| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (45 min. 55 sec.) ; 277407713 bytes |
| Summary |
The story of America's most controversial prison and the impact it had on the lives of its inmates and the people who held them captive. For six years the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was a key facility in George W. Bush's war on terror. Remote from the American mainland, it was the place where so called "hostile enemy combatants" were taken to be interrogated in the hope they would assist officials in the fight against terrorism. At its peak the prison held over 550 prisoners. In 2009 the then newly elected American President Barack Obama signed a document that was intended to close the facility. Two years on his orders have not been finally acted on.The President though isn't the only person haunted by the spectre of Guantanamo Bay. Now director Thomas Wallner looks at the jail and the shadow it has cast on the lives of inmates and those who helped run it. It's a deeply disturbing story.The first character is Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish born man living in Germany. He is arrested while travelling in Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of the twin tower bombings. He is interrogated in Afghanistan and then taken to Guantanamo Bay, where his interrogation continues for four years. He explains in graphic detail how he was treated and "the torture" he was subjected to.The second person in this story is Diane Beaver, a Judge Advocate for the US Defence Forces. Deployed to Guantanamo she is responsible for drafting a legal memorandum that would later be nicknamed the "torture memo". Beaver, a self confessed conservative, supports the war on terror and simply tries to follow orders creating a document that defines what interrogators can and cannot legally do to inmates.The third character is Matthew Diaz, a Judge Advocate for the US Navy. Diaz too wants to see terrorists brought to justice, but becomes concerned when he realises that interrogators are abusing inmates. Worse still he realises his warnings of this abuse are not being passed on by his superiors to higher authorities in the Federal Administration. He makes the fateful decision to smuggle out a list of names detailing the identity of the 500 plus people in the jail. This list is sent to a human rights activist. As he explains it, this was his way of getting on the "right side" of the issue.None of these people know each other, each has different world views, but each finds their lives forever altered in the most profound way by the work they do and the decisions that they make |
| Event |
Broadcast 2011-08-01 at 20:30:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Bombings.
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Police questioning -- Technique.
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Prisoners -- Drug use.
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Prisons -- Psychological aspects.
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Terrorism -- Prevention.
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Americas.
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Cuba -- Guantanamo.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Beaver, Diane, contributor
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Diaz, Matt, contributor
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Jachmann, Lothar, contributor
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Kurnaz, Murat, contributor
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Kurnaz, Rabiye, contributor
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O'Brien, Kerry, host
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Picard, Uwe, contributor
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Wallner, Thomas, reporter
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