2004, i utilized a variety of techniques we were calling enhanced to nation enhanced techniques. It, iabout nine years of know it was torture. I wrote it as a confession. I hope the nation joins with me. Amy we will speak with eric fair, author of the new book consequence a memoir. Then professor and journalist Melissa Harris perry joins us in one of her first interviews since leaving msnbc. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The race between Democratic CandidatesBernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton is growing increasingly contentious ahead of the New York Primary on april 19. During a rally in pennsylvania wednesday, Bernie Sanders responded to Hillary Clintons claims that he is not qualified to be president by saying that she is the one who is not qualified. Well, let me just say in response to secretary clinton, i dont believe that she is qualified if she is [cheers] , through her super pac, taking tens of millions of dollars in special interest funds. I dont think that you are qualified if you get 15 million from wall street through your super pacs. Amy also speaking of pennsylvania wednesday, Hillary Clinton fired back as sanders saying his ideas are flawed because his numbers do not add up. Senator sanders and i have some real differences about how we would go about achieving our goals as president. And like a lot of people, i am concerned that some of his ideas just wont work because the numbers dont add up. Amy meanwhile, republican president ial candidates ted cruz and donald trump both faced opposition from new yorkers wednesday. Senator ted cruz had planned to visit Bronx Lighthouse College Preparatory academy, but his trip was canceled after the students threatened a walk out. In a letter written to the school principal, students wrote ted cruzs views are against ours and are actively working to harm us, our community, and the people we love. He is misogynistic, homophobic, and racist. Instead of visiting the school, ted cruz met with voters in the bronx, where he faced heckling by residents who yelled at cruz, this is an immigrant community meanwhile, more than 200 protesters gathered at Donald Trumps rally in bethpage, long island, carrying signs reading, dump trump and stand against racism. 16yearold protester yusra ahmed spoke out. Basically, i came out here because i know he plans to ban all muslims, which doesnt make sense to me. He associates all of us as that one small group of extremists that goes against our religion. Our religion is meant to spread peace. It even means peacemakers or doesnt make sense when he says were all trying to cause trouble. Amy wisconsin congressman Glenn Grothman has sparked controversy with his comments about wisconsins new voter id laws, which prevented thousands of voters from casting ballots in this weeks primary. Speaking to nbc on tuesday, congressman grothman admitted that he believed the states voter id laws would give the republican president ial candidate an advantage during the general election this fall. Tapings four to november, you know a lot of republican since 1984 in the president ial races have not been able to win in wisconsin. Why would it be any different for ted cruz or donald trump . I think Hillary Clinton is about the weakest candidate the democrats have ever put up and now we have photo id and i think it will make a little bit of a difference as well. Amy iceland has had a new Prime Minister after the Panama Papers came out. Icelands former Prime MinisterSigmundur David gunnlaugsson resigned tuesday after the leaked documents from the panamabased Law Firm Mossack Fonseca revealed he owned an offshore company with his wife, which he failed to declare when he entered the icelandic parliament. On wednesday, the Coalition Government announced agriculture minister sigurdur ingi johannsson would take over as Prime Minister and that a general election would be held in the fall. Johannsson spoke out after the announcement. It is not the most is the situation when i am taking the Prime Ministers seat, but i will try to do my best. I am hoping the people of iceland will see the government will increase how would you describe the last three days . [indiscernible] amy new articles of International Consortium of investigative journalistss have revealed three of the most powerful people within the chinese government, including president xi jinping, have relatives with secret offshore Companies Set up by the Law Firm Mossack Fonseca. This comes as british Prime MinisterDavid Cameron and his family are facing increasing questioning over the revelations that davids father, in cameron sought detailed advice on the , best tax havens to use even after his son became the leader of the conservative party. The Tennessee House has passed legislation allowing Mental Health counselors to refuse service to patients on religious grounds, making tennessee the latest state to pass antilgbt measures this year. This comes as the governors of new york, washington, vermont and minnesota have all banned , state officials from making nonessential trips to mississippi as part of the growing backlash against mississippis sweeping new antilgbt law. New york has also banned all nonessential travel to north North Carolina in response to its passage of another antilgbt law, known as the bathroom bill. In west virginia, former coal company ceo Don Blankenship has been sentenced to a year in prison for conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws in the years leading up to the 2010 explosion at a Massey Energy coal mine