Out of the Bag: Guantanamo Wikileaks Dump

[Epsilon Delta]

So this is it, the newest Wikileaks dump - hundreds of documents given to the NYT and the Guardian exposing what we already knew: that the United States continues to set the bar for high moral standards of conduct on this planet. Torture, abuses, mistreatment, unaccountability, uncorroborated confessions extracted through duress, and wrongful imprisonment of innocent people all are factors that add to the colorful portrait of shame laid down by previous releases, though obviously most of the communications fail to go into any detail on interrogation techniques and torture methods, which are mostly conveniently ignored.

From the NYT, via MSNBC due to the former's obnoxious paywall:

NYT: Files shed light on Gitmo detainees - World news - The New York Times - msnbc.com

A trove of more than 700 classified military documents provides new and detailed accounts of the men who have done time at the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba, and offers new insight into the evidence against the 172 men still locked up there.

Military intelligence officials, in assessments of detainees written between February 2002 and January 2009, evaluated their histories and provided glimpses of the tensions between captors and captives. What began as a jury-rigged experiment after the 2001 terrorist attacks now seems like an enduring American institution, and the leaked files show why, by laying bare the patchwork and contradictory evidence that in many cases would never have stood up in criminal court or a military tribunal [...]

The dossiers also show the seat-of-the-pants intelligence gathering in war zones that led to the incarcerations of innocent men for years in cases of mistaken identity or simple misfortune. In May 2003, for example, Afghan forces captured Prisoner 1051, an Afghan named Sharbat, near the scene of a roadside bomb explosion, the documents show. He denied any involvement, saying he was a shepherd. Guantánamo debriefers and analysts agreed, citing his consistent story, his knowledge of herding animals and his ignorance of “simple military and political concepts,” according to his assessment. Yet a military tribunal declared him an “enemy combatant” anyway, and he was not sent home until 2006. [...]

The 20th hijacker: The best-documented case of an abusive interrogation at Guantánamo was the coercive questioning, in late 2002 and early 2003, of Mohammed Qahtani. A Saudi believed to have been an intended participant in the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Qahtani was leashed like a dog, sexually humiliated and forced to urinate on himself. His file says, “Although publicly released records allege detainee was subject to harsh interrogation techniques in the early stages of detention,” his confessions “appear to be true and are corroborated in reporting from other sources.” But claims that he is said to have made about at least 16 other prisoners — mostly in April and May 2003 — are cited in their files without any caveat. [...]

The Yemenis’ hard luck: The files for dozens of the remaining prisoners portray them as low-level foot-soldiers who traveled from Yemen to Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks to receive basic military training and fight in the civil war there, not as global terrorists. Otherwise identical detainees from other countries were sent home many years ago, the files show, but the Yemenis remain at Guantánamo because of concerns over the stability of their country and its ability to monitor them. [...]

Much of the information in the documents is impossible to verify. The documents were prepared by intelligence and military officials operating at first in the haze of war, then, as the years passed, in a prison under international criticism. In some cases, judges have rejected the government’s allegations, because confessions were made during coercive interrogation or other sources were not credible.

the Guardian's page on the files: The Guantánamo files | World news | guardian.co.uk

Other fun tidbits: Guantánamo Bay files: Children and senile old men among detainees | World news | guardian.co.uk

The Guantánamo files reveal the often fragile physical and mental condition of Guantánamo's oldest and youngest residents, who have included an 89-year-old man and boys as young as 14.

In 2002 Guantánamo prisoners were described as "the worst of a very bad lot" by Dick Cheney, US vice-president. "They are very dangerous. They are devoted to killing millions of Americans, innocent Americans, if they can, and they are perfectly prepared to die in the effort."

But the internal files on some prisoners paint a very different picture. A 2002 assessment of Guantánamo's oldest prisoner, Mohammed Sadiq, who was then 89, revealed dementia, depression and sickness. "His current medical issues include major depressive disorder, senile dementia and osteoarthritis, for which he receives prescribed treatment." The Afghan national was also being assessed for prostate cancer.

