Jason Leopold, lead investigative reporter of Truthout and author of News Junkie, discusses his exclusive article on Hesham Abu Zubaidah, brother of the infamous “high-value detainee” al-Qaeda member; the two years Hesham spent in jail for an immigration violation after 9/11 – during which he was constantly questioned about his long-estranged brother; our total reliance on government-sourced information on (terrorism suspect) Abu Zubaidah; the indispensable Andy Worthington; and how the FBI...

Jason Leopold, lead investigative reporter of Truthout and author of News Junkie, discusses the FOIA-revealed “torture manual” that influenced John Yoo’s infamous torture memo; how the Bush administration, keen to go to war with Iraq, intentionally devised an interrogation program to produce false information that linked Iraq and al-Qaeda; the difference between SERE training for US military personnel (in safe, non-hostile environments) and the “enhanced interrogations” of unprotected...

Jason Leopold, lead investigative reporter of Truthout and author of News Junkie, discusses his article “DHS Turns Over Occupy Wall Street Documents to Truthout;” using FOIA to pry public records from secretive government agencies; internal DHS concerns about spying on protesters exercising their First Amendment rights; and coordination between DHS and local law enforcement on OWS infiltration and camp closures.

Jason Leopold, lead investigative reporter of Truthout and author of News Junkie, discusses his article “US Subjected Manning to Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment, UN Torture Chief Concludes;” how Manning’s treatment highlights the State Department’s stunning hypocrisy when they finger-wag at other countries for human rights violations; why most Americans think Manning is a traitor and deserves whatever punishment he got in custody, even though he hasn’t been convicted of anything; and UN...

Investigative reporter Jason Leopold discusses his article “Former Counterterrorism Czar Accuses Tenet, Other CIA Officials of Cover-Up” about Richard Clarke essentially blaming the CIA for failing to prevent the 9/11 terrorist attack by withholding the identities and whereabouts of two eventual hijackers; likely CIA efforts to recruit the hijackers and gain a desperately-wanted foothold inside al-Qaeda; the televised interview of Clarke by filmmakers John Duffy and Ray Nowosielski on Colorado...

Investigative reporter Jason Leopold discusses his article “Filling in the Gaping Holes in WikiLeaks’ Guantanamo Detainee Files;” how the FBI emails (available here) on Guantanamo prisoner detention conditions indicate torture was the primary means of extracting “evidence;” the torture of Mohammed al-Qahtani, choreographed in the White House by top Bush administration officials; Bush speech writer Marc Thiessen’s admission that KSM was tortured for compliance, not actionable intelligence...

Investigative reporter Jason Leopold discusses sometime-collaborator Jeffrey Kaye’s article “Guantanamo Detainee Files Hint at Psychological Research;” the great American hero Bradley Manning; the WikiLeaks Guantanamo files that reveal bad intelligence on detainees, many of whom were held for ten years without being suspected of terrorism; how Gitmo served as a propaganda and double-agent production facility; how antiamalarial drugs may have exacerbated the conditions of 100 mentally ill and...

Jason Leopold, investigative reporter and Deputy Managing Editor of Truthout, discusses how a new $35 million bribe convinced Nigeria to forget about extraditing former Halliburton CEO and vice president Dick Cheney on bribery charges; new developments in the previously-discussed Malaria drug-experimentation on Guantanamo prisoners; the numerous government agencies that signed off on the controversial treatment; and how the medical records of Guantanamo prisoners are being withheld out of...

Jason Leopold, investigative reporter and Deputy Managing Editor of Truthout, discusses the standard Guantanamo practice of forcing detainees to take dangerously high doses of potent antimalarial drugs; how the long-lasting psychiatric side effects of mefloquine may have been exploited as yet another 'enhanced interrogation' tactic; and how the exacerbated effect of mefloquine on those with PTSD and other mental impairments could explain the 2002 rash of Fort Bragg wife-murders.

Jason Leopold, investigative reporter and Deputy Managing Editor of Truthout, discusses how Paul Wolfowitz provided legal cover for human experimentation on 'enemy combatant' prisoners, leaked torture notes that clearly indicate a focus on technique refinement rather than intelligence gathering, the Bush administration’s liberal use of since-discredited torture 'evidence' obtained from Abu Zubaydah and the many missing pieces of the torture story yet to be found.