Guantanamo peak: 770 detainees
At its peak, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility held approximately 770 detainees; 34 remain as of the time of the conversation.
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Guantanamo: How It Went from Temporary Plan to 24-Year Crisis
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When Pakistani jails filled up with detainees, Kiriakou's team began flying prisoners to Guantanamo on C-12 transport planes. The original plan was sensible: hold them temporarily in Cuba while the FBI determined which federal court would prosecute them under the open criminal investigation from 9/11. Then someone in Dick Cheney's office — Kiriakou suspects David Addington, though he's never admitted it — pointed out that these men had no legal rights in Cuba. Why charge them at all? Why not just leave them there indefinitely? That offhand suggestion created what Kiriakou calls a 24-year nightmare: 770 detainees at peak, 34 still held today, and a plea deal that was constructed, celebrated, and then thrown out under political pressure from the Biden administration and 9/11 families.
Guantanamo: Started as a Smart Idea, Became a 24-Year Nightmare
The original plan for Guantanamo was to hold detainees temporarily while the FBI determined which federal court would try them. Someone in Dick Cheney's office — likely David Addington — suggested that since detainees had no rights in Cuba, they could simply be held there indefinitely. Twenty-four years later, 34 people remain.
CIA's Torture Program: $108M and Two Psychologists
The CIA had zero trained interrogators when they started catching al-Qaeda suspects after 9/11. They handed the job to two contract psychologists — James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen — who invented waterboarding, prolonged sleep deprivation, the naked cold cell, and rectal feeding with hummus. Taxpayers paid them $108 million. Neither has ever been charged with a crime.
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