“Torture became a part of American policy”

14 Jul, 2009 06:25 / Updated 15 years ago

Guantanamo Bay has not only failed to stop terror, but instead helped Al-Qaeda recruit new members, says civil rights lawyer and writer Jonathan Hafetz, from the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The Bush administration tried to maintain secrecy. The Bush administration deliberately chose Guantanamo to bring prisoners there because they believed it would be outside of the reach of the courts and outside the Habeas Corpus Act, which is, in the American tradition, what really stands between a free country and a policy state.”