How quickly the New York Times forgets. On September 12, 2001, Times’ Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote:

Regardless of whether the carnage is reliably traced to one of the jihad sects, it is true that the magnitude of the pain inflicted on America yesterday moves us into the very exclusive club of democracies for which terrorism is not peripheral, remote or episodic, but a horrible routine.

Mr. Keller was wrong; thanks to President George W. Bush, his administration, the FBI, our intelligence agencies, and the United States military, terrorists attacks on our soil did not become our horrible routine since September 11, 2001.

While the Pile still smoldered at the World Trade Center and anthrax began arriving in peoples’ mailboxes, U.S. officials fanned out across the globe and worked with foreign nations to track down Islamic terrorists. In early October, senior U.S. officials demanded that Pakistan President Pervez Mursharraf fire then Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Mahmud Ahmad. It seems that Lt. Gen. Ahmad was real chummy with senior al Qaeda moneyman Ahmed Omar Sayeed Sheikh. Reliable sources (then and now) say Omar, using the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad, had funded 9/11 lead hijacker Mohamed Atta with $100,000. At the time, the U.S. also presented to President Mursharraf evidence that top ISI officials had previously facilitated meetings between WMD experts and al Qaeda.

With that in mind, look at what the New York Times has never reported about both former Guantanamo detainee Muhammad Saad Iqbal and the radical Islamic Defenders Front.

Yesterday, beginning on its front page, the Times furthered Iqbal’s uncorroborated claim that he was tortured while in both Egyptian and United States custody. Using only unidentified American officials and Iqbal as sources, the Times reports that two days after his January 2002 arrest, “[T]he Central Intelligence Agency transferred him to Egypt,” where, “[T]he Egyptians tortured him with electric shocks, he said. “I cry and I yell,” he said. “Also they gave me brain electric shocks.” He said he was forced to consume liquids that were laced with drugs “so you don’t know what you are talking about.”” The Times added:

“Mr. Iqbal said he had been beaten, tightly shackled, covered with a hood and given drugs, subjected to electric shocks and, because he denied knowing Mr. bin Laden, deprived of sleep for six months. “They make me blind and stand up for whole days,” he said in halting English, meaning that he had been covered with a hood or blindfolded.
…
“He fell in with members of the Islamic Defenders Front, according to his statement to the combatant status review tribunal at Guantánamo in 2004. The group is an Indonesian urban-based organization. It is not banned in Indonesia and has not been connected to any terrorist attacks. [emphasis added mine]

“According to Mr. Iqbal’s statement before the review tribunal at Guantánamo, he said he had told his new friends that he knew how to make a bomb that could be tucked into a shoe. He denies that now, saying someone else in the group made the boast.

“Whatever the truth, the conversation among that circle of acquaintances caught the attention of Indonesian intelligence. The Indonesian agents passed the information on to the C.I.A. in Jakarta, and Mr. Iqbal was seized at his rented room just before dawn on Jan. 9, 2002.
…
“In early April [2002], he said, the Americans flew him to Bagram, the American air base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul. He was held there for almost a year, at times shackled and handcuffed in a small cage with other detainees, and further interrogated, he said.

“A C.I.A. person said, ‘We forgive you; just accept you met Osama bin Laden.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not going to say that.’ ” Even though polygraph tests showed that he was telling the truth, he said, he was shifted from cell to cell every few hours and deprived of sleep for six months.”

What the Times failed to report is Iqbal had shown members of Indonesia’s Islamic Defenders Front (IDF also FPI) a photograph of himself with Pakistan’s now infamous A.Q. Khan, told them he was a high level member of the jihad, and was introduced to IDF President Habib Rizq. The Times failed to report that after our invasion of Afghanistan and prior to Iqbal’s arrest, “The FPI in late 2001 took the lead in threatening to sweep Americans out of Indonesia because of the US operations in Afghanistan, although the threat was not in fact carried out.” The Times failed to report the IDF routinely attacks other Muslims who they view as cult members, and threatened to cut the throats of American aide workers.

As for Iqbal now “saying someone else in the group made the boast,” take a look as his statement to his detainee Administrative Review Board [all emphasis added below mine]:

Detainee: I have this question, that you people did not capture me from Afghanistan. You arrested me from Indonesia, how are you charging that I am an enemy combatant?

Tribunal President: That is what we are going to determine; whether mere is sufficient evidence or preponderance of evidence that will confirm your classification as an enemy combatant. We want to be certain that you are properly classified.

Detainee: I have already told you that during that period I stayed in Indonesia for 52 days, what I was doing there and who I met while I was there. I want to talk about points four and five.

Tribunal President: Ifl may interject on something. Keep in mind we have not seen your file. We do not know what you and the interrogators discussed.

