American Society of Magazine Editors’ Disgraceful Award

Cully Stimson / May 17, 2011

Last week, the American Society of Magazine Editors’ awarded writer Scott Horton with their National Magazine Award for Reporting.  The problem is, his story was a complete fiction and its flaws had been exposed from every conceivable quarter.

It was June 2006 and the phone rang in the middle of the night.  I knew it had to be something bad.  My employee on the other end of the line said, “three detainees killed themselves at Gitmo.”  As the head of detainee policy at the Pentagon, I ordered him to get everyone in to the office pronto, where we stayed for the next 24 hours dealing with the crisis.

A thorough investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service confirmed what was obvious to us on the day of the suicides: three detainees, with the assistance and encouragement of other detainees, killed themselves in their cells by hanging themselves with bed linens.

Apparently, however, the truth is a hard pill to swallow for some, especially those who wallow in conspiracy theories. (more…)