The Guantanamo malignancy spreads: Journalist Andy Worthington returns, joined by Asim Qureshi of Cageprisoners; Jason Leopold of Truthout reports Gitmo prisoners were all given huge doses of unneeded drug with major side effects; Worthington is author of The Guantanamo Files and provides daily updates on his website., where you can find his detailed reports on the WikiLeaks cables related to Gitmo and placement of released prisoners. Asim Qureshi is Executive Director of Cageprisoners, the British nonprofit founded by former Guantanamo prisoners; he is the author of Rules of the Game: Detention, Deportation, Disappearance. We talk about the WikiLeaks cables that show how Obama’s desire to close Gitmo and release the innocent men to anywhere-but-America has led to ugly dealmaking with a range of countries, big and small. Qureshi talks about his book, how other countries have copied US tactics on detention without trial and torture, including the use of police state tactics in England, Canada and other countries. Both guests comment on the British government’s agreement to compensate their ex-Gitmo prisoners, which (in a decent world) ought to pressure the US to honor its obligations to all prisoners who were or are released without being charged or convicted. And we talk about the December 12 events planned by Cageprisoners to draw attention to the case of Shaker Aamer, the last British detainee at Gitmo. In segment 2 starting at 1:11:30 Jason Leopold reports on his investigation, with Dr. Jeff Kaye, into the practice of forcing all Gitmo prisoners, on arrival, to get a mega dose of mefloquine, which is intended for malaria and has major side effects, including psychoses. In this exclusive report, experts are quoted: the program is “medically indefensible” and “pharmacologic waterboarding”. And Leopold reports that our military has sharply limited use of this drug on our troops since 2007–and PBC asks if this policy change is based on research conducted on humans at Gitmo.
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