Newspaper to attorney general: Release torture testimony

The New York Times today urged Attorney General Eric Holder to release Guantanamo detainees’ testimony on their alleged torture while in C.I.A. custody — details withheld by the Bush administration in the name of national security.

The newspaper editorial also urged the administration to repudiate the gag orders imposed on the attorneys who represent detainees.  

The Times noted that “[f]or two years, the A.C.L.U. has been seeking complete transcripts of the hearings at Guantánamo for 14 men who were previously in C.I.A. custody, including Abu Zubaydah, who has been described as an operative of Al Qaeda and was waterboarded at least 83 times. But the publicly released version of these transcripts deleted all detainee statements about their ordeals.” 

“The interrogation program it was protecting has been discontinued, and crucial details are known,” the newspaper argued. “It is unsupportable to blank out grim details."