tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2077232405902409852.post157357386026432828..comments2023-06-21T03:19:01.315-06:00Comments on Favorite Books and Book Review: La Belle Vie: Embedded, Tenured, and Intellectually Lazy – or - Why My Contempt for Corporate Media Continues to Sprout Like a WeedRebecca Stuhrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16995942373049536577noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2077232405902409852.post-3329323841586330892011-04-25T09:24:44.213-06:002011-04-25T09:24:44.213-06:00In the category of "it was actually worse tha...In the category of "it was actually worse than we thought": <br />"Sami al-Hajj, a Sudanese cameraman, was detained in Pakistan after working for the network in Afghanistan after 9/11, and flown to the prison camp where he was allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted.<br /><br />His file makes clear that one of the reasons he was sent to Guantánamo was "to provide information on ... the al-Jazeera news network's training programme, telecommunications equipment, and newsgathering operations in Chechnya, Kosovo and Afghanistan, including the network's acquisition of a video of UBL [Osama bin Laden] and a subsequent interview with UBL".<br /><br />The file shows that the camp authorities were convinced that al-Hajj was an al-Qaida courier who had provided funds for a charity in Chechnya suspected of having links with Bin Laden.<br /><br />However, the contents of the file also appear to support complaints made by al-Hajj to his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, that during his first 100-plus interrogations he was never once questioned about the allegations he faced, and that he eventually demanded that he be questioned about what he was supposed to have done wrong.<br /><br />Stafford Smith believes the US military authorities were attempting to force al-Hajj to become an informer against his employers.<br /><br />Al-Hajj was finally released in May 2008."<br /><br />The above was published in the Guardian 4-25-11T. Hatchnoreply@blogger.com