Back on the Tape Trail
Newly released documents suggest that the U.S. government videotaped more Qaeda suspects than it has publicly disclosed. Court filings unsealed last week show that federal prosecutors recently informed a judge about videos depicting the questioning of a key figure in the case of convicted Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui. Although the witness's name was redacted, a U.S. official (who asked for anonymity discussing sensitive matters) acknowledged that it was Mohammad al-Qatani, the reputed "20th hijacker," who has been detained at Guantánamo Bay since 2002. A Qatani video could create problems: his treatment was the subject of an extensive investigation by the U.S. Southern Command. The probe, whose results were released in 2005, found that he'd been forced to wear a bra, stand naked in front of female guards, wear a leash and "perform a series of dog tricks." The Southern Command report concluded that while these practices were "abusive and degrading," they did not rise to the level of "inhumane treatment" barred by law. But the existence of video footage could become a factor if, as The New York Times reported last week, Qatani is among those likely to face charges by the Pentagon for his alleged role in the 9/11 plot. "This is critical to determining the lawfulness" of Qatani's interrogation, said ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer. The ACLU plans to file a motion demanding that the Pentagon release the tapes.
Qatani may not be the last witness to turn up on interrogation tapes. Another newly released document shows that the State Department permitted foreign intelligence services to question Gitmo detainees in June 2002 under the condition that the United States would record audio and video. It's unclear how many of those tapes still exist. A spokesman for the U.S. military at Gitmo told NEWSWEEK that base officials are "not required to tape interrogations and did not routinely do so."
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Michael Isikoff has been an award-winning investigative correspondent for Newsweek since 2004. He has written extensively on the U.S. government's war on terrorism, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, presidential politics and other national issues. His book, "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War," co-written with David Corn, was an instant New York Times best-seller when it was published in September, 2006. The book was hailed by the New York Times Book Review as "fascinating reading" and "the most comprehensive account of the White House's political machinations" in the run up to the war in Iraq. Since January 2009, Isikoff has been an MSNBC contributor, making regular appearances on the Rachel Maddow Show and Hardball w/ Chris Matthews.
Ever since the events of September 11, Isikoff has broken repeated stories about the U.S. government's war on terror and won numerous journalism awards. His blog "DeClassified: Investigative Reporting in Real Time," which appears regularly on Newsweek's Web site and is written with MarkHosenball, has become a must-read for senior U.S. intelligence officials. Isikoff and Hosenball won the 2005 award from the Society of Professional Journalists for best investigative reporting online.
Isikoff's June 2002 Newsweek cover story on U.S. intelligence failures that preceded the 9-11 terror attacks, along with a series of related articles, was honored with the Investigative Reporters and Editors top prize for investigative reporting in magazine journalism. He was honored, along with a team of Newsweek reporters, by the Society of Professional Journalists for coverage of the Abu Ghraib scandal. For that coverage, Isikoff obtained exclusive internal White House, Justice Department and State Department memos showing how decisions made at the highest levels of the Bush administration led to abuses in the interrogation of terror suspects. Isikoff was also part of a reporting team that earned Newsweek the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002, the highest award in magazine journalism, for their coverage of the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks.
Isikoff's exclusive reporting on the Monica Lewinsky scandal gained him national attention in 1998, including profiles in The New York Times and The Washington Post and a guest appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman." His coverage of the events that lead to President Bill Clinton's impeachment earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award in the Reporting category in 1999. Isikoff's reporting also won the National Headliner Award, the Edgar A. Poe Award presented by the White House Correspondents Association and the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Reporting on the Presidency. In 2001, Isikoff was named on a list of "most influential journalists" in the nation's capital by Washingtonian magazine.
Isikoff is the author of "Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story," a book that chronicled his own reporting of the Lewinsky story and was hailed by a critic for The Washington Post-Los Angeles Times news service as "the absolutely essential narrative of the scandal with revelations that no one would have thought possible." The book, also a New York Times bestseller, was named Best Non-Fiction Book of 1999 by the Book of the Month Club.
Isikoff came to Newsweek from The Washington Post, where he had been a reporter since September 1981. There he covered the Justice Department and the Persian Gulf War, reported on international drug operations in Latin America and worked on the Post's financial news desk. Isikoff graduated from Washington University with a B.A. in 1974 and received a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 1976.
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