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In the criminal
justice system,
sexually based offenses are
considered especially heinous.
In New York City,
the dedicated detectives who
investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Somebody help me!
Anybody help me!
Excuse me.
What you got?
White female, mid 20s.
Jogger
found the body, called it in.
How'd she die? Single
stab wound to the chest.
Blouse is torn, *** pulled
down.
Warner's running the *** kit.
Any ID? CSU found this library card.
Kate Simes, 311 West End Avenue.
She's pretty far from home.
We know when she died?
Blood on the ground
is completely dry,
so I'd say she's been
here since midnight.
But rigor puts time of death
in the last three hours.
She was lying here alone
at night, bleeding out?
Knife probably hit the left ventricle,
hemorrhage can be surprisingly slow.
She could've been saved.
I wouldn't get too close.
What's that?
Some kind of lesion.
Is it contagious?
I'll let you know as soon as I
figure out what the hell it is.
Mrs.
Simes,
is this your daughter?
Oh, my God.
Mrs.
Simes.
No.
No.
What was she thinking?
She knows that the park's
dangerous at night.
Do you have any idea
where she was coming from?
At that hour?
I have no idea.
Well, it would help
if we had a recent photo.
Mrs.
Simes, Kate had
a lesion on her forearm.
I hadn't noticed.
She didn't say anything.
She cut her hair
recently?
She said she wanted a change.
Cutting it off and dying it
is pretty drastic.
Was anyone giving Kate
trouble? Ex-boyfriend maybe?
No, one of her students.
Jackie Solomon.
Kate was a teacher.
A college counselor
at the Heller School.
The girl's father
made a scene.
He all but attacked Kate, then we
started getting hang-up calls every night.
This student, Jackie Solomon,
what exactly did she do?
Come on, Mr.
Terrorist
Show me you're a man
Slap me around like your
good book says you can
Maybe you're just
too much of a ditz
Is that the real reason
you blew yourself to bits?
Come on, Mr.
Terrorist
Show me you're a man
That's pretty offensive.
Kate Simes certainly
thought so.
You don't?
I found it incredibly
offensive, but as headmistress,
I'm in a delicate position.
Wouldn't want to offend a big contributor
by calling his daughter a racist.
Jackie Solomon lost
an aunt on 9l11.
And that excuses
this garbage?
No, which is why I didn't
stop Miss Simes
from sending letters to the
colleges Jackie's applying to.
Sounds like those letters
stressed out her father.
He's a parent.
His reaction struck me as normal
in light of what's at stake.
Threats and hang-up calls
sound normal to you?
Sure, it was extreme, but do
you have any idea how much money
I've donated to
the Heller School?
How about my right
to exercise free speech?
That *** tried to tank
my college applications.
Shut up, Jackie.
If you hadn't made that damn
video in the first place
Did you know that
the Qur'an says that men
can verbally abuse their wives
and beat them?
Yeah, and the Bible says men shouldn't
let women teach or talk back to them.
Believe me,
we know all about it.
The headmistress stuck us
with mandatory evening classes
at the New York
Tolerance Center.
You must be
their star pupils.
I told you threatening
Miss Simes was a bad idea.
Put a lid on it.
A half a million bucks to get her into
the Ivy League, and this is what I get?
You'd be pissed, too.
Might even make a few threats.
Might even do
more than that.
Are you kidding? He doesn't
have the guts to kill anyone.
My daughter has a mouth,
but she's right.
Call the Tolerance Center.
I've got a rabbi, an imam
and a Catholic priest
who can vouch
for my whereabouts.
Thanks.
Warner's got something.
Any luck
with the *** kit?
No fluids,
no evidence of penetration.
But I ID'd your lesion.
Cutaneous leishmaniasis.
It's a parasite.
Where'd she get that?
Interesting question.
Leishmaniasis is carried
by the female sand fly.
We have sand flies
in the city now?
Don't worry.
