AFP: Ex-Guantanamo inmate finds distracted audience at US Congress

May 21, 2008, WASHINGTON (AFP) — A handful of US lawmakers gave only half an ear to the testimony on Tuesday of a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who spent nearly five years in prison before being released without charge.

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Facing the screen, the majority of seats for committee members sat empty. Barely half a dozen lawmakers came to listen to the former detainee, and most were unable to remember his name, with one even calling him "Mr. Karzai."

The first to speak after Kurnaz was finished was ranking member on the committee, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who expressed doubts about the testimony and recalled that the United States was "at war" and needed to protect itself even at the price of making some errors.

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It was past 10:00 pm in Germany by the time Democrat Jerrold Nadler spoke.

"The people who tortured you were committing crimes under American law," Nadler said. "I hope in the next few years these people will be held accountable.

"I wanted in the name of the United States to express for you my regrets and my apologies," he added, to the sound of timid applause from the public.