Shimkus, Albert - short clip - Looking Back

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP4
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4cf9rs0s?embed=true' height='500px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4cf9rs0s
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

Producer	Looking back, do you think	0:00
	you made some mistakes that maybe could have	0:01
	done it diff--?	0:04
-	There's no question.	0:05
	You know, if I knew today, what I know,	0:07
	If I knew then what I do today.	0:11
	Certainly I think the context of my investment	0:13
	into what is reported to have occurred	0:16
	with abuse and interrogation	0:19
	I would have probably would have insisted on transparency	0:22
	between me and previous commanders, you know	0:24
	after general Leonard general Bacchus	0:27
	and general Miller and, and others	0:29
	I would have insisted on a transparency	0:32
	for the JTF surgeon to know what was going on.	0:33
	So we could make an ethical choice to disagree	0:36
	with whatever was occurring.	0:39
	No question.	0:41
	I would've gone back.	0:42
	Yeah.	0:44
Producer	Well, have you heard rumors	0:45
	that things were occurring in the interrogation rooms?	0:46
-	Well, that's a good question too.	0:49
	And I've thought about that.	0:51
	Cause I knew you were probably asking that question.	0:52
	My scope of	1:00
	of interest was the care of detainee population.	1:01
	And in my professional life, I, as a	1:06
	as a certified registered nurse anesthetists I deal	1:11
	in very significant physiological situations	1:13
	in which I resuscitate and deal with issues during surgery	1:17
	as I toured more, I began to think	1:22
	about other things outside of my area of expertise.	1:25
	And my background is not forensic medicine	1:32
	and knowing what I know now	1:36
	I would've done things differently, but	1:38
	if I had put two and two together for a number of no	1:39
	for a few situations that occurred under my watch	1:43
	and if I were thinking forensically	1:46
	I would have concluded something else	1:48
	than what it concluded.	1:51
	And so I think	1:53
	by putting two together now, I think, you know	1:55
	I would have asked some very difficult questions of the	1:59
	of the commander and or of others	2:01
	with physiological symptoms that have been seen, you know	2:04
	medicine treats what we're given emergency rooms	2:08
	and so forth.	2:12
	We just treat what, what is given to us in that context.	2:13
	And so I think the questioning perspective	2:17
	of a forensic physician or me	2:20
	as a forensic thinking forensically, we would've put	2:23
	made a different choice about different things.	2:26
Producer	Can you give me a better understanding of that?	2:29
	I mean, what could you have done	2:31
	if you had discovered that in fact	2:33
-	I would have gone	2:36
	to the JTF commander and said, what's what's happening?	2:37
	You know, when, what is	2:40
	what is happening to present these kinds of symptoms?	2:41
-	What's an example he says to you, it's none	2:44
	of your business.	2:46
	You just treat symptoms you,	2:47
-	Well, that's a good point.	2:48
	But that conversation never occurred.	2:50
	And if it did, I think I then would have used the chain	2:52
	of command as I can use the chain	2:56
	of command to allow others to understand it.	2:59
	But, you know, and we all know that these kinds	3:01
	of things would maybe authorized significantly	3:04
	higher authority than the joint task force commander	3:08
	whether what it would wear	3:11
	whether it would've made a difference or not, I'm uncertain.	3:12
	But the clarity that I have now was not	3:16
	the clarity I had then.	3:18

Item Info

Title:

Shimkus, Albert - short clip - Looking Back

Date:

August 9, 2011

Interviewer:

Honigsberg, Peter Jan

Interviewee:

Shimkus, Albert

Role:

Description:

This interview may include descriptions of violence.
Hospital Commanding Officer
Albert Shimkus, male, age 66, was the commanding officer and joint task force surgeon at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 to July 2003.
Description was provided by Witness to Guantanamo.

Subject:

United States

Format:

oral histories

Language:

English

Extent:

1:52:30

Digital Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo

Source Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection, 2009-2017

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Rights Note:

Unless otherwise noted, copyright is held by Peter Hongisberg. Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, you are free to use and share these materials subject to the following conditions: You must attribute Peter Hongisberg as the rights holder. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You may not distribute any modifications to the materials. For other uses, including commercial uses, please contact Rubenstein Library at http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/ask.

Identifier:

f75e7ff05d27736531c9be5741f7954e
witnesstoguantanamo
ark:/87924/r4cf9rs0s
eeed82e0-bd89-4680-97e1-85b443a5634f

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4cf9rs0s

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Shimkus, Albert - short clip - Looking Back

Transcript

Item Info

Human Rights Archive

More Info & Options