New Guantánamo Papers Show Massive Egg on the Face of US

New Guantánamo Papers Show Massive Egg on the Face of US

On April 24, 2011, hundreds of classified documents regarding the U.S. military prison camp maintained by Washington in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were released to The New York Times and National Public Radio (NPR). The documents had originally been turned over to WikiLeaks, but both media organizations contend that WikiLeaks was not their source. Among the documents distributed were the profiles of several prominent inmates of the facility, reports regarding life at the prison, and a “threat matrix” that clarifies how to classify different inmates based upon their individual risk levels. The release of these documents turned out to be a massive embarrassment to the United States and should have been a wake-up call, adding to the growing list of arguments to expedite the termination of the institution. This debate will likely intensify with the gunning down of Osama bin Laden on May 2.

The “threat matrix” in particular exemplifies how unrefined the detainment process was at the infamous facility. This two-page document gives recommendations on whether an inmate should be indefinitely held, transferred somewhere else, or be released, according to his “risk” level and any information the detainee was thought to possess. The document also gives some recommendations on categorizing a prisoner into a “risk” level, incorporating vague language such as “he may have been” or “he does not appear,” often making evaluations a subjective endeavor.1 By using an overly simplistic and poorly defined method like the “threat matrix” to characterize the inmates, the final classification of prisoners was largely left to the discretion of the prison guards and their personal, often rudimentary beliefs about the detainees. Even if a prisoner was classified as “low risk,” yet was determined to have high intelligence value, the matrix would recommend that he should remain in captivity at Guantánamo.

Shamefully, documented cases have proven that even this oversimplified matrix was more often than not mishandled. Several reports indicate that innocent men have been incarcerated, and that officials at Guantánamo recorded their awareness of the men’s innocence. Despite this knowledge, these innocent detainees remained in prison for several months afterwards.2 Other instances indicated that some allegedly high-risk inmates had been incorrectly assessed. However, cases of innocent detainees were more numerous than the release of high-risk prisoners. These cases distracted the public from the reality of the mass incarceration of innocent people that had been a daily phenomenon. As Scott Shane and Benjamin Weiser of The New York Times put it, “For every case of an Abdullah Mehsud—someone wrongly judged a minimal threat—there are several instances in which prisoners rated ‘high-risk’ were released and have not engaged in wrongdoing.”3

Such erratic risk analysis most likely stems from an additional document that outlines how to assess the danger posed by a specific prisoner. According to the report, potential signs of danger include: wearing a Casio F91W watch, traveling without documents, claiming to be a farmer, cook, or in the honey business, and being uncooperative.4 Another document described the ways that a detainee might try to obfuscate the results of interrogation sessions. For example, an uncooperative prisoner might summarize answers, speak slowly, and ask an interrogator to repeat their questions.5 These documents render anything and everything suspicious, certainly leading many detainees to be falsely labeled “high-risk.”

Another reason that a detainee may be incorrectly classified is because Guantánamo officials often relied on the testimony of other prisoners to incriminate suspected terrorists. Some of these testimonies might be given under extreme circumstances such as torture, and other prisoners possibly gave false information as a means of setting officials down the wrong path. The testimony of Abu Zubayda, an Al-Qaeda member who was waterboarded, has been used in the assessments of over 100 prisoners, but has been thrown out in several court cases due to Zubayada’s unreliability.6 In other cases, the testimony of mentally ill prisoners may be used in risk assessments, calling into question the validity of their statements and the reports derived from them.7

Other documents that were released outlined the harsh treatment that some prisoners have endured. The most prominent example was that of Mohammed Qahtani, a Saudi that was believed to have intended to, but did not, participate in the September 11 attacks. He had been leashed, stripped naked, and forced to urinate on himself in a heinous act of humiliation.8

From problems of habeas corpus, to torture issues, and now to the credibility of the institution to identify suspects correctly, this facility has been the subject of numerous embarrassments for the United States. With Guantánamo prompting so many issues, President Obama needs to fulfill his original pledge and finally shut down what is widely seen as a deplorable institution.

This analysis was prepared by Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Research Associate Tim Bearden.

http://www.coha.org

ENDS

© Scoop Media