Foreman Says Military Jury Was Disgusted by C.I.A. Torture

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — A Navy skipper who arsenic caput of a assemblage successful a war-crimes tribunal wrote a damning missive calling the C.I.A.’s torture of a violent “a stain connected the motivation fibre of America” said his views are emblematic of elder members of the U.S. military.

Capt. Scott B. Curtis, the assemblage foreman, said it is conscionable that helium had the accidental to explicit his thoughts successful a missive proposing clemency for the captive Majid Khan, a Qaeda enlistee who pleaded blameworthy to coercion and execution charges for delivering $50,000 from his autochthonal Pakistan to concern a deadly bombing successful Indonesia.

But earlier helium started writing, the eight-officer assemblage sentenced Mr. Khan to 26 years successful prison.

“There was nary sympathy for him oregon what helium had done,” said Captain Curtis, who agreed to uncover his individuality successful an hourlong interrogation past week. “The transgression itself, everyone thought that was an evil enactment and helium should beryllium accountable for that. It was the torture that was a mitigating factor.”

On the eve of his sentencing connected Oct. 29, Mr. Khan, 41, offered a graphic relationship of his physical, intersexual and intelligence maltreatment by C.I.A. agents and operatives inflicted connected him successful dungeonlike conditions successful black-site prisons successful Pakistan, Afghanistan and a 3rd country. He described however helium went from graduating from a suburban Baltimore precocious schoolhouse successful 1999 to becoming a courier and would-be termination bomber for Al Qaeda to, since 2012, a repentant cooperator with the U.S. government.

The two-hour presumption was truthful vivid it “kind of riveted us,” Captain Curtis said.

Mr. Khan pulled up a shirtsleeve to amusement the sheet scars from shackles connected his wrists. He offered to assistance his sound limb to amusement akin scars connected his ankle from the times helium was hung successful chains from a barroom successful a darkened compartment for truthful agelong that his limbs swelled and the shackles chopped his skin.

It took the sheet conscionable 90 minutes to scope a decision. Not everybody agreed to the lowest extremity of a imaginable 25- to 40-year sentence, truthful they settled connected 26 years.

Then, Captain Curtis said, portion the different officers chatted among themselves, helium spent astir 20 minutes penning the two-page, handwritten missive connected red-ruled notebook paper — nary crumpled up mendacious starts, nary unsmooth drafts.

“Honestly, I sat down and wrote the missive myself and past work it to the remainder of the panel,” helium said. “I threw it connected the array and said, ‘Anyone wants to motion this is invited to bash this, you’re nether nary work astatine all.’ Surprisingly, 7 of eight, myself included, signed it.”

The clemency missive provided a harsh critique of the ineligible model and C.I.A. detention system that the Bush medication established aft the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the bequest of which continues contiguous successful the signifier of the wartime situation astatine Guantánamo Bay present holding Mr. Khan and 38 different detainees. It besides offered an unusually candid presumption of the reasoning of immoderate U.S. subject officers connected the usage and worth of torture.

Those who signed it included a Marine lieutenant colonel, 2 Army lieutenant colonels, 2 Navy commanders and a Marine major. Their areas of specialty see aviation, submarines, communications, cybersecurity and administration.

“We were are each beauteous overmuch of the aforesaid mind,” helium said. “I conscionable articulated it connected paper.”

Captain Curtis, 51, an technologist whose specialty is craft bearer atomic powerfulness systems, said by telephone from his existent work duty successful Tampa, Fla., that helium understood that the letter’s sentiment mightiness disturbance contention but rejected the conception that this was a wide position. In the subject helium has served for 30 years, helium said, determination is wide statement that “torture is wrong.”

“I deliberation you’ll find that your elder radical afloat recognize that acts similar torture bash much semipermanent harm than good, if they bash immoderate good,” helium said, noting that Senator John McCain was nary wide and decried torture.

He anticipated nary adverse interaction connected his vocation for identifying himself arsenic the writer of a missive condemning what helium saw arsenic a civilization of abuse. Captain Curtis volition discontinue from work this clip adjacent twelvemonth and is apt successful his past assignment, astatine the U.S. Central Command, the Pentagon part that oversees operations successful the Middle East and South Asia.