In the entire country
there are maybe 50 cases a year,
and most of those
are contracted abroad.
Her mother didn't
mention a trip.
Incubation's two
to four weeks.
I'm betting Kate was out of the
country sometime in the last month.
Any idea where?
We used to see leishmaniasis in
Americans who traveled to Peru or Brazil,
but in the past few years the highest
incidence has been in the Middle East.
We pulled Kate's
financial records.
Did Kate buy
a plane ticket?
There's no flights on her credit card,
but she did make a large withdrawal
from her savings account
three weeks ago.
But why pay cash for a ticket?
You still need ID to fly.
Her mother paid for
the credit card bill.
Maybe Kate didn't want her
to know where she was going.
Thanks.
Well, she definitely
didn't want her school to know.
I just talked to
the headmistress.
Kate took off three weeks ago, said
she had a family funeral in Kansas.
Doubt she ran into any sand flies there.
Can we even confirm she left the country?
Funny you should ask.
I called Port Authority and
much to my Orwellian delight,
they had no problem sending us the
videos from the JFK surveillance cameras.
This is Terminal 4.
There's our girl, Kate, going
through baggage security check.
That's all
international flights.
Any clue where she's going?
I put in a request
to all international airlines.
They said it would
take a little time.
I got a friend at the
Joint Terrorism Task Force.
He'll be able help us out.
Flight 227,
JFK to Istanbul, September 17.
She flew to Turkey.
I checked with customs in Istanbul
to make sure she took the flight.
Security cameras across the globe.
Munch'll never leave his house again.
Yeah, you got lucky.
Turkey's one of our few friends
in that part of the world.
Well, how friendly are they?
Enough to help us track Kate's
flight to Diyarbakir on the 18th.
Of course, spotting her
was a little more difficult.
That's where she
cut and dyed her hair.
Could she have been
hiding from someone?
Maybe she just wanted to fit in.
Like one of our undercover agents.
If Kate was an agent in Diyarbakir, then
where did she catch the leishmaniasis?
Because according to Warner's
charts, it's not prevalent in Turkey.
How about Iraq?
That's Kate?
At the Silopi-Zakho
border crossing.
Turkish authorities notify you
when a US citizen enters Iraq?
No, but the Iraqis do.
A 25-year-old woman with no
clear ties to the Arab community
didn't set off alarm bells
at the time.
But it's obviously
piqued my curiosity now.
I don't understand.
What was she doing
in the Middle East?
You must have known
she was out of town.
She told me she was rebuilding
homes in New Orleans.
Mrs.
Simes, can you think of any
reason why Kate would go to Iraq?
She studied Arabic in college.
Arabic speakers are
at a premium these days.
You think she could have been
recruited by the government?
How would she have
had the time?
Between her job
and the volunteer work that she
was doing at the refugee center
What refugee center?
We work with refugees seeking asylum.
Kate used her Arabic to translate for us.
Did she work with anyone
from Iraq?
Of course she did,
we're a refugee center.
Over two million Iraqis
have fled the country.
Our government has granted
asylum to fewer than a thousand.
Okay, well, miss,
we need to see Kate's files.
So you can harass
her clients?
So we can find her killer,
and after the work she did here,
we'd think you'd wanna help.
She kept everything
on her computer.
There was a break-in two
nights ago and it was stolen.
She back up the files?
Every day.
She kept
a flash drive in her bag.
Well, we found her bag,
and there was no drive in it.
Anything else stolen
in the burglary?
No.
Was Kate in
some kind of trouble?
Apparently.
Now, did you notice
anything unusual on Monday?
Some guy called half a dozen
times, desperate to talk to her.
He leave a number?
No.
This is Detective Stabler.
I need
you to dump all incoming calls
to the Women's Refugee
Coalition on Monday morning.
We'd like to speak
with Haroun Abbas
about a call he made
to the Women's Refugee Center.
I am his wife.
Haroun is dead.
