Did Gitmo "Suicides" Cover Up Murder? US Sgt. Speaks Out on Deaths & Prison's Secret CIA Site

In a month marking its 13th anniversary, we look at one of the great mysteries of the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay: What happened the night of June 9, 2006, when three prisoners died? The Pentagon said the three — Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, Salah Ahmed al-Salami and Mani Shaman al-Utaybi — all committed suicide. But were they actually tortured to death at a secret CIA black site at the base? In a broadcast exclusive, we are joined by Joseph Hickman, a Guantánamo staff sergeant and author of the new book, "Murder at Camp Delta: A Staff Sergeant’s Pursuit of the Truth About Guantánamo Bay." We are also joined by Professor Mark Denbeaux, director of Seton Hall University School of Law’s Center for Policy and Research, which has just published the new report, "Guantánamo: America’s Battle Lab."
Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Thirteen years ago this month, the United States opened its notorious prison at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. At its peak, nearly 800 men were held there. Today the prison population has dipped to 122. On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced five more prisoners, all of them Yemeni, would be released. Four of the men were transferred to Oman and the fifth to Estonia.

Today we’re going to look at one of the great mysteries of Guantánamo: What happened on the night of June 9th, 2006, when three prisoners died there? Authorities at Guantánamo said the three men—Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, Salah Ahmed al-Salami and Mani Shaman al-Utaybi—all committed suicide. The commander at Guantánamo, Rear Admiral Harry Harris, described their deaths as, quote, "an act of asymmetrical warfare."

REAR ADMIRAL HARRY HARRIS: They are smart. They are creative. They are committed. Have no regard for life, neither ours, nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, rather an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us.

AMY GOODMAN: But many questions about the night remain unanswered. Harper’s Magazine contributing editor Scott Horton first raised questions about what happened on that night in a 2010 piece he wrote called "The Guantánamo 'Suicides.'" For the piece, Horton won a National Magazine Award for Reporting. He appeared on Democracy Now! at the time, questioning the findings of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, or NCIS, which investigated the death

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