The Forever Prisoner

In 2002, from

a secret location in Thailand,

CIA officers

cabled headquarters

with details

about the interrogation

of a prisoner.

Techniques to be used

might cause him to die,

in which case

he would be cremated

so his body

would not be found.

But if he survived,

there was a concern.

Would the agency give

reasonable assurances

that the prisoner

would remain in isolation,

possibly forever?

Headquarters reassured

the team.

The detainee "will never

be placed in a situation

"where he has

any significant contact

"with others

"and should remain

incommunicado

for the remainder

of his life."

Nearly 20 years later,

the CIA has kept its promise.

The detainee lives

in Camp 5

in Guantanamo Prison

on the southeastern tip

of Cuba,

a few hundred yards

from an ocean

he can hear

but is not allowed to see.

He's never been charged

with a crime.

He's never been permitted

to challenge his detention.

He's been told

that will never change.

(sirens wailing,

people shouting)

Alberto J. Mora:

There was a fear and fury

that gripped the nation

after 9/11.

I was in the Pentagon

the day the aircraft hit

and then worked in the Pentagon

for the next four years.

There was the fear

that the next attack

would come tomorrow

or that afternoon

or in the next half hour.

And the fury

at the sheer inhumanity

of 3,000 murders.

There was

a bedrock conviction

that the individuals

who had planned this attack

and executed it

had opted

out of the human race.

I don't think there was

an American who didn't feel

that we had

to go back hard.

That was

the national emotion.

And I think in the process,

we lost our bearings in time.

Lawrence Wilkerson:

We did some really

stupid things

in those first few days

based on our fear

and based on an attempt

to try and secure the people.

There was this expectation

we're going

to get hit again,

it's going to hit

the White House

is going to hit

the State Department.

I looked out my window

and saw National Airport,

and I said, whoa,

that's about ten seconds away.

And I didn't want to stay

in my office, you know.

That's how,

that's how frenetic

the atmosphere was

at that time.

I think those

first few days

were a struggle

in the mind

for the President

and the Vice President.

They had failed

to the order

of Pearl Harbor.

So they were very afraid

the American people

were going

to throw them out.

I want you all to know

this nation stands

with the good people

of New York City

and New Jersey

and Connecticut

as we mourn the loss

of thousands

of our citizens.

Person (in crowd):

George, we can't hear you!

President George W. Bush:

I can hear you.

I can hear you, the rest

of the world hears you,

and the people who knocked

these buildings down

will hear

all of us soon.

Crowd (chanting):

USA! USA!

USA! USA!

USA!

USA!

USA! USA!

USA! USA!

USA! USA!

USA! USA! USA!

Gibney:

In its righteous anger,

America would strike back...

with unmatched

fury and force.

The invasion

of Afghanistan.

Peter Jennings:

If you're just tuning in

for the first time

to watch another program,

it-it's hard to begin

where to tell you

how much has happened today.

Gibney:

Shock and awe in Iraq...

...which led to ISIS.

Which led to more terror

and more targeted killing.

The global war on terror

has cost us

eight trillion dollars.

Nine hundred thousand people

have been killed.

Thirty-eight million

have been displaced.

As President Bush promised,

we have made ourselves heard.

With all our money

and might,

did we inspire the world

with our ideals?

We retreated

from Afghanistan in defeat,

leaving resentment

and betrayal in our wake.

What led us

to this place?

I would argue

that it all started

as a failure

of intelligence,

both of our

intelligence agencies

and ourselves

as citizens

in our refusal

to listen to anything

but what we wanted

to hear.

Announcer:

Live from Camp David,

a special edition

of "Meet the Press"