Andy Worthington Discusses WikiLeaks’ Guantánamo Files with Scott Horton on Antiwar Radio
29.4.11
On Monday, after staying up all night helping coordinate WikiLeaks’ release of the first of nearly 800 classified military files relating to the Guantánamo prisoners, the first media outlets to interview me, in central London, were the BBC World Service (for Newshour) and Democracy Now!, followed, on my return home, by my old friend Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio, who has been following my work since the summer of 2007.
My 18-minute interview with Scott is available here, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to talk to him, so soon after the news broke, even though I was unable to speak for a whole hour, as planned, because of a second scheduled BBC World Service appearance, as part of a panel discussion with US Conservative commentator, and former government official David Rivkin, former UN Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak and David Leigh of the Guardian. It’s always a pleasure to talk to Scott, because of the indignation that he brings to the crimes of the US government, and this recent appearance was no exception.
This is how Scott described the show:
Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, discusses the WikiLeaks Guantánamo documents that provide a window into the inner workings of US detention policy; unreliable witnesses who gave evidence against a great many innocent prisoners; the lack of a screening process to separate farmers, old men and boys from the very few actual terrorist suspects; an analysis of the first 200 released prisoners, many previously unknown; how Charlie Savage and the New York Times accepted the three 2006 Gitmo suicides at face value, ignoring (the other) Scott Horton’s investigation; the Democrats in Congress who got no support from Barack “I’m going to close Gitmo” Obama; the Al Jazeera cameraman [Sami al-Haj] held and questioned for six years about the inside operations at Al Jazeera; broadening the list of “terrorist organizations” to justify holding certain prisoners; and how the US went from the “rule of law” to “the gloves are off, do what you want, there will be no repercussions.”
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in July 2010, details about the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, on tour in the UK throughout 2011, and available on DVD here — or here for the US), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.
Who's still at Guantánamo?
11 Responses
Andy Worthington says...
On Facebook, Sam Sabzehzar wrote:
great interviews on Democracy Now and MIchael Slate this week! Great work Andy!
...on April 29th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Andy Worthington says...
George Kenneth Berger wrote:
Sharing and digging now.
...on April 29th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Dan Feidt wrote:
keep up the good work – it must be a bit validating to have the wikileaks material exposing the surreal nature of it all
...on April 29th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Sam Sabzehzar wrote:
Wow! Scott and Andy, Great interview!! So glad Antiwar Radio is on my local Pacifica station!
...on April 29th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Kaolin Kay wrote:
Shared.
...on April 29th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Christine Casner wrote:
As always, Andy, thanks for your commitment and passion. SHARED, SHARED, SHARED!!!! 🙂
...on April 29th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thank you, my friends, for the comments, and thanks also to those who have shared this. I’m just back from 36 hours away, at a memorial service for my father in Norfolk, and so just catching up.
Links to other interviews will follow over the weekend, if you’re looking for a break from the wall-to-wall royal wedding coverage, which seems to show no sign of abating …
...on April 29th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Kevin Gosztola says...
You can now add The Nation to your list of media organizations that decided to interrupt the regularly scheduled programming (coverage of “Birtherism” and the royal wedding) to interview you.
Thanks again.
...on April 30th, 2011 at 3:19 am
Andy Worthington says...
Sharon Tipton wrote:
Does the link for the interview work for everyone but me? 🙁
...on April 30th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Andy Worthington says...
I don’t know, Sharon. Sorry to hear you can’t get access to the interview. If the problem’s with my site, then the reason is that my site is not always accessible by people using Explorer — and an upgrade, or use of Firefox instead should sort it out. if it’s a problem with Antiwar Radio’s site, then I have no idea, as I can access it OK.
...on April 30th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Andy Worthington Discusses WikiLeaks' Guantánamo Files with Scott … | 6d says...
[…] to the Guantánamo prisoners, the first media outlets to interview me, in central London, … wikileaks – Google Blog Search Leaked Guantanamo files not seen hurting U.S. casesInnocent Men at GuantánamoLebanon president […]
...on April 30th, 2011 at 11:16 pm