the series reveals how beatings, sleep deprivation, and other brutal tactics have led to persistent mental health problems among men held in secret cia prisons and at guantanamo. wewe will speak toto pulitizer e winning journalist james risen. and dr. stephen xenakis evaluated many of the guantanamo prisoners. then to "the white helmets." >> we have a motto. to save a life is to save all of humanity. amy: the white helmets have been credited with saving over 60,000 people from the rubble of buildings in war-torn syria. we will speak with the director of a new documentary about them. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. donald trump is facing a barrage of accusations of sexual harassment and assault from multiple women, including a journalist, two former miss usa beauty pageant conontestants, ad two women who told "the new york times" trump sexually assaulted them. groping their bodies or kissing their lips without their consent. this is jessica leeds speaking about sitting next to donald trump on a plane in n the early 191980's.s. > it was a real shock when nl of a sudden come a his hands were all over me. he started encroaching on myspace. i hesitate to use this expression, but i'm going to, and that is he was like an octopus. it was like he is six arms. he was all of the place. when he started putting his hand up my skirt -- that was it. that was it. i was out of there. amy: the other women who spoke to "the new york times," rachel crooks, says she ran into trump outside an elevator at the trump tower in 2005. she says after the two shook hands, he kissed her cheeks multiple times and kissed her on the mouth. she said, "i was so upset that he thought i was so insignificant that he could do that." meanwhile, a former miss usa beauty pageant contestant has told the guardian donald trump walked in on her and a fellow contestant as the two were getting dressed during the pageant in 2001. she says she was changing when she heard a security officer tell someone outside the room that people were naked in the dressing room. she says trump then "walked in, he stood and he stared. he was doing it because he knew that he could." donald trump owned the miss usa pageant at the time. four y years later, trump boastd of walking in on beauty pageant contestants during an interview with "the howard stern show." mr. trump: the funniest, i will go backstage before a show and everyone is getting dressed and ready in every thing is. you know, no men are anywhere. i am allowed to go in because i'm the owner of the pageant, therefore i am inspecting it. >> like a doctor. mr. trump: is everybody ok? you see these incredible looking women. i sort of get away with things like that. amy: at least two other women have also come forward to accuse donald trump of sexual assault. it follows the release of the 2005 video in which trump both about sexually assaulting women. mindy mcgillivray says trump groped her while she was at trump's mar-a-lago club 13 years ago. "people" magazine reporter natasha stoynoff also says trump sexually assaulted her at the mar-a-lago in 2005 when she was interviewing him and melania for a story about the first anniversary of their wedding. stoynoff writes trump was giving her a tour of the estate when "trump shut the door behind us. i turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat." she writeses he also said, "you know we're going to have an affair, don't you?" this all comes as a video from a 1992 "entertainment tonight" christmas special has surfaced ofof trump making lewd commemens abouout a ten-year old girl. night, are: thursdayy you going up the escalator? i'm going to be dating her. neamy: on tuesday, dozens of women rallied in new york city to protest trump's sexual assault. self-servingic billionaire to have power to rule over our bodies, to make decisions will have dangerous consequences for our lives and communities, whose hate speech will continue to stoke violence against us, against women of all color, and against my muslim, black, brown, brothers and sisters. unendorsed donald trump. amy: in a rare move in the financncial world, wells fargo o john stumpf has abruptly resigned, amid a massive scandal over the creation of 2 million fake accounts, which employees opened in order to meet grueling sales targets. ththe resigngnation comes only e day after "the new york times" reported former wells fargo employees have blown the whistle on the scandal internally as early as 2005. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren has called for stumpf to not only resign, but be criminally prosecuted. >> you should resign. you should give back the money you took while this scam was going on and you should be criminally investigated by both the department off justice and the securities and exchange commission. amy: in yemen, a u.s. warship fired missiles into houthi-controlled territory on thursday, marking a major escalation of the u.s. military involvement in the ongoing war in yemen. the pentagon says the missile strikes were approved by president obama. they were targeting radar installations the pentagon claims have been used by the houthis in recent days to fire on a different u.s. warship, also stationed off the coast. the u.s. has already been backing the saudi-led coalition bombing campaign against the houthi rebels in yemen for over a year, despite reports of civilian deaths, including t the deaths of more than 140 mourners at a funeral in sanaa over the weekend. on tuesday, state department spokesperson john kirby struggled to answer questions by the associated press's matt lee over how