ACLU paves way to 'Road'

Tipton Three talk Camp Delta

By ROBERT RIDDELL

NEW YORK -- The crowd that gathered at the IFC Center for the ACLU's screening of Michael Winterbottom's "The Road to Guantanamo" was more civil liberties lawyers than celebs -- but the real stars of the evening were sitting bleary-eyed 3,000 miles to the east in London.

After the unspooling, two of the so-called Tipton Three, the trio of British Muslims who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time (Afghanistan in 2001), talked over their experiences at Camp Delta via video conference link with ACLU exec director Anthony Romero and Winterbottom (who co-directed with Mat Whitecross).

Given the content of the movie, which describes the levels of abuse and torture at the U.S. prison camp, Romero was understandably a little hesitant in his interrogation of the Brits: "I'm sure the last thing that you want is another round of questions from Americans," he said.

The ACLU prexy also picked up a dropped ball when technical problems prematurely ended the video conference connection: "It's (Alberto) Gonzales!" he exclaimed, in mock paranoia.