I'm so sorry.
When did he die?
Monday night.
He was driving his cab.
They say he had
a heart attack.
Who's they?
My Haroun did not die
of a heart attack.
He was murdered
by your government.
Mrs.
Abbas, why would the
government *** your husband?
I don't know.
Why would they torture him
in an Iraqi prison camp?
He was tortured?
For two years.
We risked our lives
to support your country
in the first Gulf War.
That's why
they gave us asylum.
Then on 9l11,
everything changed.
My Haroun was a taxi driver,
but they treated him
like a terrorist.
They handcuffed him,
and they took him away.
He lost 50 pounds
in that camp.
They broke his body
and they crushed his soul.
He was never the same.
This was taken in New York.
How'd he get back here?
We had friends.
They helped
me get him across the border.
Was she one of your friends?
I've never seen her
in my life.
Did Haroun mention anything out of
the ordinary on Monday before work?
He was nervous.
He He said he'd be home late,
that he had to meet someone.
Could've been Kate.
I thought when I got him back
we could start over,
but they found him.
And they killed him.
They killed him,
all right.
I don't see
any scars.
Well, that's the idea.
No permanent
physical or psychological harm.
It's what the military
calls "torture lite.
"
Solitary, sleep deprivation
And stress positions
and ice baths
Things that don't leave
conspicuous scars.
The key word being
conspicuous.
Haroun Abbas has
ligature marks on his wrists,
two torn rotator cuffs and
advanced congestive heart failure.
All the trademarks of military
stress-position treatment.
And you think this is related to
the heart attack that killed him.
A few of the wrist marks were fresh.
On a hunch, I checked his stomach.
Wischnewski's ulcers,
telltale sign of hypothermia.
Temperatures have been
in the 60s all week.
You thinking somebody
put him in an ice bath?
A long one.
With the shape
his heart was in,
The stress would
have killed him.
Benson.
You have any idea how
these two are connected?
The Women's Refugee Coalition
had no record on Abbas
and when we talked to his wife,
she didn't recognize Kate's photo.
Could have been lovers.
Or terrorists.
That was Fin.
CSU tracked down Abbas' cab
and found a business card
for a Dr.
Kelly Alvin at the Mercy
Hospital Clinic for Survivors of Torture.
My name is Haroun Abbas.
I was
I was tortured by
the US government.
I conducted the intake interview.
I can't believe they're both dead.
Had Kate worked here long?
No.
She was recommended to us
by the Women's Refugee Coalition.
Haroun was the first patient
she worked with.
His story was awful.
They questioned him
for over 20 hours a day,
forced him to stand naked
in front of female soldiers.
They led him around
on a leash.
Kate wanted to
do something about it.
They got very close.
She spent a lot of time
helping him with his journal.
He kept a journal?
Victims often find writing down
their experiences therapeutic.
Kate wanted him to
go public with it.
That'd have made
for one explosive little book.
She talked about flying to
Baghdad to verify his story.
Do you have a copy
of that journal?
Kate was typing it up on her computer
at the Women's Refugee Coalition.
Explains the break-in.
Dr.
Alvin, did Haroun
ever mention anyone
that may have wanted
to keep his story quiet?
He did, actually.
At the time I chalked
it up to PTSD, but
What made you
come to our clinic?
I was grabbing coffee yesterday
morning, a diner on the West Side.
I was grabbing coffee
He says he saw
his torturer.
Three hundred diners on the West Side,
that's a hell of a lot to canvass.
Not really.
He's psychic now?
New York cabbies come
from 80-odd countries,
and they hang with their own.
The Bangladeshis chow
at Mo's on Church,
and you'll find the Haitians
in the coffee shops on Avenue C.
And the Shiites hang
in Morningside Heights.
Exactly.
What are you, the Zagat's
of 24- hour diners?
When you don't sleep,
you gotta know
where to find a good
poached egg at 3:00 a.
m.