the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition airstrikes in yemen are different from those carried out by the syrian and russian governments in aleppo. >> over theeekend, there was of f arststrike on a funeralal saudi led coalition. i'm wondering, does the administraration see anyny difference betweween thihis kinf thing and what you accuse the russians and syrians and the arabians of doingng in s syria, particulularly aleppo? areell, yeah, i think there . >> support the saudi coalition and do notot support the syrians and russianans? what are the other differerence? >> there are a couple of things, matt. amy: john kirby being questioiod by matt lee. in syria, the rescue organization the civil defefens, knowown as the white helmets, reports at leastst 25 people wee killed wednesday amid heavy air strikes in eastern aleleo. at least 15 5 people were killed after airstrikes hit a market. this comes as the syrian and russian governments resumed their bombing campaigns against aleppo after a fewew days' paus. we'll have more on the syrian helmets afterite headlines. in honduras, the indigenous rights organization copinh says two of its leaders have survived assassination attempts over the last week. the group says on october 9, unknown gunmen opened fire on organizer alexander garcia sorto through the bedroom window of his home while he and his wife were sleeping. also that night, the group says unknown gunmnmen opened fire on copinh general coordinator tomas gomez membreño as he drove the organization's truck home from a meeting. gomez's predecessor was berta caceres, the internationally known environmental activist who was murdered in march. in cleleveland, 32-year-r-old transgender woman brandi bledsoe has been found dead with a plastic bag around her head and reports of head trauma. if her death is ruled a homicide, bledsoe will be at least the 23rd transgender person m murdered this year. 2016 is already considered the deadliesest year for traransgenr people in the united states. in portland, police deployed pepper spray against black lives matter activists wednesday, amid protests at city hall during a vote over a controveversial new police contract which activists say gives police officers too much power during investigations over police brutality. at least 10 people were arrested as the activists repeatedly disrupted the vote and shut down streets around city hall. an earlier version of the contract would have allowed police officers to review body camera footage before writing reports on all incidents, except involving fatal shootings. the city council voted to approve the contract 3-to-1. the winner of the nobel prize in literature this year is bob dylan. in an announcement this morning, the nobel committee praised dylan "for having created new poetic expressions within the great american song tradition." in iowowa, water protectors have again temporarily shut out construction of the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeleline after a woman locked yourself to an excavator at a worksite in keokuk. report was also arrested while covering the lockdown. the proposed dakota access pipeline would carry frack oil from the block and oil shields b back in oil fields. and an update on our coverage of the dakota access pipeline and the resistance to it. democracy now! will be heading back to north dakota to continue our coverage of the standoff at standing rock. as has been reported here and elsewhere, as a result of democracy now!'s reporting over the labor day weekend last month, i was charged by the state of north dakota with criminal trespass. a warrant was issued for my arrest on september 8 -- 5 days after we released video of the dakota access pipeline company's private security guards physically assaulting non-violent, mostly native american land protectors, pepper spraying them, and unleashing attack dogs -- one of which was shown with blood dripping from its nose and mouth. >> these people are just presenting us with these dogs. that woman over there, she was charging them. right in the face. amy: the talk has blood in its nose and mouth. >> and she is still standing here threatening -- >> what are you letting her dog go after the protesters? amy: i will be turning myself in to authorities in morton county, north dakota jail monday morning and intend to vigorously fight this charge as i see it as a direct attack on the first amendment, freedom of the press, and the public's right to know. you can get more information at democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. nermeen: and i am nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. renewed awning has reportedly killed more than 150 people this week in rebel controlled aleppo. on wednesday, at least 15 people died after airstrikes hit e east aleppo's biggest market.. meananwhile, the senate observatory for human rights reports at least four children were killed and 10 wounded earlier today when shells landed near a school in western aleppo. on wednesday, pope francis issued what has been descrcribed as his strongegest appeal to dae for an end to the fighting in syria. >> i want to underline and repeat my closeness to all the victims of the inhumane conflict in syria. it is with a sense o of urgency that i renew my appeal and implore with all of my strength those responsible that an immediate cease-fire is put in place and respected at least to allow the evacuation of civilians, especially chihildn who are ststill trapped by y crl bombardmdments. amy: meanwhile, at the united nations, u.n. high commissioner for human rights zeid ra'ad al