From staff and wire reports
Former Saudi American detainee Yaser Esam Hamdi was driven nearly insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation in the Norfolk Naval Station brig, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and The Associated Press.
"He did not leave me with a good impression that he is capable of going on much longer," a Norfolk brig official wrote in a weekly update on Hamdi's condition in June 2003.
Those lonely, troubled days following his capture in Afghanistan in 2001 and his detention as an accused "enemy combatant" are far behind Hamdi now, his father said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Hamdi is living a quiet life in Saudi Arabia, finishing an undergraduate degree in finance.
The 28-year-old, who was born in Louisiana while his father worked in the petroleum industry there, is married and just had a baby girl, named Sarah, according to his father, Esam Himdy. (Hamdi is the Americanized version of Himdy.)
"We consider this history now," Himdy said by phone from Saudi Arabia. He said his son was not available to speak. "He's doing good."
He declined to say more, fearful there would be backlash from the Saudi government. Hamdi has turned down many requests for interviews, but in the few he has given he has declined to discuss his treatment while in the Norfolk brig.
As a college student on summer break in 200 1, Hamdi traveled to Afghanistan on what he called a volunteer humanitarian mission. He became swept up in the war on terror and the government accused him of receiving arms training at an al-Qaida camp.
He was first held at a U.S. detention facility in Kandahar, Afghanistan, then transferred to Camp X-Ray at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When the government learned he was a U.S. citizen, officials transferred him to Norfolk for possible U.S. prosecution.
Hamdi spent more than three years in isolated detention before the government was forced, following U.S. Supreme Court rulings, to let him go.
While the treatment of prisoners at detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay and in Afghanistan and Iraq has long been the subject of human rights complaints and court scrutiny, the documents shed new light on how Hamdi was treated while in Norfolk and in a South Carolina Navy brig. The papers also tell of the treatment of Jose Padilla, another U.S. citizen, and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident.
The Bush administration ordered the men to be held in military jails as "enemy combatants" for years of interrogations without criminal charges, which would not have been allowed in civilian jails.
The men were interrogated by the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. They were repeatedly denied access to attorneys and mail from home and contact with anyone other than guards and their interrogators. They were deprived of natural light for months, and for years were forbidden even minor distractions such as a soccer ball or a dictionary.
"I will continue to do what I can to help this individual maintain his sanity, but in my opinion we're working with borrowed time," an unidentified Navy brig official wrote of prisoner Hamdi in 2002. "I would like to have some form of an incentive program in place to reward him for his continued good behavior, but more so, to keep him from whacking out on me."
Yale Law School's Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic received the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by two attorneys, Jonathan Freiman and Tahlia Townsend, representing Padilla. The Lowenstein group and the ACLU said the papers were evidence that the Bush administration violated the Fifth Amendment's protections against cruel treatment. The U.S. military was ordered to treat the American prisoners the same way prisoners at Guantanamo were treated, according to the documents.
However, the Guantanamo jail was created by the Bush administration specifically to avoid allowing detainees any constitutional rights. Administration lawyers contended that the Constitution did not apply outside the country.
"These documents are the first clear confirmation of what we've suspected all along, that the brig was run as a prison beyond the law. There was an effort to create a Gitmo inside the United States," Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU's National Security Project in New York said, using the slang word for the U.S. naval facility in Cuba.
The 91 pages of e-mails and documents produced by U.S. Fleet Forces Command, which runs the military brigs in Norfolk and Charleston, S.C., detail daily decisions made about the treatment of Hamdi and Padilla, then both American citizens, and al-Marri, a legal resident.
The Virginian-Pilot filed separate Freedom of Information Act requests seeking any documents from the Navy pertaining to Hamdi's detention, but the requests were denied.
The ACLU succeeded in its requests after receiving a series of favorable court rulings.
The paperwork show that uniformed officials at the military brigs grew increasingly uncomfortable and then alarmed that they were being directed to handle their prisoners under the rules that governed Guantanamo.
The names of the authors and recipients of the e-mails are censored from the documents. They appear to be going to either military or Pentagon legal counsel and policy offices.
The documents show that some brig officials were deeply skeptical about the mandate that Guantanamo rules should apply in the United States, a decision made by the defense secretary's office, according to the documents.
An officer at the Norfolk brig was still raising alarms about Hamdi's mental state after 14 months of jail with no contact with lawyers, his family or even other prisoners.
"I told him the last thing that I wanted to have happen was to send him anywhere from here as a 'basket case,' of use to no one, to include himself," the officer wrote in an e-mail to undisclosed government officials in June 2003. "I fear the rubber band is nearing its breaking point here and not totally confident I can keep his head in the game much longer."
The officer wrote that he had "to have the ability to exercise some discretion when I believe it best for the health and welfare of those assigned to my facility... Know... we are to remain consistent with the procedures that were/are in place at Camp X-Ray" a reference to the Guantanamo jail. He pointed out that imposing those conditions in the brig had a far harsher effect on his prisoners because they had no contact with any other detainees, which was allowed at Guantanamo.
