"Boumediene: 2, Bush: 0."

Jake Tapper conducts an interview with Lakhdar Boumediene, who spent seven years at Guantanamo Bay as a detainee, and under whose names legal efforts resulted in his fellow detainees being granted the Great Writ. Keep in mind: former Vice President Cheney and some other Bush administration officials believe that the evidence linking Boumediene to illegal conduct is stronger than the federal judge who released him did, but it would be, shall we say, quite foolish of the U.S. government to release him -- and the French government to accept him -- if they believed he intended to harm the United States. (A thought: if some folks like Boumediene had any respect for the U.S. before their detentions, they're probably angrier after... which may be one reason why so many ex-detainees seem to return to -- or being to engage in -- activities post-release which aren't salutary.)  For his part, Boumediene just wants compensation for seven years away from his family, and for the torture he says he recieved at the hands of U.S. interrogators. 

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?"

Note: HDNET broadcast an interview with Boumediene last week.