hussein has criticized the security council for failing to act on eastern aleppo following a russian veto of a resolution drafted by france calling for a ceasefire and demanding the grounding of syrian and russian warplanes over aleppo. >> the security council was unable to take any decision in actionsof halting the in eastern aleppo last week. and it very much raises the question in my mind in speaking of the security council, security for home? lertainly y not for the peopop e of eastern aleppo. nermeen: we turn now to look at a group in syria known as the syria civil defence or the white helmets. the group of some 3000 volunteers have been credited with saving g over 60,000 people from the rubble of buildings in war-torn syria. last month, the group won a right livelihood award, known as the alternative nobel prize. the group is also the focus of a new documentary titled "the white helmets." this is the trailer. >> don't give mom a h hard time, ok? >> to 50 civilians left dead. >> we the first to arrive and when there is a bombing. everyone knows the truth about syria, but no one can stop the kikilling. >> democracy now! is looking for feedback f from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to [email protected] or mail them to democracy nonow! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. elmets we white h have a motto. to save a life is to save all a few minute he. amy: the trailer for the new netflix documentary, "the white helmets." we go now to london where we are joined by orlando von einsiedel, the director of "the white hehelmets." his previous films include the oscar nominated documentary "virunga." we welcome you to democracy now! why do you start out by laying out just to the white helmets are and why you did this documentary about them, orlando. quite sure, the white helmets are a group of nearly 3000 volunteers made up of ordinary syrian civilians. they are teachers. they are builders. they are carpenters. they are students. they are just normal people, just like me or you, who decided not to pick up a gun, decided not to lease syria, that decided to every day wake up and risk our lives to save complete strangers. we wanted to make this film for two reasons. the first is that syria is such a hard issue to engage with. the war has been going on for five years now. it is so sad and so upsetting that the international community has s not beenen able to find a solution. i think a lot of people have turned off. at the white helmets, their story is a story of hope. it is a story whihich cuts throh politics in a story that resonates with pele around the world. and also, e nararrative whi has come o of syria a for the lalast couple of years until recently, has really focuseded n isis andnd terrorism and the refugee crcrisis. and clearly, those a are very important issues,, butut the sty of w what is happening to the millions of syrian civililians o daily live under her rent us bombardment -- horrendous bombardment from the al-assad regime and its ally russia, that's a story which has slipped from the headlines. helmetsy of the white brings a verery much bacack into focus. nermeen: orlando, the film was shot, the footage was shot by a white helmet member. can you talk about when you met him and how you gained the trust of the white helmets who allowed you to use this footage? >> sure. we were invited to collaborate with the white helmets at a -- and particularly, a groupn aleppo. many ofe helmets film the rescues because they want to share with the world what is happening. they put those rescues online. we worked very closely with a young man, a young white helmet volunteer. he was 17 when the war started and he began documenting it on his mobile phone and then moved to cameras and e eventually to video cameras. many of the white helmets -- i guguess iconic photographs were taken by him. we shot theilm in southern turkey during a training course by the white helmets. he joined us on a training course and we spent five weeks living and working with him in the very strong -- small contribution we could make to his filming was to help improve his documentary filming techniques. after that, he went back into syria along with the other white helmets that we had been filming with and he continued to do his everyday job of documenting the rescues. except in this case, he sure the war footage with us. what you see is a combination of the material we gathered and his work inside aleppo. amy: let's go to another clip from your film. this is the clip that was seen around the world, the onee a aut the e miracle baby. >> i never thought i was searching under the rubble for a baby that had d died amy: the baby was saved, but the eventuallyed h him died. orlando, can you tell us about this scene and how is savior was killeded? mean, as your viewers can see, it is an extraordinary scene. there had been a barrel bomb, which is basically a barrel filled with explosives in a cked outs that was chu of a helicopter in destroyed many buildings. one of them was a free story building which had baby mahmoud and it. the baby, only a week old at the time, he was trapped under there the guyours and i think said always given up hope there was anyone alive and they hearad the cry of the baby, which gave them a new hope in a get digging and eventually they rescued him. it is an extraordinary scene. the reality is this is what the white helmets are doing day in and day out. in aleppo and across syria. especially in aleppo, because the last 10 days we have seen horrendous bombardment. you are right, the man in the clip was killed about six weeks