there's no denying the celebration. skis are clear and blew. for many that's the best knew year's gift of all. >> a reminder you can keep up to date with the latest on the website at aljazeera.com. on "america tonight" - detention. >> what was your role in september 11th. >> i didn't participate in september 11th. >> a public reading of "the guantanamo diary." and how sharif is one of 119 detainees told in a senate report. much of the harsh treatment

experienced was never approved. >> you'll do what it takes to get this man to talk. do you understand. my response was "we don't do that?" he said "we do now. good evening. thanks for joining us. we looked together to a dark part of the effort that will do harm for our nation. and stop them. our intelligence services trapped and rounded up hundreds of detainees. others, the dark side set up by the c.i.a. a senate report detailed the treatment. many questions were unanswered, including what, if anything would be done to those. >> al jazeera contributor lindsay moran did a special section on this as the former c.i.a. agent khalid sharif spent two

years in a stret prison, not knowing if he would live or die. >> what are the officers told me i can pull out my gun, kill you and i will not be accountable. if you don't speak. outside. >> it wasn't one of his men that made the threat. it was an american working for the c.i.a. when sharif was imprisoned by the americans, he was a high ranking member of the libyan group bent on tackling muammar gaddafi. he was living in exile as a devout muslim, the americans thought he way know something about al qaeda. >> translation: after 9/11 america didn't distinguish between these that attacked them and those did not.

we didn't have tieless, our goal was to fight muammar gaddafi. >> al-sharif spent two years at a black site after being snatched from his hoax. >> he was shackled. forced into painful stress positions. despite having a broken foot. >> i was home from the sealing and left for three or four days. i was deprived of sleep until i became historical. we were beaten on the stomach and the back. >> al-sharif is one of 119 detainies was one of the stories. calling him abu hazam, a name he used to hide from the libyans, the report says much of the harsh treatment was never approve. and nor did the bosses do

anything to stop it. >> they plunge us in tums of freezing water. they put a cloth over the peace and poured water non-top over it until we couldn't breathe. >> despite what he went through, the government never charged him with any crime. >> he was beaten, forced into cramped places denied sleep by loud western music. he was subjected to something the c.i.a. called water dousing. >> it sounds like waterboarding. it was a similar procedure, but not on a board. >> laura met al-sharif in 2012. after which she wrote her own report about imprisonment. >> the bar against torture is a bedrock principle. it's banned by the convention

against torture, which the united states signed and ratified and which the u.s. incorporated. >> she believes those that abused al-sharif should be punished. to date no one has been punished for abuse inflicted on him and other detainees. >> the prosecutor says in the past others were punished. they did when americans were subjected to waterboarding. the army court-martialled the army viet cong prisoner. a c.i.a. linguist who was present was so disturbed that he reported the incident to his interiors. the matter was preferred to the justice department. >> it went nowhere. >> the report says that they didn't initiate

progresses bust because they cob late the act. we knew they didn't prosecute. if they had, they may be able to corroborate what happened. >> when we approached the department of justice, the press office responded in bold type "we are not doing interviews", it said in a statement na in 2009 it reviewed the cases with several detainees alleged to have been mistreated. >> two investigations were initiated. the department found no evidence sufficient to obtain and sustain convictions, and the department would not prosecute interrogators in good faith. a reference to memos, in which the justice department gave many its blessing. there is one c.i.a. operative. not for marsh interrogations, but for publicly raising questions about them.

he spoke with us from a federal pen tent ris. >> this is what the lawyers told me was legal. the ones that should be prosecuted are the sickos. the saidists. but the people that did what they did because they were in a position of authority. >> reporter: he was part of a team in 2002 that captured a logistics specialist for al qaeda, it was considered a victory. he was water boarded 83 teems in a single month and lost an eye while in custody. in 2006 he became a public figure when he did an interview. if the american public was to guess? >> i think it would be objectionable.

