"I Don't Think. I'm Sure."

ABC News tells the story of Lakhdar Boumediene, seized in Bosnia by the Bush administration (nowhere near a battlefield), accused by president Bush of trying to blow up the US embassy (charges never substantiated in any way), thrown into the Gitmo torture factory for seven years, only to be released. Torture factory? Unlike the NYT, Boumediene is able to call what happened to him what it is:

Boumediene said the interrogations began within one week of his arrival at the facility in Cuba. But he thought that his cooperation, and trust in the United States, would serve him well and quicken his release.

"I thought America, the big country, they have CIA, FBI. Maybe one week, two weeks, they know I am innocent, I can go back to my home, to my home," he said.

But instead, Boumediene said he endured harsh treatment for over seven years. He said he was kept awake for 16 days straight, and repeatedly physically abused.

Asked if he thought he was tortured, Boumediene was unequivocal.

"I don't think. I'm sure," he said.

Boumediene described being pulled up from under his arms while sitting in a chair with his legs shackled, stretching him. He said that he was forced to run with the camp's guards and if he could not keep up, he was dragged, bloody and bruised.

He described what he called the "games" the guards would play after he began a hunger strike, putting his food IV up his nose and poking the hypodermic needle in the wrong part of his arm.

"You think that's not torture? What's this? What can you call this? Torture or what?" he said, indicating the scars he bears from tight shackles. "I'm an animal? I'm not a human?"