Eight or nine places in Morningside
Heights.
Divide and conquer.
Recognize this man?
Never seen him before.
You sure?
We get a lot of guys
who look like that.
He was probably
a regular.
I'm not sure.
He had his morning
coffee here.
Oh, yeah.
I know that guy.
He's a cabbie.
He used to come in
all the time.
Then one morning, I look over,
he's as white as a sheet.
He was staring at someone.
This couple.
I ask him what's
wrong, he boots all over my counter.
He puked.
I'm telling you.
Shakes, sweats, the whole bit.
Lady he's staring at says
she's a doctor, offers to help,
but then her husband comes up,
real nervous like, pulls her away.
Cabbie say anything?
He bolted.
Stiffed me on a check
and left me a big freakin' mess.
Any chance they used
a credit card?
Yeah.
I'll get the receipts.
Abbas spots his torturer here.
The guy figures out that he's been ID'd,
he gets nervous, and he follows him.
Then he sees Abbas
working with Kate.
The guy finds out she's a bleeding heart,
doesn't want his name in the papers.
So, he pulls Abbas out of
the cab, he tortures him,
and he tells him
to keep his mouth shut.
But Abbas kicks.
So, now
our guy's doubly screwed.
So he dumps Abbas in his cab,
takes care of Kate.
Makes it look like a ***.
You really think this guy
is gonna kill two people
to cover up his use
of stress positions in Iraq?
Maybe you'll get the chance
to ask him yourself.
Faith Sutton, M.
D.
Two breakfasts for 12 bucks.
Dr.
Sutton?
How can I help you?
I'm Detective Benson.
This is Detective Stabler.
Do you recognize this man?
Was he a psych patient here?
No.
He was at Manny's
the morning of August 2.
So were you.
Hot porridge.
With raisins.
They make a mean oatmeal, too.
It's right down the street.
I
was the one in the white coat.
He vomited all over
the counter.
You offered to help, but
your husband pulled you away.
That wasn't my husband.
Who was it?
George Tomforde.
He's an old army buddy.
He was in from Jersey.
We had breakfast.
Why?
Tomforde's a former soldier,
seems like a nice guy.
You know him?
One of his kids is on a
baseball team with my Johnny.
What the hell?
He mention he was moving?
No.
Nobody saw Tomforde take off?
A couple across the street heard a
truck pull up in the middle of the night.
The rest of the neighbors couldn't
even believe the Tomfordes had moved.
Apparently the guy has some
experience with subterfuge.
Army says he was
special forces,
awarded the Purple Heart and
a Bronze Star in Desert Storm.
Did he go back to Iraq in '03?
Left the army in '98, gave them
a forwarding address in London.
Where he got
his paycheck.
IRS has him as an employee
of Helios Defense Industries,
a London-based corporation.
Helios is a British
mercenary outfit.
A security and risk
management company
with offices in Uganda,
Bahrain, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Training local forces, site
security, geopolitical intelligence
Sounds like detention and
interrogation are right up their alley.
Says they hold the Pentagon's
largest military contract in Iraq.
Half a billion dollars
to maim and kill.
And half a billion reasons why Helios
couldn't let Abbas' memoir get out.
Helios sics Tomforde on Abbas
to keep him from talking.
He works Abbas over,
finds out about Kate's book.
But he pushes too hard
and Abbas croaks.
Helios needs to keep Kate quiet,
so Tomforde kills her, too.
Then Helios whisks Tomforde
out of the country.
Problem solved.
Does Helios have
a New York office?
I'll look them up.
Run by Jack Rexton,
President of US Operations.
Sixty private military firms
are in Iraq.
Are you sure Mr.
Abbas was
in one of our camps?
You tell us.
Everyone hates a mercenary.
But where would your
overextended government be
without companies
like ours?
We provide soldiers,
guards, police
All conveniently outside
the military chain of command.
Detective, this firm prides
itself on its compliance
with both domestic
and international law.