that killed 29 workers. It was the worst coal disaster in the United States in 40 years. The yearlong sentence is the maximum allowed for the conspiracy charge. Last year, blankenship was acquitted of the more serious charges of lying to regulators and investors. Meanwhile in illinois, three volkswagen dealerships have sued volkswagen, accusing the auto giant of defrauding retailers by installing devices in its vehicles to skirt u. S. Emissions regulations. U. S. Regulators say volkswagen vehicles were emitting up to 40 times more pollution than u. S. Standards allow. Volkswagen has admitted to rigging some 11 million vehicles worldwide. A bangladeshi blogger and law student has been killed in the latest in a string of murders of secular activists and bloggers in bangladesh. Police say 28yearold Nazimuddin Samad was attacked by four men wielding machetes on wednesday night. Fellow University Students protested his killing. Student Billal Hossain spoke out. We are protesting here because one of our lost students at the university was brutally killed. We want a proper investigation and we want justice for the killing. Amy in puerto rico, governor Alejandro Garcia padilla has signed an emergency bill authorizing the suspension of payments on 72 billion in public debt. The move sets up a dramatic showdown between puerto rico and hedge funds amid the islands historic debt crisis. To see our recent coverage of the puerto rican debt crisis with democracy now cohost juan gonzalez, go to democracynow. Org in california, agents from the Justice Department raided the home of antichoice activist david daleiden, seizing computers and hundreds of hours of video footage. Daleiden is under criminal investigation in texas over his role in secretly filming and releasing heavily edited videos that falsely accuse planned parenthood of profiting off donations of fetal tissue. Students at the house State University occupy the campus building bricker hall wednesday to demand the university divest from the corporations caterpillar, hewlettpackard, and g4s over the companyss nest in the Israeli Occupied palestinian territories. The students also demanded more transparency in the universitys finances. Is Human Rights Watch reiterating its call for the United States to stop selling weapons to saudi arabia after Human Rights Watch says it found evidence the Saudiled Coalition used u. S. Supplied bombs in the deadly airstrikes on a crowded market in yemen last month. Least 97es killed at civilians, including 25 children. Human rights watch said it found remnants of both u. S. Supplied bombs and u. S. Supplied satellite guidance kit at the scene. Medical clinic worker othman saleh spoke out about the aftermath of the attack. Weeceived 44ounded in total. Including women, children, and elders. Of those 44, 2 people died, three others were in critical condition. They had to be taken to the icu. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. Neremeen welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. As the republican race intensifies between donald trump and ted cruz, we begin todays show show looking at torture, an issue that has repeatedly come up on the campaign trail. In february, both candidates were asked about torture at a debate hosted by abc. Sitter cruz, is waterboarding torture . Ofunder the definition torture, no, it is not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems. Under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, vigorous interrogation, but it does not mean the generally recognized definition of torture. I would bring back waterboarding and i would bring back a hell of a lot worse. Amy donald trump said the bombings the torture may have prevented the bombings that killed 35 people. Well today we begin the show with eric fair who served as an interrogator in iraq working as a military contractor for the private Security Firm caci. He was stationed at the abu ghraib prison and in fallujah in 2004. In a new memoir, fair writes about feeling haunted by what he did, what he saw and what he , heard in iraq from the beating of prisone to witnessing the use of sleep deprivation, stress positions and isolation to break , prisoners. In one section of the book, he describes torture as the chair. The military described such actions as enhanced interrogations, but eric fair uses another word torture. He writes if god is on anyones side in iraq, its not mine. Eric fairs book is titled, consequence a memoir. Welcome to democracy now why did you write this . After about well, 12 years now, thinking about abu ghraib and close to nine years of writing about it, the memories do not go away. I grew up as a presbyterian. Part of being a presbyterian is what we call communal confession. You read along with the congregation your confession. It was a critical part of your weekly routine. As i continue to think about what had gone on in abu ghraib and what i had done, it became necessary to confess. I started with smaller articles, a number of different newspapers, but ultimately produced this book. Nermeen can you explain how you ended up going to iraq . I am listed in the army in 1995, presumably to become a Police Officer. As a presbyterian, we sense a calling. I sensed a calling to law enforcement. The army was a means to an end for me. It was 1995 to 2000. I ended up at a Lynwood School language school. There wasnt much going on overseas that the army was involved in. In 2000, took my Honorable Discharge and became a Police Officer in bethlehem. About a euro to do that, i was diagnosed with a heart condition