This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and Pilot writer Tim McGlone.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Patriot, I understand your frustration
but your being searched instead of what you consider to be more obvious targets could be, at best, intelligence mixup, or another wonderful example of how Bush's Department of Homeland Security has failed to keep us safe.
Religious war, economic war, water war, land war or any kind of war is still fighting for our national interest. True, one of the reasons the cold war remained cold was that "the Soviets loved life more than they hated us" and now we are facing Islamic terrorists who hate us more than they love life.
But that should not be an excuse to lose our high ground. We are better then they are, and we should show it by the way we live and treat our worst enemies. After all, the most Christian of tenets is to turn the other cheek.
Now before you jump all over me, I don't mean to lay down, but I also don't want us in the same pig sty with those terrorists. I love my country too much to see that happen.
Hard decision but facts are facts.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4920193.ece
I agree to a point.
But considering this war we are facing is based on Religion and not nationality it makes it very hard. We have become some overpowered by PC that the only people suffering are the innocent so whats the difference.
An example would be me being searched on 3 out of 4 flights in a 3 day period while Arab males traveling without women or children board without search, why? It is safe to search me, no repercussion as I have no complaint based on the law as I am a white male therefore it is safe to search me. This is a prime example of our laws helping and aiding our enemy. What good will these "stupid" laws do if we are all dead? I agree with the laws of our Constitution but the stupid touchy feely PC bull has to stop in order for us to survive.
Will they win?
When the enemy(whomever it may be) causes us to change our fundamental principals...we have lost. "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-Benjamin Franklin
Patriot, here is another lesson from history:
"…people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” Hermann Goering.
So what you are saying is partly right. Our enemies hope to scare us enough to give up our hard won liberties and become like them, then they will have won. So we should never give up the rule of law even though the easy way out is to kill anyone who looks, talks or acts not like us. It takes hard work and perseverence to keep our freedom. Giving up our rule of law is waving the white flag of surrender, and I, for one, don't want to do that.
Ignorance is bliss!
When will many of you understand that said freedoms and civility we have enjoyed for many years is what our enemies will and are utilizing to destroy us. Many people chose to ignore Nazi fantatism in the 1930's and many people of German heritage left the USA and fought for the "motherland", look what the ignorance ended up costing the world.
If you choose not to learn from history then you are ignorant and deserve what you get but I choose to learn, pay attention and not get burned twice.
My Patriotism was and has been proven for many years in many parts of the world I care never to visit again.
Patriot, you need to consider this:
Prove to our President that you are a "true American". Because if you don't, you will arrested and jailed indefinitely, and you will never know who reported you or what the evidence is. You may believe you are a patriot, but the information on you says "traitor". If this president can do it, future ones can also, and his supporters may not like or agree with you. And, again, why should our standards be compared to Afghanistan's under the Taliban. The "if they can do it, so can we" is puerile and shows a complete disdain of our American and Western values.
Be Careful
"It is the President of the United States who designates people as Enemy Combatants on information passed to him via the military or intelligence agencies. There is no right to appeal such a decision and no one is allowed to see the evidence for the designation. In effect it gives the President the power to indefinitely detain ANY US CITIZEN without trial, charge or an explanation."
In case you do not understand...ANY US CITIZEN means you!
Extremist Islamic State.
Ask yourself what would have happened if you had been in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban and been a true American Citizen with true belief in American values and Western Culture and Society.
Makes you wonder why he was walking the streets unharmed in a Country whose rulers preach for the destruction of the West and non believers.
End of argument! You have no ammo to counter these facts.
Len Rothman's Comments
I completly agree with the comments. When the government takes laws and modifys or interprets them to suit their needs, then we are headed into dangerous territory. This is a classic example of what a certian large economicly/militarily country does every day...China. Do we want our governemnt to protect us by eroding our Constitution?? The Founding Fathers are most certainly rolling over in their graves.
No, not like Col. Hogan
But like an American citizen charged with a crime. Timothy McVeigh, our worst domestic terrorist who killed 168 people, more than the Pentagon fatalities on 9/11, and destroyed a large government office building, was arrested, tried, convicted and executed according to our laws applicable to all of our citizens.
Not Hogan's Heros
I guess we should have treated him like Col. Hogan was in Hogan's heros.
WOW!
I should be surprised at the comments, but I am not. This person was held illegally, and then released without charges. If he was a terrorist, I don't believe he would be released. Some of the comments posted are just scary, and I hope that they are the small minority. Cudos to the media for exposing some of the actions and keeping our government honest! The government works for the people, and must be accountable to us!
Consider the major points of this case
1) He was a citizen, and deserved a trial. Charge him with treason or attempting to overthrow the US government…something. If any president can label you, me or any citizen an "enemy combatant" to avoid a constitutional right to a speedy trial, then we now have a dictatorship.