Detainee: That’s why I want to explain in front of you those four and five points. After I went to Indonesia, I got introduced to some people who were not good. They were bad people. Maybe I can say they were terrorists. When someone gets introduced to someone else, it is not written on their foreheads that they are bad or good. After dealing with the person, you can figure out if he is good or bad. Due to these reasons, I got introduced to four terrorists in Indonesia.

I have taken the oath and I am telling you the facts and truth. The first person’s name was Ham Yahya Saqqaq. The other person’s name is Lupfi Faisal At-Haneb (ph). The third person’s name is Habib Rizq. Habib Rizq is the President of an organization, IDF, like, Islamic Defense Front It is said about him that he has connections with Usama bin Laden. Telephone connections. Habib Rizq and bin Laden talks through the telephone. Habib Rizq is also the guardian of the al Qaida organization in Indonesia.

I can’t remember the name of the fourth person. If during the process, I remember the name, I will let you know. They were getting the fourth person ready for some terrorist act. I got introduced to these four individuals and I believe that is why I am here today. The first reason of how I got introduced to these four people is that I went into the area where my father used to live. We stayed there before for three years. There was one of my mother’s friends there and her name was Lulu. She invited me to breakfast at her house on the second of Mandan (ph) and I accepted. One of these three men was at her house.

All three of the people that I met were Yemeni nationals. I got introduced to Lupfi Faisal Al Haneb (ph) at Lulu’s house. He asked to see me again at the hotel where I was staying. I said OK. He came over to see me and Hani Yahya Saqqaq was with him. Hani Yahya Saqqaq introduced himself to me, saying he was a journalist for the general public. But inside he was a “Ma Jihad,” the Secretary General of IDF. I showed Hani Yahya a picture that I took with the scientist who made the nuclear bomb for Pakistan. His name is Abdul Khalid Kahn (ph). The picture had some other assembly members also. That is when Hani thought I was such a high level person. He said that I was a “Ma Jihad,” and I told him that I was.

After that, he explained to me that one year ago, he tried to blow up the American embassy in Jakarta. Then he took me to see the President of his organization. The name of the President is Habib Rizq. When I went there, I saw approximately 50 to 100 people sitting in the rooms and they were having a meeting. I asked, what are these people are doing over here? He told me that the New Year is coming and the actions we are taking, the terrorism acts; we are having a meeting about that. He asked me for economic help. He also told me that he has a group of people from Indonesia to Pakistan to fight against the Americans.

When I found out about this, that these were very bad people, 1 tried to get away from them. There are many other points; if you want, I can also explain those.

Tribunal President: We may have some questions for ask you to clear up some items, but please, feel free to continue to tell us any information that you feel will be important for us.

Detainee: I accept the fact that I showed actions in Indonesia to portray that I was a high level person. I didn’t go to see them; those people came to see me. The fourth person’s name I cannot remember. One day, Hani Yahya invited me into a classy hotel. There were four people there including myself. Hani Yahya told me that this fourth person was getting himself ready to harm himself in a terrorist type of way; self suicide. To show that I was such a big person, I talked about Osama bin Laden and they asked me, did I see Osama bin Laden and I told them yes, when I was coming from Pakistan, I heard one of his announcements, in which he announced that the Muslims should not travel on non-Muslim airlines. If the Muslims were to travel on non-Muslim airlines, then al Qaida and Osama bin Laden are not responsible for their lives. He asked me, did I know about the Ma Jihad from Pakistan. I told him yes. It is true that I met many of the leaders from the organization in Pakistan. I have pictures with them. I was on my way to Jakarta and when I reached home, I was arrested.

In the last days, I was trying to stay away from him (Hani Yahya). He was calling me and I was trying to avoid him. The second charge in the summary of evidence, I think it is about what I just explained. (Hani Yahya) told me they were planning to blow up two hotels on New Year’s. An American Ambassador had a program in one of the hotels. He also introduced me to his father who was responsible for three schools that trained terrorists. When I found out about all these things, I was trying to go back to Pakistan. It is obvious that I went to Indonesia and Jakarta after ten years and I don’t know anyone over there. The only people I know over there is my mother and brother.

If I have committed any crime, I am ready for the punishment, but I know that I am innocent. That is why I am here.

Tribunal President: I want you to understand that we are not here to punish you here today. We are here to determine whether you have been properly classified as an enemy combatant. We welcome your participation and your openness in your statements. We may have some questions, but does this conclude your statement at this time?

Detainee: Yes. My statement is over.

While Muhammad Saad Iqbal may well have been a braggart, an al Qaeda wannabe, and briefly interrogated by Egyptian officials in Egypt, there is no evidence that he was tortured while in United States custody. The Times furthered an exploratory lawsuit within a “news report” solely to promote its own political agenda. It is not new news that what appears on their front page is not always true yet what the Times fails to report almost always provides evidence of their deceit.