage, starving and sick prisoners who had been 
 deprived of sleep were forced to maintain a sitting position, legs forward 
 and chained without moving for nearly 24 hours. 
  
 If they moved they were beaten, kicked, hit with blunt objects. The 
 government informer lasted barely one month in the intolerable conditions in 
 Guantanamo before demanding freedom. During the first month at Guantanamo in 
 which both were kept in strict solitary confinement, the pair were 
 interrogated six hours per day and kept in the interrogation room for 14 
 hours per day, sometimes in freezing temperatures to induce hypothermia, one 
 of the many techniques approved for use by the Bush administration. In some 
 cases they were short-shackled, hands behind heels, for the entire time. 
  
 During his lengthy incarceration, Mr el-Banna has repeatedly asked his 
 interrogators to administer a polygraph test, but the military has refused. 
 However, the military's unwillingness to give him a lie detector deviates 
 from standard prison policy. Former interrogators at Guantanamo confirm that 
 a "passed" polygraph test is a prerequisite to be transferred to Camp IV, 
 the lowest security prison camp on the base. 
  
 Mr el-Banna is in Camp IV. Mr al-Rawi, who also is in Camp IV, had a 
 polygraph administered, but the military has refused to turn over the 
 results and there is no mention of it in records produced by the military. 
  
 Indeed, the military has taken great pains to prevent any exculpatory 
 information from creeping into the official records to ensure prisoners have 
 no chance to exonerate themselves. In Guantanamo, Mr al-Rawi has met perhaps 
 10 different CIA agents. One agent who went by the name "Elizabeth" told 
 him: "Don't think that leaving here will come without a price." Mr al-Rawi 
 said: "She asked me whether I would work with them, and I said no. [She] 
 suggested, 'How about working with MI5?'" 
  
 MI5 MEETINGS 
  
 Mr al-Rawi's relationship with MI5 did not end with his arrest. He has met 
 MI5 agents at Guantanamo on numerous occasions. He first met an MI5 agent in 
 the early autumn of 2003, fully shackled. After some perfunctory questions 
 and answers that confirmed his work with MI5, the agent offered him an 
 oblique, belated apology: "Sorry about all this." Several months later, 
 Alex, the MI5 agent with whom Mr al-Rawi worked in London, interrogated him 
 at Guantanamo. Among other things, Mr al-Rawi told Alex the Americans wanted 
 him to work for US intelligence. 
  
 In January 2004, Martin and Matt, the other two MI5 agents that Mr al-Rawi 
 worked with in London, met Mr al-Rawi in an interrogation room. During that 
 meeting, agents proposed that Mr al-Rawi return to working with MI5 upon his 
 release. He agreed. The following day, the agents told him it would take 
 them one to six months to get him home. 
  
 Former Guantanamo interrogators report that all prisoner interviews with 
 foreign intelligence officials are videotaped. The trial judge in charge of 
 both men's cases granted them motion to preserve that specific evidence 
 along with copious other evidence we have managed to identify. 
  
 REVIEW TRIBUNAL 
  
 I advised the men more than one month before I travelled to Guantanamo in 
 September 2004, advising them not to appear before the CSRT (Combatant 
 Status Review Tribunal) or participate in the process. My letters were not 
 delivered until after each had participated in his tribunal. I advised them 
 against participating, among other reasons because the tribunals were 
 permitted to rely on information obtained under torture. Both men were not 
 even permitted to review all the evidence against them, and thus had no 
 chance to defend themselves. 
  
 The following testimony from a CSRT proceeding demonstrates the Bush 
 administration's commitment to providing prisoners with meaningful due 
 process. In response to the charge "While living in Bosnia, the detainee 
 associated with a known al-Qa'ida operative" the following colloquy, which 
 could have been lifted from the pages of The Adventures of Alice in 
 Wonderland, took place: 
  
 Detainee: Give me his name. 
  
 President: I do not know. 
  
 Detainee: How can I respond to this? 
  
 President: Did you know of anybody who was a member ofal- Qa'ida? 
  
 Detainee: No, no. 
  
 President: I'm sorry, what was your response? 
  
 Detainee: No. If you tell me the name, I can respond and defend myself 
 against this accusation. 
  
 President: We are asking you the questions and we need you to respond to 
 what is on the classified summary. 
  
 Although both men never were anywhere near Afghanistan or Iraq, never were 
 involved in any wrongful activity, never possessed a weapon of any kind, 
 they were powerless to defend themselves against the charge that they had 
 associated with Abu Qatada, "a known al-Qa'ida operative", even though Abu 
 Qatada has never been charged with any crime or been shown to be a member of 
 or involved in al-Qa'ida. But, the full extent of both men's betrayal by MI5 
 does not end here. 
  
 At the tribunal, Mr al-Rawi testified under oath about his relationship with 
 MI5 and his role as a liaison between MI5 and Abu Qatada. He informed the 
 tribunal that MI5 had expressly approved of his role: "During a meeting with 
 British Intelligence, I had asked if it was OK for me to continue to have a 
 relationship with Abu Qatada. They assured me it was." 
  
 Mr al-Rawi requested that the MI5 agents Alex, Matt, and Martin appear 
 before the tribunal to confirm his work with MI5 and Abu Qatada. Very much 
  
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 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)