which ended my career. The iraq war was beginning to ramp up. As a former soldier, a Police Officer and someone who had been in that community and around those types of people, i felt an obligation and supported the initial invasion invasion. Contracting was opportunity for me to get over there without a health examination. Amy tell us about this company you contracted with. Number ofere a Contracting Companies that are looking for just about anybody at that time. Amy the military would not have you because of your heart . The heart, but the thought back then was the war was going to be over very quickly, a matter of weeks of not months excuse me, matter of months of not weeks. The army did not think it had time to transfer in to include things like interrogation and thought he could save money on things like security and transportation. The idea would be that Companies Like caci would hire former soldiers who have this kind of these and training, bring them over to iraq to fill in the gaps and then send us all back home. Nermeen i would like to find out more about caci, the was private contractor whom you have just spoken about. Lets go to a clip from the first, companys promotional video. Character. The unique set of moral and ethical qualities that defines who we are. Caci is built on a foundation of character. For 50 years, our defense, homeland security, intelligence, and federal food civilian customers have depended on caci for world leading formation solutions. They count on us for our character, honesty, commitment, respect. Character. It defines who we are. Nermeen eric fair, your response to the promotional ad for caci, the private contractor whom you worked for . Also, could you explain why caci did not require you to take health exam . It is enormous. This was a small part of it. The vast majority of my colleagues i think we disagree would agree the management of caci employees in iraq was a disaster. Luckily, was not a physical disaster. We had vehicles that had no armor, no medical kits, no communication equipment, no maps. It was really on the fly. Far be it for me to be the one defending caci, which i write about in some detail about some of the failures, but caci was an organization like so many contractors in many ways forced to step up in this war because so few other americans were joining up. In 2003, nearly 65 of americans supported the invasion. I was one of them. As someone who supported it, i felt an obligation to be a part of it. Many of us who ended up in iraq as soldiers or contractors were curious about where the rest of the 65 of the americans were. Recruiting offices did not have lines out the doors. The administration was not calling for people for national service. Organizations like caci, either accepted that responsibility or they sort of field in the holes depending on your perspective. Amy talk about walking into abu ghraib and what you did there. Some of us have heard of abu ghraib. The ribbon a downed american pilot in the first gulf war who spent time there. We did not have a sense we did not have a sense of a kind of overwhelming sense of fear for iraqis. We just thought of it as a typical prison. Former lawwere enforcement officers and had been in prisons. Abu ghraib, we arrived, they dropped us off and left. They house does in cells at the time. Theres something in the neighborhood of probably less than 500 american personnel, whether be troops or contractors. There were thousands of iraqi prisoners. The idea were going to interrogate these people and gain any kind of useful intelligence was a most immediately impossible. Nermeen what did you see at the hard site and abu ghraib . I spent one day in the hard site as an arabic linguist, id work for the National Security agency and had highlevel secure and is clearances. Site, most americans have seen photographs of this point, to tear open bay prison and many of the prisoners, the iraqi prisoners were naked, whether they were being forced to stand by being handcuffed to their doors or whether they were just stored of being paraded around sort of being paraded around the floor, being moved from place to place. Most of the prisoners either were naked or down to their underwear. Nermeen what was required of interrogators . What did they want to get from the socalled highvalue targets . They put out howard he intelligence requirements and they can cover many things, and intersection he went again intelligence from or much larger sure to check ideas. The number one in 2004 was the location of chemical weapons. Every interrogation on some level we had to at least address the issue of whether or not this prisoner knew anything about chemical weapons. Myself, many of us, included, were under the impression they were there. It was clear quickly that many of the prisoners did not have that kind of information so the pir would go down based on whether they were part of a cell or mortar teams and the idea was that you would fill in the blanks. Nermeen how do they decide who should be interrogating these highvalue targets . I did not interrogate highvalue targets. I cant say exactly how those teams were formed. By the time i got there in january 2004, the setup had already been arranged. I was not placed on that team. I was placed on the former regime elements team, fer. Amy were going to go to break. When we come back, i would like to read from consequence your book. , armytalking to eric fair veteran, who worked as a contract interrogator at abu ghraib prison in iraq, author of the new book, consequence a memoir. Stay with