From the looks of Abbas' autopsy,
Mr.
Tomforde needs a refresher.
We obviously don't
condone ***.
If Mr.
Tomforde has taken
matters into his own hands,
this company will do all in its
power to see he's held accountable.
You could start by
handing over his file.
Well, that's a bit irregular.
It's a matter of national security.
But we certainly have no interest
in protecting a rogue criminal agent.
No wonder Rexton wants to
distance himself from this guy.
There's gotta be 10 letters
of reprimand in here.
For prisoner abuse.
Use of excessive
force, abuse of authority,
threatening prisoners
with *** and ***
What, as an interrogator?
No, as a behavioral
science consultant,
even though the guy has no
training in behavioral science.
Hold on.
Maybe Helios figured they
had it covered with the shrink.
Dr.
Sutton, Tomforde's
oatmeal and raisins pal.
She's listed as a member of
Tomforde's interrogation team in Mosul.
I said George was an old army buddy.
I wasn't trying to hide anything.
And what about your work
for Helios?
Right here.
I oversaw the design and implementation
of various interrogation plans.
Why would I wanna hide that?
Nobody likes to be called
a torturer in public.
We used stressors tailored to
psychological vulnerabilities
to help us gather information.
I'd hardly call that torture.
Oh, right, no long-term
physical or psychological harm.
That's correct.
Except maybe in the case
of Haroun Abbas?
That's the fellow
from Manny's.
You're saying we
interrogated him in Mosul?
You don't recognize him, huh?
I've overseen a lot of
interrogations.
Any in New York?
Pardon me?
Why don't we cut the crap?
Abbas recognized you
and Tomforde at that diner.
He and Kate Simes were
working on a tell-all book.
Honestly, I have no idea
what you're talking about.
Well, I'm talking about you
being compared to Josef Mengele
on the front page of
The New York Times.
Mengele?
Mengele was a monster.
My work in Iraq was lawful,
humane and vital
to the intelligence efforts
of the US government.
I've got nothing to hide.
Guess she didn't
take the same oath we did.
It doesn't sound like she was
directly involved in any torture.
Not directly involved?
Why are you defending her?
Sutton is
a respected psychiatrist.
I've heard her speak
on combat-related PTSD.
Well, the problem is, she isn't
treating it.
She's causing it.
So much for 2,500 years
of "first do no harm.
"
That's kind of
black and white.
I didn't know the Hippocratic
oath was written in shades of gray.
When I use my psychiatric skills to
trick a perp, I'm hardly doing no harm.
But I am serving
the greater good.
Haroun Abbas' autopsy report.
Maybe you should take a look at what
Dr.
Sutton's greater good did to him.
I was lecturing in D.
C.
I had nothing
to do with what happened to Abbas.
You had plenty to do
with training George Tomforde.
George can be rash, but I'd say
he's too level-headed for ***.
Level-headed enough to kill Kate
Simes with one jab to the heart?
Did he learn that in the service or
did you teach him anatomy as well?
That's enough, Detective.
Interview's over.
I have no problem
answering questions.
Don't say another word.
I'm sorry, we
I'm your lawyer.
I didn't realize I needed one.
I'm sure you don't, but unless
Detectives Benson and Stabler
wanna pay your lecture fee,
I don't think they should
get the show for free.
Guess it's no surprise to see Matt
Braden representing the good doctor.
Now, don't get all "holier
than thou" on me, Detective.
Positioning yourself between
my client and the door,
putting her in the chair
with the one short leg,
the one that rocks back and forth
so she can't get comfortable?
Maybe you should pay for Dr.
Sutton's seminar after all.
For someone with an alibi, she
got herself an expensive lawyer.
Did you see
her reaction?
She was as surprised
to see Braden as we were.
So who hired him?
I'd put my money on Helios.
We
ran Tomforde's corporate card.
Helios bought first-class plane
tickets for the whole Tomforde family.