Guantánamo Bay files: Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time | World news | guardian.co.uk

The camp files disclose that the three were "arrested at a small library in Karachi". Almost two years after their eventual release, a journalist for the US magazine Mother Jones, while trekking in the Pamir mountains, stumbled across Umarov back at his remote home village and tape-recorded an interview.

Umarov's story, now confirmed by the classified prison camp files, is that the three were living in a room in the University of Karachi library, and looking for work, when they were rounded up by Pakistani police and given to the Americans. A suicide bomb had exploded and at the time, the US were reported to be paying bounties of between $5,000 and $25,000 per al-Qaida prisoner.

Umarov said he had received no compensation since. He reportedly asked his interviewer: "Why did they keep a man for two years with no reason? Why? They caught me and kept me as a prisoner of war. What war, may I ask? When was I involved? I was sleeping when they came and dragged me out of my bed." [...]

The three Tajiks were among more than 100 detainees taken to Guantánamo for little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of the 212 Afghans at the base, almost half were, in the assessments of the US forces, either entirely innocent, mere Taliban conscripts, or had been transferred to Guantánamo with no reason for doing so on file.

One such individual was a rural Afghan, Mohmed Allah. His docket says he was robbed of his cash and his vehicle after visiting the Chinese hospital in Kandahar in 2002. "Irregular Afghanistan troops found the detainee on the street in Kandahar City and held him. The detainee was turned over to US forces."

The only reason given for Prisoner 347's internment was "because he was a Mullah, who led prayers at Manu Mosque in Kandahar province, Afghanistan ... which placed him in a position to have special knowledge of the Taliban". The US soldiers eventually released him, after more than a year's captivity, deciding he had no intelligence value and "does not pose a future threat to the US or US interests".

Other Afghans taken to Guantánamo included a taxi driver, shipped to the base "because of his general knowledge of activities in the areas of Khowst and Kabul based as a result of his frequent travels through the region as a taxi driver"; two detainees brought for their knowledge of conditions of prisons run by the Northern Alliance; and, perversely, several Taliban conscripts for their knowledge of conscription techniques. Others ended up at the base through a result of corruption in the Afghan or Pakistan authorities. Mukhtar Anaje was sent to Guantánamo in 2003 after allegedly masterminding an ambush thats killed two US soldiers in Helmand. The intelligence behind his transfer came from Dad Mohammad Khan, chief of intelligence in the province.

But by September 2004, US forces concluded Anaje had been set up. "It appears his capture by Afghan militia forces (AMF) and subsequent handover to US forces was based on fraudulent claims given by AMF personnel themselves," states a file note recommending him for release.

Guess most of the other headlines speak for themselves:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-binyam-mohamed-torture - Guantánamo Bay files: Binyam Mohamed held on torture 'confessions'; Fellow captive Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded until he named British resident as 'dirty bomb' plotter

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-informer-mohammed-basardah - Guantánamo Bay files: Star informer freed after implicating 123 prisoners; Mohammed Basardah rewarded despite unsupported claims and interrogators' doubts about sheer number of names he gave up


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-china-interrogated-prisoners?intcmp=239 - Guantánamo Bay files: China among regimes invited to interrogate captives; Foreign intelligence services from a host of repressive governments were brought in to identify and question suspects


And an excellent "background" op-ed on the subject, before the release: What the Guantanamo leaks won't reveal - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

America, the Beautiful!

 

[digger]

Well, that's a good thing a guess. The world could always use a little bit more truth. Maybe the exposure of our atrocities will make us more reluctant to continue.

That was hard to read, though. It's hard to see how low we've sunk.