>> it's a violent thing to see. >> soon he became a source for other journalists and was eventually imprisoned for violating c.i.a. secrecy laws. >> do you believe some of the methods in the enhanced torture. >> yes, they do. so many techniques were designed to inflict pain. if the purpose was to inflict pain that a human stand. >> reporter: he is not the only high profile c.i.a. officer to voice concerns. glen is retired. he spent 23 years in the service. in 2002 he received an assign: the c.i.a. grabbed a man they thought was osama bin laden's banker. he was asked to oversee the investigation. he said "you will do whatever it

takes to get this man to talk. do you understand?" and i physically recoiled and my response was we don't do that. he said "we do now. >> carl took the assignment after it was presented at his duty to his country. he has written about his integrator. >> i said what is our dippings of torture, what are we allowed to do. the answer was torture is anything that causes vital organ failure or death. otherwise it is not torture. >> anything short of that... >> is not torture. that was the most astounding bit of hog wash i learnt. i thought. that justifies anything. >> beyond his moral and legal concerns about techniques like waterboarding, there's another issue.

they don't yield reliable international a view echoed report. >> reporter: do you think people should be prosecuted? >> i don't. these are colleagues of mine, and i respect almost all of them. i know they are convinced they gave everything they could to serve the country. men and women who i think made a grievously wrong decision, but circumstances. >> in this case torture was unawful, should never have been authorised. it's the architect of the programme and lawyers who created legal measures who are responsible and should be accountable. >> president obama

is into the locking to prosecute c.i.a. interrogators or the bosses. saying it's time to move on. >> human rights watch, and whistle blowes say without repercussion, there's nothing to keep such brutality again. >> without a legal foundation, a future president can skied i think torture was a good idea and maybe we should do it again. that's why we need legislation and prosecutions. >> as for khalid, he is back in libya, at home with his family. he too, believes those responsible for his abuse should be brought to justice. it is the first step towards revealing the truth. >>

al jazeera contributor is here, as a former c.i.a. agent, were you there, did anyone ask interactions? >> no. what would surprise the american public is no one within the direct rate of operation, the c.i.a.'s clandestine service, we are not trained to integrate. we are collecting information. we make friends with sources, paying them for information. people asked to participate, like glen carl, yes, he had a long career in the c.i.a. that did not include interrogation. he knew nothing about interrogation. even as he was sent obvious on the important high-profile mission to interrogate an jordan allen suspect. >> when he was

-- integrate an al qaeda suspect. >> there was no instruction. >> the extent was be creative, do what you can to get information. that can be interpreted in a million different ways. there wasn't a happened back, day briefing or a course. when you go overseas there's extensive training, for anything, trade craft. recruiting sources. there was no such thing. snow how does the c.i.a. identify those agents who would be likely to be helpful in these situations? >> that's a good question. the c.i.a. that i knew - i can't thing of a person who would have thought that torturing someone was a way to get knalty intelligence, post inch the

agency -- post 9/11 the agency went on a recruiting spree. it makes me wonder if the clandestine service can be made up of people who knew less about intelligence and that's what torture acomplishes later in the programme - a voice from the inside asks why am i held at guantanamo? >> are you a mafia? you kidnap people emanuel up. >> later, a search for children and apps. fast-forward to mexico's missing students and the north forced to do their own detective work. >> hot on the website - abused by recreational students. could it be a life saver.

special k. why it's touted as a treatment find out on aljazeera.com/americatonight

in our fast-forward system tens of thousands have gone missing. communities are in doubt about who they trust. in their mire, they have been left with an approach where the evidence is collected by the families free from outside interference. in mexico adam raney talked to families looking for answers. >> reporter: a song for the missing. in this garage on the outskirts of the city, police came to remember a federal police officer and others who went missing five years ago. they disappeared on a mission to

a lawless state. thought to have been killed by a drug gang, bodies have never been found. investigators told lewis's mother not to expect much. >> she searched on her own. >> it's not that we want to stop being households. it's the circumstances. we realise that we are learning to do what the government is doing. >> she was shocked by behaviour. >> there is total inept attitude, corruption. >> reporter: she found strength among others who lost someone they loved. she joined this group among families of the missing. her goal is to find clues about

her loved one's interference. >> forensics is searching, looking for evidence. where are they, why did this happen. what happened exactly and when. i'm the one forcing investigators to gather coffee jars and others. that dirt may have had evidence bone. >> reporter: fast-forward. independent searches can maybe a dense. a positive i.d. has been made on the remains of one young woman, benda demarize. remains were turned over to the family. they didn't believe it was their daughter. the first ever exhume hags was ordered to locate her remains. next, here, giving voice to those behind guantanamo's gates. >> my heart started to pound. i hated interrogation. i was tired of being terrified

all the time. >> the diary of a detainee next. wednesday on "america tonight" - the explosive warning about a threat on the rails. >> when they say they are shipping crude oil over the back of the field. they are shipping something more explosive. >> sheila macvicar on the danger crossing north america and the best option to protect communities may not be enough to that's wednesday on "america

we began the programme looking at c.i.a. detentions at so-called dark sites. hundreds more, 779 detainees, van kept at guantanamo bay. six years ago the president signed an executive order to close the facility.

today 122 men remained in custody, many never facing charges. we have heard from none of them until now. one detainee's writings, days and months in captivity has been published. through the voices of others, he is heard. >> the torture was growing day by day. >> the guards on the block actively participated in the process. they cursed me for no reason. >> reporter: a public reading in new york city of a unique work. inmate. >> this book tells us what happened to a prisoner in guantanamo, from his side, from hit words, from his heart. >> he maintains his own dignity, humanity. in doing so he gives us all a guantanamo.