Where to?
Bahrain.
Yesterday morning.
Well, that's convenient.
We don't have an extradition
treaty with Bahrain.
But Helios has
an office there.
Jack Rexton's blowing
smoke up our ***
while arranging to get
Tomforde out of the country.
So, let's pull Rexton in
as an accessory.
I don't think
it'll be much use.
Now, Helios is a foreign corporation.
The US Attorney will assert jurisdiction.
And given the inflammatory
nature of torture
and the lack of hard evidence
tying Helios to either ***
The Feds will bury it.
So, we have two dead bodies,
and you're saying
there's nothing we can do?
I will call
the Bahrainian embassy.
I just think we're gonna have a tough time
trying to bring Helios or Tomforde to trial.
What about Sutton?
She didn't kill Kate or Abbas.
Might as well have.
Melinda
That woman's interrogation
methods led to Abbas' death
and God knows how many others.
We can't arrest Sutton for
something that happened in Iraq.
No, but Abbas died
in New York.
If a reasonable doctor could
have foreseen that her methods
would lead to heart failure,
heart attack, death
There's a case for
criminally negligent homicide.
And you really think a jury
will hold Sutton responsible?
She taught a loose cannon like
Tomforde how to torture a man to death.
That not enough for you?
Someone should be
held responsible.
It's what Kate Simes would have
wanted, and what Haroun Abbas deserves.
Counselor?
It's a stretch.
No, it isn't.
After 9l11, military doctors started
using prisoners' medical records
to target physical
and emotional weaknesses.
Dr.
Sutton was one
of those doctors?
Her brand of torture lite
has been practiced by doctors
in Indonesia, Honduras,
the Philippines
I thought you should
hear from a few people
who have experienced
her methods firsthand.
They stripped me naked,
tied my wrists behind my back.
And put a bag over my head.
Detectives, how nice
to see you again.
I'd be happy to answer your
questions, but, as you can see, I
We're not here to ask
questions.
Oh? Excuse me?
Dr.
Faith Sutton, you're under arrest
for criminally negligent homicide.
You have the right
to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be
used against you in a court of law.
You have the right
to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one,
one will be appointed to you.
"People of the State
of New York v.
Faith Sutton.
"Docket ending 4288.
"One count, Criminally
Negligent Homicide.
"
How does
the defendant plead?
Not guilty, Your Honor.
I'll hear the People on bail.
$500,000, Your Honor.
On an E-class felony?
The D.
A.
Apprised me of the circumstances
surrounding Mr.
Tomforde's relocation.
I'd like to make sure Dr.
Sutton doesn't follow suit.
The bail will be set
at half a million dollars.
My client will
post bond tonight,
so she can get back to the
business of saving lives.
And, given that she's
doing God's work,
I hope this is the last time we'll
force her to set foot in this courtroom.
What is this?
Motion to dismiss
on jurisdictional grounds.
We have jurisdiction.
Haroun
Abbas was killed in New York.
Not according to your brief.
The prosecution claims Haroun
Abbas was killed as a direct result
of Dr.
Sutton's criminal
negligence in Iraq.
If my client's actions were legal
where the alleged negligence occurred,
the prosecution does
not have jurisdiction.
You're arguing that
torture is legal in Iraq?
It's not torture.
Dr.
Sutton's benign
method of interrogation
was implemented in Iraq,
where it is indeed legal.
Not according to
the Geneva Conventions.
In Hamdan v.
Rumsfeld,
the Supreme Court said
that violating the Conventions
is a federal crime.
Yes, but according to
a 2002 Executive Order,
counter-resistance methods
are not criminal
unless they brought about the pain
the equivalent of severe impairment
of bodily functions
or prolonged mental illness.
So unless Ms.
Novak intends to
indict the Secretary of Defense
Don't tempt me.
Executive Orders have
the force of law.
Your Honor, the question of
legality in Iraq is irrelevant.