 

[Momanohedhunter]

So this is it, the newest Wikileaks dump - hundreds of documents given to the NYT and the Guardian exposing what we already knew: that the United States continues to set the bar for high moral standards of conduct on this planet. Torture, abuses, mistreatment, unaccountability, uncorroborated confessions extracted through duress, and wrongful imprisonment of innocent people all are factors that add to the colorful portrait of shame laid down by previous releases, though obviously most of the communications fail to go into any detail on interrogation techniques and torture methods, which are mostly conveniently ignored.

From the NYT, via MSNBC due to the former's obnoxious paywall:

NYT: Files shed light on Gitmo detainees - World news - The New York Times - msnbc.com

A trove of more than 700 classified military documents provides new and detailed accounts of the men who have done time at the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba, and offers new insight into the evidence against the 172 men still locked up there.

Military intelligence officials, in assessments of detainees written between February 2002 and January 2009, evaluated their histories and provided glimpses of the tensions between captors and captives. What began as a jury-rigged experiment after the 2001 terrorist attacks now seems like an enduring American institution, and the leaked files show why, by laying bare the patchwork and contradictory evidence that in many cases would never have stood up in criminal court or a military tribunal [...]

The dossiers also show the seat-of-the-pants intelligence gathering in war zones that led to the incarcerations of innocent men for years in cases of mistaken identity or simple misfortune. In May 2003, for example, Afghan forces captured Prisoner 1051, an Afghan named Sharbat, near the scene of a roadside bomb explosion, the documents show. He denied any involvement, saying he was a shepherd. Guantánamo debriefers and analysts agreed, citing his consistent story, his knowledge of herding animals and his ignorance of “simple military and political concepts,” according to his assessment. Yet a military tribunal declared him an “enemy combatant” anyway, and he was not sent home until 2006. [...]

The 20th hijacker: The best-documented case of an abusive interrogation at Guantánamo was the coercive questioning, in late 2002 and early 2003, of Mohammed Qahtani. A Saudi believed to have been an intended participant in the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Qahtani was leashed like a dog, sexually humiliated and forced to urinate on himself. His file says, “Although publicly released records allege detainee was subject to harsh interrogation techniques in the early stages of detention,” his confessions “appear to be true and are corroborated in reporting from other sources.” But claims that he is said to have made about at least 16 other prisoners — mostly in April and May 2003 — are cited in their files without any caveat. [...]

The Yemenis’ hard luck: The files for dozens of the remaining prisoners portray them as low-level foot-soldiers who traveled from Yemen to Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks to receive basic military training and fight in the civil war there, not as global terrorists. Otherwise identical detainees from other countries were sent home many years ago, the files show, but the Yemenis remain at Guantánamo because of concerns over the stability of their country and its ability to monitor them. [...]

Much of the information in the documents is impossible to verify. The documents were prepared by intelligence and military officials operating at first in the haze of war, then, as the years passed, in a prison under international criticism. In some cases, judges have rejected the government’s allegations, because confessions were made during coercive interrogation or other sources were not credible.

the Guardian's page on the files: The Guantánamo files | World news | guardian.co.uk

Other fun tidbits: Guantánamo Bay files: Children and senile old men among detainees | World news | guardian.co.uk

The Guantánamo files reveal the often fragile physical and mental condition of Guantánamo's oldest and youngest residents, who have included an 89-year-old man and boys as young as 14.

In 2002 Guantánamo prisoners were described as "the worst of a very bad lot" by Dick Cheney, US vice-president. "They are very dangerous. They are devoted to killing millions of Americans, innocent Americans, if they can, and they are perfectly prepared to die in the effort."

But the internal files on some prisoners paint a very different picture. A 2002 assessment of Guantánamo's oldest prisoner, Mohammed Sadiq, who was then 89, revealed dementia, depression and sickness. "His current medical issues include major depressive disorder, senile dementia and osteoarthritis, for which he receives prescribed treatment." The Afghan national was also being assessed for prostate cancer.

Guantánamo Bay files: Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time | World news | guardian.co.uk

The camp files disclose that the three were "arrested at a small library in Karachi". Almost two years after their eventual release, a journalist for the US magazine Mother Jones, while trekking in the Pamir mountains, stumbled across Umarov back at his remote home village and tape-recorded an interview.

