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Guantánamo: the inside story

Clive Stafford Smith is a lawyer who represents many of the more than 500 prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. In an exclusive interview for openDemocracy, he describes the prison camp and the conditions that lawyers work under, tells us that his clients have been tortured and explains how false information extracted by torture is contaminating US intelligence. Listen to Guantánamo, the inside story.

(This was first published on 23 November 2005)


Listen to the full interview (37.42 mins)
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Guantánamo: what is it really like?
Hear Clive Stafford Smith, who visits Guantánamo regularly, talk about the camp, the prisoners and what it’s like trying to defend men the president has described as the “worst of the worst.”

Listen to part one (3.06 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


Guantánamo: what are conditions like for the prisoners?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith talk about life of the men – and boys – inside the prison camp. “I have visited most of the death rows in America and none of them compare to the treatment of those prisoners there.”

Listen to part two (1.12 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


Guantánamo: the lawyer’s story.

Hear Clive Stafford Smith talk about what it’s like to conduct client attorney interviews in Guantánamo. “It all depends on whether you believe in Santa Claus.”

Listen to part three (2.28 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


Guantánamo: How does a prisoner’s lawyer win his trust?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith talk about the dirty tricks the US military plays on the lawyers and their clients in Guantánamo: “Nothing I’ve heard, is of any consequence to US security whatsoever, unless the fact that my clients have been tortured and abused by US soldiers is of consequence to US national security.”

Listen to part four (3.36 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


Guantánamo: why bother to defend men whom the president of the United States has described as the “worst of the worst”?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith explain why he is working for the Guantánamo prisoners. “It’s always been a rule of my life that if someone is being hated, you have to get between the hated and the hater.”

Listen to part five (3.05 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


You can listen to the entire interview with Clive Stafford Smith (37.43mins) here:

in flashplayer
in realplayer

Guantánamo: the big diversion? Why have only nine of the more than 750 men who have been in Guantánamo been charged?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith explain. “Those three people were meant to stand up in court and say ‘I’m guilty’ just like in the days of Joe Stalin … It’s meant to divert your attention from the fact that Osama Bin Laden has never been caught.”

Listen to part six (3.20 mins)
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Guantánamo: what will happen to the prisoners who haven’t been charged?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith on US efforts to save face as it tries to close down Guantánamo.

Listen to part seven (5.02 mins)
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Guantánamo: has the prison made any contribution to the “war on terror”?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith explain why it has been the worst public relations disaster America has ever known.

Listen to part eight (2.54 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


Guantánamo: the torture. What is the role of the United States in the upsurge of torture around the world?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith, whose clients have been tortured, explain.

Listen to part nine (5.17 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


Guantánamo: the future. If it is closed down, will that make it all right?

Hear Clive Stafford Smith explains that the real problem is the secret prisons around the world and how the US based “catastrophic decisions” on false evidence obtained through torture.

Listen to part ten (4.56 mins)
High bandwidth: 128kbps / Low bandwidth: 64kbps


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This article is published by Clive Stafford Smith, Isabel Hilton, , and openDemocracy.net under a Creative Commons licence. You may republish it free of charge with attribution for non-commercial purposes following these guidelines. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation. Commercial media must contact us for permission and fees. Some articles on this site are published under different terms.

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