National news

Obama vows support for Louisiana after the ‘cameras leave’

ZACHARY, La. (AP) — Standing amid piles of waterlogged debris, President Barack Obama on Tuesday promised a sustained national effort to rebuild flood-ravaged southern Louisiana “even after the TV cameras leave” on a visit aimed in part at stemming campaign-season criticism that he’s been slow to respond to the disaster.

As he toured a battered neighborhood and spoke to local officials, Obama tried to buck up beleaguered residents of the water-soaked region.

“This is not a one-off, this is not a photo-op issue. I need all Americans to stay focused on this,” he said. “I know how resilient the people of Louisiana are and I know that you will rebuild again.”

Eleven years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Obama’s visit was a reminder of the political dangers and opportunities natural disasters pose for politicians. The president has been criticized for waiting until after he returned from his New England vacation to tour the Gulf Coast flooding. The timing, amid a heated presidential campaign, drew barbs from some local officials and Republicans political opponents, including GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump visited Baton Rouge on Friday, enjoying a warm reception and allowing him to cast the president as golfing while Louisianans suffered. It was a sentiment echoed by many in the area, many of whom have said they feel their plight has been ignored by the media.

“Too little too late,” Mona Gaspard said of Obama’s visit. The resident of Ascension Parish said she saw her home filled with 4 feet of water and resented what she saw from Obama. “I saw him play golf, not helping out over here. Trump was over here, but he wasn’t,” she said.

Others welcomed Obama and the spotlight he brought.

“It means a lot to know you have that support from the highest level,” said Chrisena Brown, as the president surveyed the piles of discarded mattresses, broken appliances and heaps of clothing that line the curbs of her street. The college administrator says she’s staying with family while she cleans up, working late into the night in stifling humidity.

Prisoner not seen publicly since 2002 at Gitmo hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first high-profile al-Qaida terror suspect captured after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 appeared Tuesday at a U.S. government hearing called to determine whether he should remain in detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian not seen publicly since his capture by the CIA in 2002, sat expressionless during the brief hearing. Zubaydah was also the first to vanish into the CIA’s secret “black site” prison network and was subjected to “enhanced interrogation.”

The review panel issued no immediate ruling on his status. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay since September 2006.

The U.S. contended that Zubaydah, 45, was one of the most senior figures in al-Qaida when he was captured in Pakistan. It has since dropped that claim. Zubaydah’s lawyers deny he was a member of al-Qaida.

Following his capture, the CIA under President George W. Bush initiated an interrogation program, now widely viewed as torture. Under this once-secret program, Zubaydah was subjected to what the Bush administration called “enhanced interrogation” in the belief that he was withholding information about al-Qaida. A Senate report released in 2014 said that belief was false.

Zubaydah was subjected to the torment of waterboarding 83 times in August 2003. Straining under a waterlogged cloth clamped over his face, Zubaydah became “completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth,” according to CIA emails cited in the Senate report. He was body-slammed by his captors. He was hooded, then unmasked and ominously shown a coffin-like box.

In a statement prepared for the review and provided to The Associated Press on Tuesday, a lawyer for Zubaydah asserted that he poses no danger to the U.S.