ago during another rescue he was doing when a mortar round landed and sadly killed him. nermeen: in totatal, you have somethingg like 70 hours o of fofootage. can you tell us, and the documentary itself is 40 minutes, what went into the decision to include the part of the footage you include in the documentary and that all that you excluded? >> we wanted to try and capture the reality for what the white helmets live through. and like i said, these guys are normal -- they are normal syrian civilians. a lot of them have no prior rescue experience. they are teachers, builders. they are blacksmiths. isthe way the film works half of the film is set in the very you witness visceral, very immmmsive materialal of them saving livesn a daily basis. and the othehahalf is in a training center in turkey where they learn -- because they don't have these skills -- they learn rescue techniques to help save more lives. i think whwhat was very shocking mamaking this film was the violence that they experience every day in aleppo you might expect, but even when they are in somewhere safe like turkey, the psychological violence these guys go through every day was incredibly shocking. almost every evening when they came back from the training and that would get back online, their phones would start to newste wildly as the days came in. it was very common that there would be a message saying, you know, one of your colleagues, one of your friends, even one of your family members has been killed. mean, it t was very difficult to witness that. but i think despite all of that, one of thehe things which is mot striking to me personally was the hope these guys still have will stop after all of their been through, in spite of everything, they still have hope. as long as they have hope, i think we all have to have hope as well. amy: one of the white helmets featured in your film was previously a member of the armed opposition. let's go t to a clip o of mohahd fafarah. nermeen: that was mohammed farah. he said he was a member r of the armed group decided to get up and join the white helmets instead to do humanitarian work. orlando, can you talk about that and also the criticism that some of the people involved in the white helmets are armed rebels from the opposition? >> sure. i think, you know, part of the reason we wanted to include that was to show how extraordinary the white helmets are. there are a number of people in syria who were fighters, and they have been seen the work of the white helmets. they have seen a path give her from the one they have been on, a neutral path, they can lay down their weapon and devote their life to saving lives. i think this is something the white helmets are very proud of. in terms of criticism, , i mean, frankly, in making this, we did a lot of in depth research. we went through dozens of hours of material. it is very clear to us the white helmets are nothing but a humanitarian group. nermeen: what about the criticism the white helmets only operate in rebel held or opposition areas and not in areas controlled by the assad regime? >> that is absolutely true. i think you need to ask the assad regime while they -- why they will not let the white helmets operate there. they're not allowed to operate in regime controlled areas will stop the regime actively targets them. just two weeks ago, four of their centers in aleppo were destroyed. that was direct, deliberate targeting. nermeen: wesestern to a clip of the white helmets spokesperson speaking to al jazeera in september, asked to respond to the claim that the white helmets are biased towards the rebels. we kno it is working neutrallyo help all of the syrian people however and whenever. the white helmets team are allowed to respond to attacks in any area in syria. they will be always ready to help. amy: orlando von einsiedel, your final comments on the white helmets and what you just heard? >> i heard -- urge your viewers to watchch the film. i think when they do, they will have no doubt in their mind exactly what these men represent and the women that work for the white helmets. nermeen: could use a quickckly before we coconclude come orlan, how has the film been received so far and what would you like audienences to learn from m it? said, the two things are that we would like people to take away from this, we would like people to be able to watch the film about humanity, about real-life heroes that cut through the politics and also to understand what is happening to syrian the millions whwho are experiencing her and us bombardment -- horrendous from barb in daley from the regime and its allies. amy: orlando von einsiedel, thank you for being with us director of "the white helmets." , his previous films include the oscar nominated documentary "virunga." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: bob dylan performing "blowing in the wind" on pacifica radio station wbai in may 1962. it was just announced this morning that bob dylan has won the nobel prize for literature. