The Middle East Blog - TIME.com

Exclusive: Sweaty Palms

As Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez was announcing his resignation the other day, I happened to be in Saudi Arabia meeting with some of the people affected by his War On Terrorism legal policies: a group of Saudis released recently after many years of incarceration at Guantanamo Bay.

gitmo.JPG


A Saudi rehabilitation specialist speaking with former Guantanamo detainees this week

More on these Saudi detainees in an upcoming story, but I will reveal one thing now: I was stuck--all the former Gitmo detainees were willing to shake hands with an American reporter--by how each one of them had very sweaty palms. This condition can be heriditary, but it is also generally understood to be caused by stress and nervousness.

The story of Gitmo--and Gonzalez's role in shaping questionable legal decisions during the War on Terror--will be studied for months and years to come.

--By Scott MacLeod/Riyadh


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About The Middle East Blog

Tim McGirk

Tim McGirk, TIME's Jerusalem Bureau Chief, arrived in the Middle East after covering Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Read more

Scott MacLeod

Scott MacLeod, TIME's Cairo Bureau Chief since 1998, has covered the Middle East and Africa for the magazine for 22 years. Read more

Andrew Lee Butters

Andrew Lee Butters moved to Beirut in 2003, and began working for TIME in Iraq during the Fallujah uprising of 2004. Read more

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