Further participation. Terror courts rough justice at Guantanamo Bay. Today, and our special with former military prosecutor the tennis shirt stuart couch. Well speak with wall street journal jess bravin, author of the after this of timber 11 attacks. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The number of gun deaths that have taken place in the United States since the december shooting rampage in newtown, connecticut has topped 2100. The website slate along with the twitter feed said that documented 2141 deaths in just over two months. That is more than 79 newtown massacres. Meanwhile and analysis by usa today has found more than 900 people died in Mass Shootings over the past seven years, most killed by people they knew. Those mass killings accounted for less than 1 of all gun related homicides. The director of mayors against illegal guns told the paper in the latest violence making headlines, three people died after shooting sparked a fiery crash in las vegas, nevada thursday. Authorities say a maserati collided with a taxi after the sports car driver was hit by shots fired from another vehicle. Among those killed was the rap artist kenneth cherry jr. , known as kenny clutch. On thursday, Vice President joe biden continued his push for lawmakers to take action on gun control the speech in danbury, connecticut where he met with families of the newtown shooting victims. I can imagine how we will be judged as a society if we do nothing. I can predict what will be written of us 20, 30 years from now if we dont act. When i think about all of the courage to have shown, it is not too much as the political establishment in this country, democrats and republicans, state legislators, governors, to show some political courage, too. India has suffered its worst bombing after a series of blasts killed 16 people. The bombs were detonated close together in a crowded shopping area. Dozens of people were wounded. Officials there are reportedly probing whether a militant group is behind the attack. The governments recent execution of it and islamist militant is seen as a possible motive. The syrian capital of damascus has seen one of its bloodiest days in nearly two years of fighting between Government Forces and rebels seeking the ouster of president bashar al assad. The death toll from a series of bomb blasts in the city thursday as risen to a least 83 people, most of them civilians. The syrian observatory for human rights said more than 60 of the victims died in a blast that apparently targeted the Ruling Baath Party headquarters. More than 20 more were killed by three other car bombings in the northern district, most of them soldiers, according to the group. Hundreds of people were injured in the attacks. The u. N. Announced thursday that u. S. Arab league envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will continue attempting to broker peace in syria, at least through the end of the year. The nine nations refuse to pay compensation to victims of cholera in haiti despite claims it is at fault for an epidemic that claimed nearly a thousand lives. The cholera outbreak that sickened roughly 620,000 haitians has been linked to u. N. Peacekeepers who responded to haitis devastating 2010 earthquake. But the u. N. Says it will not pay hundreds of names of dollars sought by thousands of victims and family members. The u. N. Spokesperson made the announcement thursday. In november 2011, a claim for compensation was brought against the United Nations on behalf of victims of the cholera outbreak in haiti. To date, the United Nations advised the clemens representatives that the claims are not receivable, pursuant to section 29 of the convention and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations. The secretary general again expresses its profound sympathy for the terrible suffering caused by the cholera epidemic and calls on partners in haiti and the International Community to Work Together to ensure Better Health and a Better Future for the people of haiti. The lead lawyer for the cholera victims, mario joseph, responded to that announcement saying lawyers defending five prisoners on trial for orchestrating the 9 11 terror attacks will be allowed to visit their clients in their topsecret guantanamo prison compound for the first time, the judge ruled thursday. The suspects including accused 9 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh mohammed are jailed in camp 7, a maximumsecurity facility reserved for those formerly held in secret cia prisons overseas. All five of the men were held in such prisons abroad and reportedly tortured before arriving at guantanamo in 2006. Defense lawyers had asked for permission to stay for two nights in cells next to their clients in order to witness conditions there. A judge rejected the request but said they can stay for up to 12 hours. Well have more on guantanamo is we spend the hour with one of the First Military officers assigned to prosecute prisoners there. Nato leaders are reportedly considering a plan to continue funding an Afghan Security force of 352,000 troops for another four years, reversing previous plans to reduce afghan troop levels at the end of 2014. The cost of funding the current number of Afghan Security forces is roughly 6. 