I am fortunate to speak a number of languages and I have never been where I do not speak the language. I would not like having to depend on a translator. There are, even in the best of circumstances, many things that do not translate well even among the European languages I speak. The thought of being a foreign prisoner in the US and unable to speak English is terrifying, especially since the translators would be engaged by the US and of dubious objectivity at best.
I read recently that the prisoners are telling their lawyers that the translator was at the black sites (where they were not only interrogated but tortured).
Surely it must be possible to have translators whose impartiality is unquestionable. One from the black sites, employed at the time by the US which was also the agent of the torture of these men and boys, would certainly not likely inspire their confidence at the very least. At worst, of course, the translator, who knows on which side his proverbial bread is buttered, could misrepresent what the prisoners say.
The US must let these prisoners free. There is no other just recourse.