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we turn now to a shocking new report detailing how harsh american interrogation methods have led to devastating psychiatric disorders in former detainees. "the new york times" expose is titled, "how u.s. torture left a legacy of damaged minds." it found at least half of the 39 detainees who went through the cia's so-called enhanced interrogation program have since shown psychiatric problems -- some have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoia, depression, or psychosis. these detainees were subjected to torture techniques such as severe sleep deprivation, waterboarding, mock execution, sexual violations, and confinement in coffin-like boxes in secret cia prisons and at guantanamo. amy: later in the show, we will be joined by "new york times" co-authorames risen, of the series. a manrst, let's turn to about his two years in a secret cia prison and how it continues to haunt him today. >> of course the psychological effects of this experience in this and justice that happened to me from spending a long time , no doubt you go through states of depression. likewise, the family went through this experience of fear. they are now worried. they are always afrfraid of totomorrow. they fear i will disappear like i disappeared the first time. >> he is a a libyan c citizen wl stop he was a deputy had the libyan islamic fighting group, and anti-qaddafi group that accocording toto the u.s. state department, had ties to al qaeda . because of this, he was arrested in 2003 in pakistan and sent to a secret prison operated by the cia. and there he stayed for two years. sheri fink. i'm a correspondent for growth the new york times." i met mr. sharif in turkey in september to interview him about the secret cia prisons like the two where he was held in the lasting effects of his treatment there. >> i was put inside this small tol in my wrist were tied the ceiling. i was in this position for a few hours, then they took me to the interrogation room. the questions from the start were about my relationship with al qaeda. i told him i wasn't a member of al qaeda and had don't relationship with them at all. so-calledheld in the cia black sites at the same time as two of his fellow lifg members. one produced the drawings you're seeing in this video, and saleh. >> they were members of the lifg and we knew each other and live together as libyans has sure. it has partially been document a by the u.s. government in the senate torture report of 2014. tub and thent in a they pour water on your face into easter suffocating and you cannot breathe. they threatened to put me in a small box that they would cram you into by force. i was also tied for my wrists and feet to a ring on the wall for more than a month. starting in 2004, the u.s. handed the three men over to libyan authorities. in libya, , they were e imprisod until the fall of qaddafi in 2011.. today, mr. sharif runsns a prisn in tripoli where his prison made saleh became the head interrrrogator. it is an irony not l lost on mr. al-sharif.f. > the prison was created aftr the revolution by government decree in a was appointed d by e government to run the e place. it is a strange paradox that the man finds himself i in places he did not ask y you or want to be in. -- did not expect or want to be in. i was a prisoner.r. i became the head of a prison. custody many members of the previous regime. > mr. out sharif fouou himsef on the otherer end of tortrture legagationwhen in augusus 20101, this vidideo recordingng surfac. it is a grapaphic scene ofof inteterrogation in his p prison. the e man blindfoldeded is the n of qaddafi. outside the door, men appear to be undergoing beatings. the man you see in the blue vast and robe is none other than 's former. al-sharari prprison mate. he stands by as the interrogations contitinue. when i interviewed him, he told me he was there when gaddafi's son was beaten and did nototry toto stop it. despite being inin charge of interrogations, he said it wasn't in his power. >> was saleh endorsing the torture in the video? >> of course. the video regarding salih - -- i don't think he himself struck anyone.. bubuit was possible fohim m to prprevent that from happening. it i is not a policy. itit is not usual for salalih or those withth them to behave that way. that answer was in response to a line of questioning had for mr. al-sharif. how might the cia's treatment of him continue to influence his behavior? i asked mr. sharif, is his own detainment still affectiting hi? >> the effects are still there. and they still affecect my life. sometimes when i hear the music that was played to us for a whole year in prison, when i'm just walking by or in a place and i hear a bitit of this musi, i feel a cold shiver. and my memory will take me back to that time. and ago that was former prisoner khaled al-sharif speaking to sheri fink. he is just one of the many prisoners who "the new york times" found continues to suffer persistent mental health problems after surviving beatings, sleep deprivation, and torture techniques in secret cia prisons. when we come back, we will speak with james ricin and dr. stephen xenakis. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "boots of spanish leather" by bob dylan who just won the nobel prize for literature. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we continue to look at the shocking new report detailing how harsh american interrogation methods have led to devastating psychiatric disorders and former prisoners. "the new york times goes with expose is titled, "how u.s. torture left a legacy of damaged minds." it found at least half of the 39 prisoners who went through the cia's so-called enhanced interrogation program have since shown psychiatric problems. some have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, paranoia, depression, or psychosis. amy: for more we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by two guests. james ririsen, a pulitzer r prie winnining investstigative journt with "the new york times." his new pieces are titled, "how u.s. torture left a legacy of damaged minds" and "after torture, ex-detainee is still captive of 'the darkness'." we are also joined by