5 billion per year, the bulk of its is provided by the United States. A plan backed by nato last year would have reduced the number of Afghan Security forces by roughly one third, cutting the annual cost down by about 2 billion. But nato officials now appear to be wavering on that plan, saying funding at the current troop levels could continue after foreign combat troops leave next year. Nato secretarygeneral Anders Rasmussen said no decision has been made but stressed the plan would be economically feasible. I felt confident that we will be able to finance Afghan Security forces of that size. We set the goal to reach the level of 352,000 Afghan Security forces, soldiers, and police. And the International Community has pledged to help finance that because a Security Force of that size goes will be on the Financial Capacity of the afghan government. In the u. S. , a powerful winter storm is moving northeast after blasting much of the countrys midsection thursday. Parts of nebraska, oklahoma, and kansas saw more than a foot of snow. Wichita, kansas saw the second highest of all on record with more than 14 inches over two days. In another sign of climate turmoil, government forecasters say drought is continuing in more than half the country and is expected to persist or deepen. More than twothirds of the u. S. Is currently classified under conditions ranging from abnormally dry to exceptional drought, according to the National Oceanic and atmospheric ministration. Russian Police Detained two University Professors who donned a lot of us inside moscows bank of the drug thursday in honor of the russian punk group pussy riot. Video footage shows the women laying flowers on the altar before having their masks yanked off by security. Thursday marked the First Anniversary of pussy riots protest outside christ the savior cathedral where they saying a punk prayer condemning russian leader vladimir putin. Two members of the group are serving twoyear terms for the protest in remote penal colonies. A third member was released on appeal. She spoke outside the church about the impact of their protest a year ago. The situation in russia has changed. First of all, a lot of people learned about this problem, this people earlier who did not attention to social problems, problems with the church withputin. They saw the court process, how he sat in the aquarium, so much injustice happen. Now many are critical of putin the state authorities because they see all this injustice. A judge presiding over the case of accused hacker Jeremy Hammond has opted not to recuse herself from his case despite claims she is a conflict of interest. Jeremy hammonds attorneys had filed a motion for judge Loretta Preska to step down, saying her husband was a kind of stratfor, the private Intelligence Firm hammond is accused of targeting. Hammond could face a life term for lead to turning over millions of stratfor emails to wikileaks. In a statement from solitary confinement this week, have responded to the suicide last month of fellow Internet Freedom activist aaron swartz, who was weeks before a trial date for downloading a trove of articles from the nonprofit jstor. Jeremy hammond wrote newly obtained documents meanwhile show how the fbi had closely monitored aaron swartz, collecting information from his social media profiles, tracking his blog posts, and at one point seeking to locate aaron swartz, his vehicles, drivers license information and pictures. New Research SaysCorporate News outlets largely ignored sundays massive Climate Change rally in washington, d. C. , which organizers had called the largest in u. S. History. Tens of thousands of people rallied against the keystone xl will pipeline and in favor of curbing Greenhouse Gas emissions. But the Group Fairness and accuracy in reporting said none of the sunday talk shows that they even mentioned the protest. Abc world news and cbs evening news each gave less than 50 words, what the washington protests covered the protest. The New York Times limited its coverage to a business section story about the political implications of president obamas decision on whether to approve the pipeline. Fair wrote the former owner of a georgia Peanut Company and several of its employees have been indicted on felony charges over a salmonella outbreak that killed nine people and sickened more than 700 in 2009. Federal prosecutors said the peanut corp. Of america knowingly shipped contaminated peanut products around the country, sparking one of the deadly salmonella outbreaks in u. S. History. Honor Stewart Parnell and three others are accused of misleading customers after lab tests found salmonella in their products. After being informed containers of peanut meal were covered in rat feces and dust, parnell reportedly wrote clean them all and shipped them. A new study has found one third of all seafood samples taken across the u. S. Are fraudulently labeled. In some places, roughly half the samples were found to be a different type of fish than customers thought they were buying according to the group oceana, which tested more than 1200 seafood samples. Certain types of fish were more commonly mislabeled than others. The out of 120 samples of red snapper, only seven were labeled correctly. The group found this species that are considered potentially risky for pregnant women and children because of their high mercury content were being sold to customers who ordered safer types of fish. Report author Kimberly Warner described the findings. The most troubling substitutions we found were for a species that can cause