2) We will never know if he was a terrorist just because he was in Afghanistan in 2001. A lot of people were there, not just Al Qaeda. And we paid warlords bounties for anyone they brought to us. A body was a bounty.
3)The reasoning that we treated him better than dictatorships or terrorist cells overseas is not a ringing endorsement of our nation's values. If Syria uses 12 gauge electric wire for torture, are we more civilized because we use the lighter 16 gauge wire?
4)We are fighting Islamic terrorists to preserve America and its values. If we lower ourselves to their standards, then we have lost our soul. We will win on the
Really
Who cares ?
Pilot
I am halting my subscription to the Pilot effective immediately. I believe the Pilot will go they way of the NY Times. Nothing but liberal wacko editors and writers.
who's side???
it's pretty obvious where the Pilot stands. It's been in a left turn downward spiral since "Mr Jones" came on board. Subscriptions and readers are in decline and Nero's fiddlin while Rome's burning. Why not start over and call the paper the Virginian Socialist??
Heads chopped off on video!
End of subject of inhumane treatment of prisoners.
Or perhaps we should do as extremist Islam does to prisoners!
Whose side?
Whose side is the Pilot on? They make it sound like the guy is a war hero. Should I have a tear in my eye for him? He was captured on the battle field! By American soldiers - in a war zone fighting against real Americans!!! He was fighting our soldiers (ie. he is the enemy, as in enemy combatant) *sniff* Too bad they captured him.
Go look at a picture of the Twin Towers, lest we forget!
oh well....
sucks to be a terrorist I guess...
so?
Do the crime, serve the crime. Next, please.
Did you read the article.
"Is it just me, or isn't there a certain insanity in being a terrorist in the first place??? After all, doesn't it take a sane person to go insane? Does a sane person plot the deaths of innocent people? Does a sane person blow up or slaughter innocent people for their cause? Wake up people!!!"
I don't know do you consider George Bush sane?
There is a reason this man did not face trial
I find it amazing that so many people are so quick to abolish the rights that many of our forefathers made the ultimate sacrifice to obtain and maintain, just so you can feel better or safer. I am thankful that the constitution protects me from you.
After
reading too many hateful comments posted here, I now fully realize how so many in this country didn't see the evil in the lynchings of Blacks 'til the 50s, the massacre of whole Native American villages for much of this nation's history, & the internment of Japanese Americans during WW2. We must remember, if we mistreat our enemy captives, why do we not understand we have no right demanding our enemies treat their American captives well? Torture, until Bush/Cheney, was beneath the collective dignity of America.
Defining Moments in the History of a Nation
Many people handed over to us by the so-called "northern alliance," an assortment of warlords, were never combatants. They were paid for anyone they could hand over as "terrorists" and kidnapped many for the loot. Too many have been tortured and languished in our gulag hellholes for years with no charges. Globally, innocent people have been kidnapped and flown to torture in other countries through Bush's "rendition" program. This is the kind of country we have become under the criminal misguidance of Cheney/Bush. That so many of you are quick to support it is worse than sad for what it says about us as a nation. If we are to return to the community of civilized nations, we must prosecute those who ordered, implemented, and oversaw these crimes against humanity.
Liberty and Justice for ALL
Remember the FACTS here. This U.S. citizen was held for 4 years without any rights while the Government had 4 YEARS to prepare a case, any case, against him for any charge, no matter how miniscule or major. After 4 years when it was time to go to court (put up or shut up time) the U.S. Government said, sorry, we have NOTHING against this guy so we are going to drop all charges and send him home. NO CHARGES AFTER 4 YEARS TO PREPARE!!!!! NOTHING!!! The government could not come up with a single charge to go after this guy for in court. They repeatedly called him a "terrorist" in the media where they did not have to have any facts to support the charge or term. Most posters here have repeated that term, but again there was never a shred of proof offered by the government that this guy was a terrorist. A Saudi found in Afghanastan, oh, he must be a terrorist. How racist is that? Put up or shut up time they folded thei
Terrorist
Terrorist don't live by the rules so why should they be treated by the rules. He had to be insane to give in to the madness of a terrorist! So I guess you can put me on the list of people who DONT CARE what they did to him.
WHAT ABOUT OUR VICTIMS
What about the family members who went insane after they lost loved ones in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon or in PA? What about the soldiers who lost their sanity fighting these loons? My heart really bleeds for this guy...maybe it will make the next one think twice...
Terrorist Nearing Insanity!
Is it just me, or isn't there a certain insanity in being a terrorist in the first place??? After all, doesn't it take a sane person to go insane? Does a sane person plot the deaths of innocent people? Does a sane person blow up or slaughter innocent people for their cause? Wake up people!!!
Too Bad ... So Sad
And no - I don't care about the rights of a terrorist.