>> it's the first published account from a guantanamo prisoner in detention. >> you, dear reader, could never understand the extent of the physical, and more, the psychological pain people in my situation suffered. >> bring me to the court, i'll answer all your questions. there'll be no court. they would answer. "are you a mafia, you kidnap people, lock them up and blackmail them?" i said. >> reporter: he was rested in 2001 in mauritania, coming to the attention of the c.i.a. because of what the agency considered to be a series of suspicious connections. he fought against the soviets in the early 1990s, had a cousin, and it is alleged that he crossed paths with a 9/11 planner in germany.

>> what was your roll in september 11th. "[ bleep ] he screamed loudly." i knew there was no use being so i said "i was working for al qaeda, and radio telekom", he seemed happy with a lie. >> although he was in afghanistan he gave up the fight. prosecutors at guantanamo bay never brought charges against him. >> what have i done. you tell me. you kidnapped me from my home in mora tapia, not from a battlefield. what is the next charge. it looks to me as if you want to pull something on me? >> i put my clothes on, watched my face muches my heart started to pound.

i was tired of being enter-kated, living in fear, day in, day out. >> reporter: the process of bringing the diary to publication has been an epic journey. >> the manuscript was essentially taken away after its creation, put in a locked facility outside of washington d.c. and remained there, accessible only to attorneys with security clearance. >> it took almost seven years to get the book out. ultimately in september 2012, i received a package, hard copy from the government with a letter saying this is a cleared version you can use and every page is stamped unclassified and could be released to the public. >> i hated the sound of heavy metal chains. i could hardy carry them.

people are taken from the block, every time i heard the chains, i thought it could be me. >> reporter: the book has 2500 redactions, and the black box placed over the text. >> the redactions are a last fingerprint of a 13-year process of secrecy in silencing mohammed is la hi. there are things the government does not want the american people or the world to know. that must be what is under the redactions. >> had i don what they accused me of, i would have relieved myself on day one. but the problem is you cannot admit to something you haven't done, you need to deliver the details. when you can't, when you haven't done anything, it's not just yes, i did. it doesn't work that way. you have to make up a story making sense to the dummies. we

know that you are a criminal. what have i done? you tell me? otherwise, you'll never see the light of day. if you don't cop race we'll put name. >> thee had a programme. well-known, called the secret flyer programme. down. >> he didn't get to sleep, except for a couple of hours. he had 20 hour interactions, three shift. >> the room is dark, playing a track loudly. i mean very loudly. the song was "let the bodies hit the floor." i night never forget the song. at the same time redacted turned on coloured blinkers that hurt

the eyes. if you fall sleep, i'll hurt you, he said. i had to listen to the song over and over until the next morning. i started praying. stop the [ bleep ] praying, he said loudly. i was, by this time, both really tired and terrified. so i decided to heart. >> what he did is what people do when they are tortured. they say yes so that the torture will stop. this is a problem of torture. that's what he did. he simply said yes to whatever they asked him. it was not true. the government nose now that it wasn't true. they knew then that it wasn't true. they didn't seem to care. they just wanted the answers. >> i need you to answer one question - why am i here.

i'm not a lawyer, but commonsense dictates after three years the government owes me an explanation into why they are doing so. what exactly is my crime. >> there was never justification to bring mohammed to guantanamo. this is an innocent person we have tortured. we should never torture anyone, innocent or guilty. this is an innocent man. we tortured him and left him there. he needs to go home. the government should stop fighting and let him go home. >> five years ago a federal judge ruled he had no right to detain him, he still remains at guantanamo, where he's been for 13 years. money from the sales of his book will be held in trust. attorneys want to use it to pay for the education of others in his

family, especially peoplefemale relatives. tell us what you think, go to >> hours before a meeting. a joint collision against illinois. you're watching al jazeera, live from our headquarters in doha. also coming up. the syrian government offers to suspend air strikes on aleppo allowing for a u.n. plan for peace to come into force. a ceasefire in peril, fighting for control of debaltseve in eastern ukraine we look at the