Torture, at Home and Abroad

Today in our Torture and American symposium:

• emptywheel’s Marcy Wheeler, “Hiding Abu Zubaydah, Hiding the Failures of the Torture Regime”
• TalkLeft’s Jeralyn Merritt, “The Unfriendly Skies of Ghost Air”
• Hullabaloo’s Digby, “Highest Ideals”
• ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer, “See No Evil”

In addition, Jamil Dakwar blogged from Guantánamo on yesterday’s arraignment of Mohammed Kamin, who resisted attending his own hearing:

After more than two hours of delay, we were allowed into the courtroom, where we discovered that Kamin was already seated with his hands and legs shackled; three guards surrounded him. He was wearing an orange prison uniform — a sign that the military considers him to be “non-compliant” — but he was sitting quietly and listening patiently to what the judge had to say. It is unclear what happened to him, but we could see minor bruises on his face and his neck. In his opening remarks, the judge mentioned that Kamin had tried to spit at and bite one of the guards, but he did not provide any further details and did not inquire about Kamin’s physical well-being.

Jamil will have another dispatch from today’s pre-trial hearing of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi tomorrow. The last time al-Qosi was before the military commission, he boycotted the proceedings and refused representation by a U.S. military-appointed lawyer.