Umarov's story, now confirmed by the classified prison camp files, is that the three were living in a room in the University of Karachi library, and looking for work, when they were rounded up by Pakistani police and given to the Americans. A suicide bomb had exploded and at the time, the US were reported to be paying bounties of between $5,000 and $25,000 per al-Qaida prisoner.

Umarov said he had received no compensation since. He reportedly asked his interviewer: "Why did they keep a man for two years with no reason? Why? They caught me and kept me as a prisoner of war. What war, may I ask? When was I involved? I was sleeping when they came and dragged me out of my bed." [...]

The three Tajiks were among more than 100 detainees taken to Guantánamo for little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of the 212 Afghans at the base, almost half were, in the assessments of the US forces, either entirely innocent, mere Taliban conscripts, or had been transferred to Guantánamo with no reason for doing so on file.

One such individual was a rural Afghan, Mohmed Allah. His docket says he was robbed of his cash and his vehicle after visiting the Chinese hospital in Kandahar in 2002. "Irregular Afghanistan troops found the detainee on the street in Kandahar City and held him. The detainee was turned over to US forces."

The only reason given for Prisoner 347's internment was "because he was a Mullah, who led prayers at Manu Mosque in Kandahar province, Afghanistan ... which placed him in a position to have special knowledge of the Taliban". The US soldiers eventually released him, after more than a year's captivity, deciding he had no intelligence value and "does not pose a future threat to the US or US interests".

Other Afghans taken to Guantánamo included a taxi driver, shipped to the base "because of his general knowledge of activities in the areas of Khowst and Kabul based as a result of his frequent travels through the region as a taxi driver"; two detainees brought for their knowledge of conditions of prisons run by the Northern Alliance; and, perversely, several Taliban conscripts for their knowledge of conscription techniques. Others ended up at the base through a result of corruption in the Afghan or Pakistan authorities. Mukhtar Anaje was sent to Guantánamo in 2003 after allegedly masterminding an ambush thats killed two US soldiers in Helmand. The intelligence behind his transfer came from Dad Mohammad Khan, chief of intelligence in the province.

But by September 2004, US forces concluded Anaje had been set up. "It appears his capture by Afghan militia forces (AMF) and subsequent handover to US forces was based on fraudulent claims given by AMF personnel themselves," states a file note recommending him for release.

Guess most of the other headlines speak for themselves:

Guantánamo Bay files: Binyam Mohamed held on torture 'confessions' | World news | guardian.co.uk - Guantánamo Bay files: Binyam Mohamed held on torture 'confessions'; Fellow captive Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded until he named British resident as 'dirty bomb' plotter

Guantánamo Bay files: Star informer freed after implicating 123 prisoners | World news | The Guardian - Guantánamo Bay files: Star informer freed after implicating 123 prisoners; Mohammed Basardah rewarded despite unsupported claims and interrogators' doubts about sheer number of names he gave up


Guantánamo Bay files: China among regimes invited to interrogate captives | World news | The Guardian - Guantánamo Bay files: China among regimes invited to interrogate captives; Foreign intelligence services from a host of repressive governments were brought in to identify and question suspects


And an excellent "background" op-ed on the subject, before the release: What the Guantanamo leaks won't reveal - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

America, the Beautiful!

interrogation techniques and torture methods, which are mostly conveniently ignored.

And no mention of the fact that a gitmo detainee gains 25 pounds because they are fed so well. they get all there rotten teeth pulled and fixed not to mention the free medical care. How about we compare gitmo to this place Pelican Bay State Prison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or even Harris county jail here in Houston. Those haji's never had it so good.

 

[bucs90]

Wasn't Gitmo supposed to be closed by 01-20-2010???? WTF happened?

 

[Momanohedhunter]

Wasn't Gitmo supposed to be closed by 01-20-2010???? WTF happened?

