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Joshua Kors on Wounded Iraq Vets Denied Care; Charley Carpenter on Gitmo Prisoners and Yemenis Overdue for Release

Joshua Kors of The Nation brings us sound and comment from House Veterans Affairs hearing on September 15; followed by detailed conversation with attorney Charley Carpenter about his clients at Guantanamo and the plight of innocent Yemenis who are still held. Kors has been covering the immoral treatment of wounded vets from Iraq and Afghanistan who are falsely diagnosed by military doctors with a pre-existing “personality disorder” despite the obvious contradiction of physical wounds and impairments. Kors testified before the committee along with Sgt. Chuck Luther, the subject of a powerful profile you should read here. After Sgt. Luther sustained combat injuries, he was locked in a closet and tortured for 5 weeks until he signed a document admitting that his war injuries were due to “personality disorder” that was present before he joined the Army. His testimony provoked strong reactions from Chairman Bob Filner, who challenged the evasive and dishonest answers he got from Pentagon representatives; it also produced an outburst from GOP Rep. Steve Buyer, who directed his anger at Kors before stomping out of the hearing. Click here to join the Facebook group in support of these 25,000 veterans. Segment 2 starts at 45:00 Carpenter is the pro bono attorney for two men who have been held at Guantanamo, and he gives us sketches of Maher al Qwarri and Hani Abdullah. al Qwarri is from Gaza, and was sold into US custody by the Northern Alliance for $5,000 in late 2001; he was tortured at Guantanamo and linked to a Kuwaiti he met just before being imprisoned. Carpenter is not permitted to discuss his current location, but we have independently confirmed that he was resettled to a European country over a year ago. Abdullah is from Yemen, and remains at Guantanamo even though he has never been charged, and the only “evidence” against him came from confessions derived from torture. Carpenter has filed for an injunction to force Abdullah’s release, and he comments on the plight of about 70 men from Yemen who have been cleared for release but continue to be held because of hysteria caused by the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot and the recent printer cartridge bomb plot that reportedly originated from Yemen. While there is no rational connection between prisoners who have been held for years and the recent alleged plots, the Obama administration has blocked further releases to Yemen.