Oral history interview with Andy Worthington, 2012.

Biographical Note

Freelance Journalist.

Scope and Contents

Born: Hull, England. Education: Oxford University. Career: freelance journalist, author and filmmaker. Reminiscences: early influence of Methodism; adolescent and post-graduate interests in history, literature, and storytelling. Discussions: Margaret Thatcher administration response to Stonehenge counterculture festivals, 1983-1984; Qala-i-Jangi massacre and other inspirations for book, The Guantánamo Files; Freedom of Information Act and 2006 release of Guantánamo Bay documents; U.S. military bounties for terrorism suspects in Pakistan and Afghanistan; definition of “terrorist”; U.S. government's rationale for Iraq invasion; American exceptionalism; history of U.S. government's use of torture; psychological molding of soldiers and operatives as torturers; ineffectiveness of torture as means of intelligence gathering; waterboarding, sexual humiliation and other U.S. torture techniques used in “war on terror”; Bagram Airbase and other foreign prison facilities; private contractors and interrogation sites; innocence and habeas corpus rights of Guantánamo detainees; U.S. Congress and D.C. Circuit Court's obstruction of habeas corpus petitions and proceedings; conditions at Guantánamo; Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab as turning point of Barack Obama's heightened engagement in the “war on terror”; Obama on closing Guantánamo; Obama administration “kill list” and drone attacks; drones and the dissolving of battlefield boundaries; detention of Aafia Siddiqui and women and children by U.S. military; release of detainees and national security; Errol Morris' film Standard Operating Procedure; making of Outside the Law: Stories From Guantánamo. Cases discussed: Rasul v. Bush; Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

Subjects

• Detention of persons--Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base.
• Drone aircraft.
• Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp.
• Guantánamo Bay oral history project.
• Habeas corpus--United States.
• Hamdan, Salim Ahmed, 1970-
• Human rights--United States.
• Interviews.
• Journalists--Interviews.
• McClintock, Anne, interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Prisoners of war--Legal status, laws, etc.--Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base.
• Rule of law--United States.
• Rumsfeld, Donald, 1932-2021.
• Thatcher, Margaret.
• Torture--Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base.
• United States. Supreme Court.
• Unlawful combatants--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States.
• Worthington, Andy--Interviews.

Access Conditions

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