Now, Dr.
Sutton conceived of her
interrogation method in New York.
She was hired by Helios in New
York, and, after traveling to Iraq,
she returned to New York, while
still in the employ of Helios.
It's continuous jurisdiction.
I'll take it under advisement.
It is amazing how well
you handle those steps.
Excuse me?
Yeah.
On that high horse
you're riding.
You read the papers?
Support for the US presence
in Iraq dropped 50%%
after the Abu Ghraib pictures
went public.
So tell me, what would you do if you
had five minutes to stop a suicide bomber
from killing 20 marines?
Or 10 innocent civilians?
Or one little girl?
Who's this?
Elizabeth Ross.
Elizabeth was buried alive in
a construction pit in Brooklyn,
back when I was a cop.
We had a suspect.
I knew
in my gut the guy did it.
But we went at him 48 hours,
we couldn't break him.
So I told my partner to leave.
I broke the ***'s arm
in three places.
He confessed.
When we found Elizabeth,
she was dehydrated.
She barely had a pulse.
But she was alive.
That how you got
bounced off the force?
His confession was thrown out.
The guy walked.
But Elizabeth's going
to law school now.
Wants to be a prosecutor.
You gonna tell me the ends
don't justify the means?
What if you were wrong?
I wasn't.
Matt Braden.
Thank you.
Preston bought your continuous
jurisdiction argument.
Guess we'll be continuing
this discussion in court.
They made me take
my clothes off.
Then they
They put me outside.
It's okay.
Go on.
Every hour, they would
douse me in cold water, ice water,
and threaten to release the dogs.
Dr.
Warner, can you tell us
how Haroun Abbas died?
From a hypothermically induced cardiac
arrythmia, secondary to heart disease.
Have you reviewed
Mr.
Abbas' medical records?
I have.
Did Mr.
Abbas have a history of
heart disease prior to his detention?
No.
He did not.
Thank you, Dr.
Warner.
Dr.
Warner,
can you say definitively
that my client's interrogation
practices caused Mr.
Abbas' death?
Haroun Abbas' heart condition and
death were consistent with the kind
of stress-induced
heart disease
A simple yes or no, please.
I think a physician
might expect
Dr.
Sutton's interrogation
methods to lead to death.
Dr.
Warner,
can you say definitively
that Dr.
Sutton's interrogation
practices caused Haroun Abbas' death?
Yes or no?
No.
Thank you.
Nothing further.
I'm a board-certified
psychiatrist.
I'd been teaching resistance
training for years at Fort Bragg
when the army contacted me,
just after 9l11.
I've been helping this country interrogate
suspected terrorists ever since.
Do you recognize this man?
Abdul Murad.
We questioned him in Mosul.
He turned out to be the leader of
an anti-American Shiite militia.
Was the interrogation
successful?
Yes.
The information he supplied
allowed our government to track down
a major munitions dump
north of Baghdad.
Did you interrogate any prisoners
associated with Mr.
Murad
during your time in Iraq?
Not personally, but Helios questioned his
cousin shortly after I left the country.
His cousin?
Haroun Abbas.
Order.
Dr.
Sutton, did any of your
interrogation plans involve beating?
No.
Electric shock?
No.
What about water-boarding?
Nothing that would
cause physical harm.
So, you obtained lifesaving
information without causing any harm?
Objection.
I'll rephrase.
Lifesaving information
without causing long-term
physical or psychological damage.
Yes.
All the interrogations I
oversaw were ultimately benign.
That's why a physician is involved, to
stop things from getting out of hand.
Your witness.
So, doctors stop things
from getting out of hand.
There were doctors involved with
the interrogations at Abu Ghraib.
Would you say things there
got out of hand?
Objection, Your Honor.
Dr.
Sutton said doctors
keep things under control.
Now, facts suggest that interrogators
can become more aggressive
when they can rely
on doctors to set limits.
That may be true, Ms.