health problems. Our prime example was we found one that we should have been quite hundred 84 was actually a skylark, which is something that can cause acute and serious adjusted affects if he or the just a couple of ounces. Rock this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Today we spend the hour taking an inside look at the Guantanamo Military prison where 166 men remain locked up. Many have been held for over a decade without charge. Our first guest today was one of the First Military officers assigned to prosecute prisoners at guantanamo. Stuart couch joined the marines in 1987, enrolled in moscow, become a military prosecutor and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He eventually left active duty but returned after the september 11 attacks. A friend of his, michael horrocks, died on september 11. Horrocks was the copilot of United Airlines flight 175 from the second airplane hit the World Trade Center two months after the attacks, president bush issued an order creating military commissions to try prisoners captured abroad. The 10 a kernel patchs first assignment was the prosecution of a man named Mohamedou Ould Slahi. A one. Mohamedou ould slahi was described as the highest value detainee at Guantanamo Bay. The case would change the life of couch of him at the center of a National Debate around torture, interrogations and ethics. His story is featured in the new book, terror courts rough justice at Guantanamo Bay. It is by wall street journal reporter jess bravin. Later in the show, we will be joined by jess. First, lieutenantcolonel stuart couch joins us from Charlotte North Carolina where he works as an immigration judge, to democracy now talk about the first day you went to guantanamo and what you found. It was in october 2003, shortly after i had joined the office of military commissions. On that particular day, i was waiting to watch the interrogation of one of the detainees who had been assigned to me to prosecute his case. This was a detainee particularly cooperative and involved in some very serious activities in the gulf region. As i was waiting in a room next to his interrogation room, i heard some loud heavy metal rock music playing down the hallway. I went to investigate. I thought it was a couple of guards that were off duty and did not realize we are getting ready to conduct the interview. So i walked down a hallway and as i reached the room where the source of the music was coming out, the door was cracked. I looked into the room and all i could see was a strobe light flashing. The rest of the lights in the room were out. From the flashing strobe lights, i could see a detainee in orange cid did seated on the floor and shackled hand to feet and rocking back and forth. There were two civilians who asked me what i was doing. I said, i am lieutenantcolonel couch. You need to turn that down. What is going on . They basically told me to move along and shut the door in my face. There was a judge advocate reservist with me and i said, did you see that . His Immediate Response was, well, yes, that is approved. That there was evidence of course interrogations going on in guantanamo. What did you do at that point . A started mulling it over. For me it was a degree of a flashback. Before i become a lawyer, i was a naval aviator in the marine corps, a c130 pilot. Part of that training as an aviator we were sent to a School Called sear school, conducted by barista perlman of the fence and into these to help train aviators for how to conduct themselves if there ever taken into captivity by the enemy. Basically, the course is based upon Lessons Learned of the treatment of aviators in the war in vietnam and also the treatment of our own pows the suffered in korea. And so what i saw occurring on that day in october 2003 was right out of the playbook. It was precisely the same treatment i had received their and so having had that experience, my immediate concern was if this is how the evidence is been collected in some of our cases, it is going to be inadmissible brief as it is going to be at least coercive and out worst torture that precipitates that information. So its that time i was still becoming acquainted with the military commissions process that had been set so at that time most of becoming acquainted with the military commissions, a process that have been set up, the rules. The evidence. It was significantly different than what i was used to both in civilian and military court martials. In my view, this incident sort of crystallized for me very quickly that their report on the problems with some of the evidence we were to use. This was in 2003 before the of a great photos were revealed to the world and where before there was real discussions of possible mistreatment or torture of prisoners in u. S. Custody. Could you talk about when he began to get the case of Mohamedou Ould Slahi and what you found as you begin to deal with that particular case . Not long after i join the office in august 2003, the Mohamedou Ould Slahi case was presented to me. To our knowledge at that time, he was one of the very few detainees held at Guantanamo Bay that had a 9 11 connection. As i was studying over the different statements that he had made, the intelligence reports that had come out of his interrogations, i could see a trend where he was uncooperative for a long time, but then beginning in the later part of the summer of 2003