Really? That's weird, it's been a pretty big story in Europe and it's been a while since it happened..

Well that's when "60 Minutes" airs and apparently someone finally grew a set and decided to interview the guy.

Let me illustrate something:

"Kurnaz, wound up in Pakistani police custody. After being transferred to American control, Kurnaz was held, and questioned for a period of time. In that time, he was brought regular meals, allowed plenty of exercise and reading materials, and was eventually released once his story checked out. Kurnaz says, "Other than being imprisoned against my will, I was treated fairly, and never witnessed anything out of the ordinary."


Now, let's imagine THAT was his official testimony. How many television stations would be clamoring to replay it for their audience? Anyone? No, probably not.

A torture story, is sexy... an "I wasn't tortured" story dies on the table. And while I don't know if this guy was or wasn't tortured, I'll reserve judgment until there is some evidence other than a "he said/she said" story.

Yeah well - YOU get arrested, brought across the globe and forced to live in a chain link hovel and tell me that's not torture...

Ah imagination. Unfortunately THAT wasn't his story. He states that he was tortured and we all have seen pictures of some of those tortures being carried out.

At the very least a portion of his story seems to be backed up by facts, he was detained illegally:

"After a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2004, Kurnaz was visited by an American lawyer, who successfully sued the U.S. government to release his classified file. That file contained information from the FBI, German Intelligence and even the U.S. military pointing to his innocence. But after a series of Kafkaesque military tribunals and review boards, he remained in Guantanamo until 2006."

I think there are things missing from this story. Like many news stories nowadays things are conveniently ommitted to make it more "newsworthy". In reading the article there are a lot of "he says" in there. Not that I doubt the veracity of his claims but I am sure there are things we aren't being told about Mr. Kurnaz, for example, how did he "end up" in Pakistani Police custody in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone torture for any reason. I just would like all the facts.

Well, we have seen pictures and there have been interviews with others. I'm going to try to remember to watch tomorrow and see if there's more to the story.

You're right. Just like, "hey, I've got flowers in my garden." wouldn't get the front page news either, but a 1000' beanstalk would. People being treated reasonably well in prisons is the norm. People being tortured like this isn't.

I think the other thing that's fueling the popularity of this story is that people actually believe it's not only possible, but fairly likely that the current US govt is doing stuff like this. They've already sanctioned one form of torture, why not other forms?

I think it's wonderful that we're allowed to bring stories like this to the fore, even if they're proven to be false. It's what stops stories like this from becoming the norm and suppressed and keeps us from descending into a regime like the old Iraq under Saddam.