dr. stephen xenakis, a psychiatrist and retired brigadier r general who has advised the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on military mental health issues. xenakis has reviewed medical and interrogation records of about 50 current and former prisisones and exexamined about 15 of the m more than any other outside , psychiatrist. jim risen, talk about what you found. >> thank you for having me. matta puzo and sheri fink and i at the times began looking about six months ago at what we had heard from some good sources was that there was a pattern of psychological problems with the people who had been tortured by the cia and i remember the first kind of tiffany moment for me was one source told me he thought there were 65 to 70% of the people who have been tortured or suffering some kind of problems. and then i talk to someone else and i asked them about that and they said, no, no, it is all of them. all of them have some kind of problem polls so we began to look to try to track down these people is that many of them are scattered all over the world in very remote places. some of them are completely off the grid today in remote afghanistan or pakistan. but we found as many as we could and we found the pattern and the evidence of severe psychological problems is very striking. nermeen: james risen, you write in the pews that the symptoms of the torture victims experienced were the same as american prisoners of war who were held by what you describe as some of the world cruelest regimes. can you talk about some of these methods and the similarities between prisoners of war, american prisoners of war, where they were held, and what you found about former guantanamo and other cia facilities? >> yeah, one of the things that is so interesting about this is that the torture techniques that were used by the cia were basically reversed engineered from what is called the cere program, which is the program set up by the united states to help u.s. military personnel deal with the torture that regimes that might capture them use. they are based on the techniques that have been used by north korea and north vietnam in previous wars. and the cia had decided to try to use those same techniques for they had simulated practice and for the efforts to keep military personnel aware of what they might face and then use them for real against cia detainees. and so what we were using, what the u.s. was using was some of the worst techniques that it ever been used to try to break people. you have to remember, these techniques were designed to break people psychologically and that is what we found is that we broke people psychologically. originally, the justice department had approved these methods in the bush administration by saying there would be no long term physical or psychological harm to the people. but what we found is that is not true. there has been long-term psychological harm. the only problem is the united states government never went back to check after saying and assuring itself that there would be no harm, they never went back to check to see whether that was true. so that is what we have try to do, go back and check and the weather there was long-term harm to these people. amy: the stories, the profiles of the men are devastating, jim. can you u talk about suleiman abudallh salim in the darkness? >> he is from tanzania -- then zabarte in tanzania. he was a fisherman. veryhe grew up, he was a what you ansy -- american might call him a slacker. he just liked to hang out and fish and he kind of was -- had a nomadic life early on. he wandered from tanzania to kenya and finally ended up in somalia where he worked as a harbor pilot and then after he lost that job, he ended up begging on the streets of mogadishu by 2000. in 2003, he had gotten a job as a driver for a local shop owner. the shop owner's sister worked for a somalia warlord named mohammed dere. cut a deal with the cia and which he would turn over terrorism suspects to the cia. and one day in 2003, mohammed dere's militia grabbed suleiman abdullah salim out of his car and beat him and picked him up as few hours later and turned them over to the cia -- which eventually he was thrown into a secret prison in afghanistan where he was tortured. is reallye he endured hard to hear from him. to me, that was the hardest part of doing this was actually to hear the person that the cia had tortured describe the torture that they had endured. you know, many of us have read innocents torture torture report or the newspapers, but to actually hear and sit with someone who had to endure this is a very difficult process. amy: jim risen, we want to turn to suleiman abdullah salim in his own words speaking to the aclu about the long-term impacts of the t torture he endured. amy: i am in so much pain. i vomited. why are you doing g this to me? tell us what happened to su leiman. >> he was picked up in somalia up. the cia arranged to fly him to kenya where he was questioned by the kenyans. the kenyans then turned him back to the cia in somalia, then he was flown to djibouti. from djibouti, he was flown to a secret prison run by the cia in afghanistan -- which he calls the darkness. i think it was probably one part of cia prison that is now known as the salt pit. he was kept in total darkness in a cell where he was chained to the wall constantly with loud music playing 24 hours a day. and then he would be dragged out of the cell and then beaten in another room. he would be home by chains -- hungs by chains or he was beaten. then he was threatened with dogs. walled, a process where they put a leash around