Novak,
but unless you have evidence
of Dr.
Sutton's specific involvement
in the events at Abu Ghraib,
I suggest you move on.
Dr.
Sutton, could you please tell the jurors
what they're looking at in this picture?
It's a stress position
known as "Kazat Altawila.
"
This is part of your
benign interrogation method?
Yes.
The hood, what's that for?
It's placed over the prisoner's
head to disorient him.
You use an air conditioner to
drop the body's temperature.
No more than
five degrees.
How long is a prisoner kept
in that position?
It depends.
How long, Dr.
Sutton?
Twenty-four to 48 hours.
You've never seen this
lead to physical harm?
No.
How much medical follow-up
have you done?
That's left to
the camp physicians.
You had no idea that a stress
position could tear a rotator cuff?
You had no clue that a long ice
bath might lead to a coronary?
A fifth of the detainees
that died of natural causes
in US custody died
of heart attacks,
many of them young men with
no history of heart disease.
And yet you, a successful
medical professional,
had no suspicion that your
methods might lead to death?
Or didn't you care?
Ms.
Novak,
let me ask you a question.
How would you
protect our country?
I have a son in Iraq.
How would you protect him?
Your Honor
No, you answer me!
Intelligence gathering is one
of the few weapons we have
in the war on terror
Your Honor.
maybe the only way to fight
an enemy we can't see.
You think asking nicely
is gonna get them to tell us
when they plan to fly the next
set of planes into our buildings?
Dr.
Sutton, that's enough!
Oh, my God.
Somebody help.
Jack.
Jack!
He's not breathing.
Is there
a portable defibrillator?
I'll get it.
I'll give you a hand.
I need a bus.
New York County
Courthouse, 60 Center Street.
Please hurry.
Two, three,
and four and five
One, and two, three,
four and five
And one, two, three,
four, and five
Yeah, thanks.
Judge Preston declared
a mistrial.
So much for the terrible,
swift sword.
We've publicized the issue.
Kate Simes got more ink than
she ever could have imagined.
She would have been pleased.
A long, happy life would
have pleased her, too.
Same goes for Haroun Abbas.
Gonna ask for a new trial?
Now, that'd be
a waste of time.
Why? You here
to discuss a plea?
The jury was irrevocably
split.
I polled them.
You were never going to win this
one, even before my client became
a front-page hero.
Sutton's no hero.
What, Detective,
you don't approve?
Your whole job is
predicated on coercion.
You're gonna tell me you never
laid a hand on a prisoner?
I have.
Nine times out of ten
it's counterproductive.
I'm certainly
not proud of it.
Well, isn't that sweet?
Of course, some of us don't have time for
regret.
We're too busy protecting lives.
I think you mean
destroying them.
Fortunately, it doesn't look like Dr.
Sutton will be doing much of that anymore.
I contacted the State Board
for Professional Misconduct.
They've decided to review the status
of Dr.
Sutton's medical license.
I have hundreds of patients
here in New York City.
For 20 years I have devoted my life
to improving their health and welfare.
But a medical degree is not a sacred
vow.
It's a certification of skill.
After 9l11, I realized my skills could
serve this community in other ways.
And you didn't see a conflict between
your responsibilities as a physician
and your medical role
in Baghdad?
I had no doctor-patient
relationship with the detainees.
In Iraq, I was simply
a scientific consultant.
Traditional medical ethics
don't apply.
So, Dr.
Sutton, ethically speaking,
you're asking us to believe
that what happens in Iraq
stays in Iraq.
Is that right?
Are you pleased, Dr.
Warner?
After all, even a temporary
suspension can ruin a career.
I wouldn't say pleased.
So, you really feel
no remorse?
This country's at war.
I've got skills to contribute to that
fight.
You really want me not to use them?
You took an oath.
You don't get to take a
time-out because we're at war,
because it's difficult
to uphold.
The oath was written
for times like these.