“I deliberation the United States is inactive the bully guys, for deficiency of a amended term, passim the world,” helium said. “We surely marque mistakes and I wasn’t condemning the contiguous subject and the contiguous C.I.A.”

Last week, the assemblage foreman said, was his closest brushwood with a terrorist. They sat astir 15 feet isolated wrong the courtroom astatine Guantánamo Bay, with the prisoner’s begetter and youngest sister watching astatine the backmost of the court.

Mr. Khan’s statement of his torture were reminiscent of portrayals successful the movie “Zero Dark Thirty” and “snippets of things” Captain Curtis had heard astir torture. “What amazed maine was that I had idiosyncratic successful beforehand of maine that it happened to,” helium said.

Captain Curtis has had acquisition successful irregular warfare. In 2010, portion helium commanded the U.S.S. Ashland, Somali pirates mistook his amphibious dock landing vessel for a cargo vessel and attacked it successful the Gulf of Aden. “We blew them retired of the water,” helium said. At slightest 5 were captured and brought to the United States for trial. One got a 33-year condemnation for cooperating with the government. The remainder are serving beingness successful national prison.

In the lawsuit of Mr. Khan, his 26-year condemnation was mostly symbolic. When helium pleaded blameworthy successful 2012, helium became a authorities cooperator and the parties agreed to hold sentencing truthful that Mr. Khan could show that practice arsenic portion of a woody that would, successful exchange, trim his eventual assemblage sentence.

But the assemblage was not told astir the deal.

Captain Curtis said helium had taught R.O.T.C. units successful caller years and was keenly alert of “what 21-year-olds are susceptible of.” Mr. Khan, portion successful his 20s, “did immoderate unspeakable things,” among them delivering $50,000 that was utilized to concern the 2003 bombing of a Marriott edifice successful Jakarta, Indonesia, that killed 11 people. “The 41-year-old antheral successful beforehand of america genuinely regretted what helium had done.”

The skipper said his missive intentionally “didn’t impeach anybody of amerciable acts” and that helium was acquainted with what was authorized nether Enhanced Interrogation. “But slamming his caput against the partition each clip they moved him and beating him portion helium was hooded, I don’t deliberation those are ineligible acts. I deliberation that falls into the class of torture.”

The missive asking a elder Pentagon authoritative to assistance mercy, oregon clemency, to Mr. Khan was not work aloud successful court. The foreman gave it to the bailiff, a worker successful conflict dress, who delivered it to Maj. Michael J. Lyness, Mr. Khan’s subject defence attorney.

The sheet past near the courtroom and, portion riding a ferry crossed Guantánamo Bay to quarters wherever they were sequestered, discovered successful an net hunt that Mr. Khan, adjacent earlier sentencing, had a woody that could merchandise him arsenic soon arsenic February, oregon arsenic precocious arsenic February 2025.

Some of the sheet members “were a small spot offended” that their condemnation was fundamentally “meaningless,” helium said. They recovered it “a small frustrating fixed the thought we enactment into it.”

But Captain Curtis said helium understood that the cognition would person “tainted our process” of arriving astatine the close sentence, and that immoderate members would person concluded “it doesn’t substance what we bash — conscionable prime a number.”

It is not known wherever Mr. Khan, a national of Pakistan, volition spell aft Guantánamo, oregon erstwhile helium mightiness leave. In 2002, according to his plea, helium wore a termination vest successful a failed effort to assassinate the president of Pakistan astatine the time, Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. state successful the warfare connected terrorism. Then successful 2012, according to his subject lawyers, helium “joined Team America” and became a cooperator successful cases against different Qaeda members.

His lawyers reason that helium could beryllium successful information if helium were repatriated. It volition beryllium up to American diplomats to find a harmless spot for him to resettle with his woman and daughter, who was calved aft his apprehension successful 2003.

“That’s going to beryllium a pugnacious one,” said Captain Curtis. “I’m assuming they person a witnesser extortion programme benignant happening and that they’ll extremity up successful Norway oregon thing similar that.”