Well they realized that we dont have a better place to store thees guys while they wait to be shipped to Egypt to be tortured under rendition. Wonder who Obama uses now that Egypt is closed for business ?

 

[bucs90]

Wasn't Gitmo supposed to be closed by 01-20-2010???? WTF happened?

Well they realized that we dont have a better place to store thees guys while they wait to be shipped to Egypt to be tortured under rendition. Wonder who Obama uses now that Egypt is closed for business ?

I heard he's gonna make them sit through speeches by Michelle Obama on the need to eat healthy and run around for exercise. Thats all I fucking hear on the radio now, 10X an hour, Michelle's "letsmove dot gov" commercials, and it's fucking torturing me.

 

[Momanohedhunter]

Wasn't Gitmo supposed to be closed by 01-20-2010???? WTF happened?

Well they realized that we dont have a better place to store thees guys while they wait to be shipped to Egypt to be tortured under rendition. Wonder who Obama uses now that Egypt is closed for business ?

I heard he's gonna make them sit through speeches by Michelle Obama on the need to eat healthy and run around for exercise. Thats all I fucking hear on the radio now, 10X an hour, Michelle's "letsmove dot gov" commercials, and it's fucking torturing me.

I feel you. Lets look at this old bastard here-

But the internal files on some prisoners paint a very different picture. A 2002 assessment of Guantánamo's oldest prisoner, Mohammed Sadiq, who was then 89, revealed dementia, depression and sickness. "His current medical issues include major depressive disorder, senile dementia and osteoarthritis, for which he receives prescribed treatment." The Afghan national was also being assessed for prostate cancer.-

I wonder how thees ailments ailments would be addressed in the American penal system.

 

[slukasiewski]

We "mistreated" filthy Muslim terrorists in GTMO?

So what's the problem?

 

[Momanohedhunter]

We "mistreated" filthy Muslim terrorists in GTMO?

So what's the problem?

Thats the claim, but if there treatment were to be compared to how Americans are treated in county jail or prison I bet that they would want them closed to.

 

[Sunni Man]

We "mistreated" filthy Muslim terrorists in GTMO?

So what's the problem?

Because most are innocent .

 

[slukasiewski]

We "mistreated" filthy Muslim terrorists in GTMO?

So what's the problem?

Because most are innocent .

Where did you obtain this information?

 

[Momanohedhunter]

We "mistreated" filthy Muslim terrorists in GTMO?

So what's the problem?

Because most are innocent .

Thats what they say in prison and jail to.

 

[editec]

GITMO is an affront to the concept of a civil society.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

We "mistreated" filthy Muslim terrorists in GTMO?

So what's the problem?

Because most are innocent .

If most are innocent why doesn't obama release them? After all he is commander and chief, and he was a constitutional law "professor" Why hasn't he closed gitmo?

 

[washamericom]

niedermeyer DEAD...wormer...DEAD....assange....

 

[bripat9643]

Wasn't Gitmo supposed to be closed by 01-20-2010???? WTF happened?

Well they realized that we dont have a better place to store thees guys while they wait to be shipped to Egypt to be tortured under rendition. Wonder who Obama uses now that Egypt is closed for business ?

Isn't Obama going to give them habeas corpus and all the other rights that Americans enjoy? What happened to trials in New York where the perps can taunt their victims?

 

[bripat9643]

We "mistreated" filthy Muslim terrorists in GTMO?

So what's the problem?

Because most are innocent .

That must be why they get picked up on the battlefield after they are released.

 

[bripat9643]

GITMO is an affront to the concept of a civil society.

So is the Taliban and Al Queda.

 

[Dr.Drock]

The more and more of this stuff that comes out, the more and more heroic the men who leaked this information become.

 

[editec]

GITMO is an affront to the concept of a civil society.

So is the Taliban and Al Queda.

Agreed.

But they do not claim to love freedom.

In fact they make it very clear that they are are seeking to create a theocratic (read completely UNFREE) society.