Video: Andy Worthington Discusses the Omar Khadr Film “You Don’t Like the Truth” on Press TV (Part Two)
18.6.11
Two weeks ago, as I explained in a previous article here, I took part in a studio discussion at Press TV’s London studios, commenting on the excellent new documentary film, “You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo.” Directed by Luc Cote and Patricio Hernandez, this award-winning film focuses on the story of Guantánamo prisoner Omar Khadr, and will be officially released in the UK on September 30, 2011.
However, readers in London who are interested in this film can see it tomorrow (June 19) in University College London (UCL), in central London, as part of a weekend of Guantánamo films put together by Dochouse. Based at Riverside Studios, in Hammersmith, Dochouse has been supporting and promoting documentaries in the UK since 2002. The “Exposing Guantánamo” weekend is part of the Open City London Documentary Festival, which also features “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (which I directed with Polly Nash).
For further information about “Exposing Guantánamo,” see my article here (providing further details about the “Exposing Guantánamo” weekend), in which I described “You Don’t Like the Truth” as follows:
This powerful new film features excerpts from seven hours of video footage of Canadian agents interrogating child prisoner and Canadian citizen Omar Khadr at Guantánamo over a four-day period in 2003. It reveals how his joy at meeting representatives of his own government turned to despair when he realized that they had not come to Guantánamo to help him, and important commentary on the footage is provided by Khadr’s US and Canadian lawyers, by journalist Michelle Shephard, by former US guard Damien Corsetti, and by former prisoners, including Omar Deghayes and Moazzam Begg. The footage was released by the Canadian courts after a ruling that Khadr’s rights had been violated, which was subsequently ignored by the Canadian government.
On Press TV, I discussed “You Don’t Like the Truth” on the Cinepolitics show, with host Russell Michaels and film critic Neil Smith. I made the first half of the 24-minute show available in my previous article (and it’s also on my YouTube channel), and I’ve now added the second part below.
As I explained previously, the show is an excellent introduction to the distressing treatment of Omar Khadr by the US, and by Canada, since he was captured, at the age of 15, in July 2002. This culminated, last October, with his disgraceful show trial, in which he accepted a plea deal and confessed to being an “alien unprivileged enemy belligerent,” even though he was just a child, even though it is not actually illegal to fight US soldiers in wartime, and even though the US ignored its obligations to rehabilitate rather than punish juvenile prisoners, according to the UN Optional Protocol on the rights of children in armed conflict.
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 June 2011, 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.
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26 Responses
Andy Worthington says...
On Facebook, Chris Dorsey wrote:
Thanks Andy sharing.
...on June 18th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Preston Enright wrote:
Also heard you on the community radio station, KGNU, a couple weeks back – on “Democracy Now!” maybe. Thanks for your great work, Andy. I’ll be getting your book. peace
...on June 18th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Lidia Berger wrote:
thanks, sharing
...on June 18th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, Chris, Preston and Lidia, and everyone who has shared this.
And if any readers are in London, I hope to see you tomorrow:
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/06/02/open-city-new-london-film-festival-screening-of-outside-the-law-stories-from-guantanamo-ucl-june-19-2011/
...on June 18th, 2011 at 8:49 pm
karen todd says...
as always….thank you for shining light into these mostly dark and under-reported stories…
...on June 18th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, Karen. Good to hear from you.
...on June 18th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
SeaClearly says...
Your work and efforts are uniquely appreciated.
...on June 18th, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thank you for the supportive words!
...on June 18th, 2011 at 11:46 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Mary Zink wrote:
Have you seen the videos of these children? It is heart breaking. I can not be proud of Amerikkka if this is what she thinks is OK. I am ashamed.
...on June 18th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, Mary. It is indeed shameful — and in Omar’s case that shame must be borne by the Canadians, who so disgracefully abandoned him.
...on June 18th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Robin Laurain wrote:
Yes-there is much shame to share.
...on June 19th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Andy Worthington says...
Ghaliyaa Haq wrote:
It’s father’s day in the US – so Andy – HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!
...on June 19th, 2011 at 10:24 am
Andy Worthington says...
Lidia Berger wrote:
total total shame.
...on June 19th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Andy Worthington says...
George Kenneth Berger wrote:
I’m digging this now, Andy.
...on June 19th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, Robin, Lidia and George. And Ghaliyaa, it’s Father’s Day here too — my son made me a lovely card, and I’ll be going out for lunch soon with my family, before I head into central London for the screenings of “Outside the Law Stories from Guantanamo” and “You Don’t Like the Truth,” and the Q&A session afterwards.
...on June 19th, 2011 at 10:34 am
Andy Worthington says...
George Kenneth Berger wrote:
I just shared this, via Mui. I’ll Digg and share the new text, on torture, later.
...on June 19th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Tashi Farmilo-Marouf wrote:
Oh my, watching that interview of Omar and the interrogators makes me so mad! The way they said to Omar, “you have to accept responsibility and move on!” AHHH. What about the Americans and their responsibility? What the hell were they doing in Afghanistan? Killing tons of innocent people, ripping a country apart all to locate one man. BS! If anyone needs to take responsibly and move on it is the States. And, Andy, I appreciated your comment – that it is ridiculous to criminalize fighting against the States. It is completely illogical, any one in their right mind would fight back against an invader. And the States were (and still are) invaders.
...on June 19th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Zaynab Khadr wrote:
Thank you very much Andy for all your efforts to bring out the truth…I pray that you see the fruits of your efforts and that you continue the struggle of making the truth something we like
...on June 19th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Andy Worthington says...
George Kenneth Berger wrote:
Shared.
...on June 19th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Great to hear from you, Tashi, Zaynab and George (again). I just got back from the Q&A discussion about the film, following a screening at the “Open City” documentary festival in London. Good crowd. Lots of interest, and, to reiterate, the film is very powerful. Looking forward to Omar returning to Canada in October, Zaynab!
...on June 19th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Nania Tchakedjian-Bache wrote:
Thanks for sharing Andy…will re-post.
...on June 20th, 2011 at 1:33 am
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, Nania!
...on June 20th, 2011 at 1:33 am
Andy Worthington says...
Nania Tchakedjian-Bache wrote:
Welcome Andy…as a Canadian, the injustice to Omar Khadr just tears me to bits.
...on June 20th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Andy Worthington says...
Willy Bach wrote:
Andy, thanks, I re-posted this. I wonder that the people who did this can talk about it with a straight face. They have lost all moral scruple.
...on June 20th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks again, Nania. If only all your fellow countrymen and women felt like you.
And Willy, yes, it’s extraordinary that anyone in the Canadian government over the last ten years can dare to cling onto the notion that Canada is somehow morally superior to the US, when the treatment of Omar Khadr so obviously reveals that to be a lie.
...on June 20th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Write to the Forgotten Prisoners in Guantánamo [Summer 2011 - July 24th Deadline] « aseerun says...
[…] even though they were sent to well-known prisoners whose names are spelled correctly — such as the celebrated former child prisoner Omar Khadr, and Ahmed Belbacha, a long-cleared Algerian with ties to the UK — and also that other […]
...on June 28th, 2011 at 10:17 am