Detainee Sings The Gitmo Blues

MAY 15--An accused al-Qaeda member being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility claims he is being mentally tortured by guards who provide him with 'cheap branded unscented deodorant,' deprive him of DVD players and other entertainment, and stock a recreation area with deflated balls that 'hardly bounce.' The complaints from Majid Khan are contained in a transcript of an April 15 Combatant Status Review Tribunal held at Gitmo. An excerpt from the transcript, which was released today by the Department of Defense, can be found below. Khan is one of 15 suspected enemy combatants who were transported last year to Guanatanamo from overseas CIA jails for military tribunals. According to U.S. officials, Khan pledged to 'martyr himself' against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by 'detonating a vest of explosives inside a building,' and referred to al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as his 'uncle.' During the April tribunal, Khan's representative read a lengthy statement from the accused terrorist, which included a section with 'some facts about how they are mentally torturing us.' Along with toiletry, exercise, and entertainment beefs, Khan was upset about the weekly 'newsletter' he receives: 'Most of the stuff is crap; only few pages are worth reading.' During the hearing, Khan denied al-Qaeda ties, saying, 'I am not an Enemy Combatant. I am not an extremist.' (1 page)