your head and slam your head in your body into a wall. then they would -- one of the things that was worse for him was ice water dousing, which was a form of waterboarding where they would put -- lie him on a tarp and then pour ice water all over him and then they would wrap him up in the tarp filled with ice water and then kick him and beat him. nermeen: let's bring dr. stephen xenakis into the conversation. he is a psychiatrist and retired brigadier general who has advised the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on military mental health issues. dr. xenakis, you have reviewed about 50 and current former and examinedcords about 15 of the detainees, more than any other outside psychiatrist. could you tell us what you found ? >> i found that the ones that i am asked to evaluate that many, if not all of them, are still suffering with the consequences of what they had been subjected to. they had all of the symptoms that we commonly attribute to posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety. they have nightmares. anything can trigger them. iny just feel lost sometimes their world. their problems getting adjusted. it h has negatively affected thr lives will not nermeen: in 2013, your example and dish examined and it in a plea for better medical treatment, he said his mental state has worsened and he appears apathetic with diminished will to live. the military responded that he was offered excellent medical care, but then refused it. know, the detainees in guantanamo are offered medical care and they will have technicians and occasionally psychologist and other physicians who will be available to them but the entire environment is not conducive to the quality care that they need. for any number of reasons. that hee is no doubt did not feel comfortable with the practitioners there, the clinicians who reached out to him. and also that many of them really had not had experiences with them. so the definition of quality here gets into the debate. i mean, is this really what is best for an individual who is been subjected to torture? how many of the clinicians had experiences with people who had torture? do people understand the environment they are in? the cases we published -- we published an article and in our review of the histories and the medical records, we found that many of these clinicians did not really ask about the details of what these people had experienced and really did not set the stage for there to be good rp -- good rp and to be able to treat them and help them in a way that they needed. so there is a gap between what we think is quality medical care and what the department of defense said was quality medical care. amy: dr. xenakis, the similarity between the prisoners, x prisoners you examined and soldiers you treated decades ago coming back from vietnam but suffered horrific abuse? >> that was what was stunning and perhaps even in some ways obvious. i as a young doctor in the 1970's to the vietnam war had evaluated returnees from vietnam, former prisoners of war, and we saw these people were really suffering as well. there is a record of that. i mean, the department of defense had tracked these pows for many years. we knew that these people were affected. it made her lives extremely difficult. there was no surprise that if we and fact subjected these men that now we have during the iraq-afghanistan war to those kinds of circumstances and situations, that they, too, would suffer long-term consequences. and in fact, there is a vast similarity. people are people. their psychology is the same. amy: james risen, at this point, with these prisoners, what recourse do they have? is there any way to get compensation from the u.s. government? these are the questions that we have right now. but i want to first go t to khad el-masri in his own words describing his time inside a secret cia prison in afghanistan. >> i would like to think the courts for trusting me and releasing me. i would like to thank the families who have been working for such a long g time. thei would like to thank public -- on amy: i want to go back to -- i want to correct to this is omar khadr, once the youngest , prisoner held on terror charges at guantanamo bay, was released on bail from a canadian prison last year. briefly speaking to the media after he was released on bail. >> i would like to thank the courts for trusting me and releasing me. i would like to thank dennis and nate, my lawyers, and their driven working such a a long time. i would like to thank the canadian public for trusting me and giving me a chance. it might be some time, but i will prove to them that i a am more than what they thought of me. i am a good person. thank you very much. any code that was omar khadr, once the youngest prisoner held on terror charges at guantanamo bay. andant to thank james risen dr. xenakis. we will continue our discussion and posted online at democracynow.org. the stunning series written by james risen, pulitzer prize winning reporter, and his colleagues. we will link to it at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to [email protected] or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013 the big game in the world is the movies. it's the biggest game. it always has been the biggest game. television is the exact opposite. it's a postage stamp and it has to draw you in. there's no question that this is the age of images and it became that way because of television. and the movies, of course, have to deal with that. i think we're on the verge of a media revolution comparable to the arrival of television itself. annenberg media ♪