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The U.S. Department of Defense - The Guantánamo Bay Concentration Camp

 

Background

Media Reports

Government Reports

Interrogation Reports

Legal Documents

Photo Credits

 

Newest media report: George W. Bush Could Pardon Spies Involved in Torture (15/11/2008/Daily Telegraph)

Newest government report: Human Rights Annual Report 2007 (9/7/2008/U.K. Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee)

Newest legal document: Opinion of the Court (12/6/2008/Boumediene et al vs. Bush et al)

 

Background

 

“[…] ‘I was in extreme pain and so weak that I could barely stand. It was freezing cold and I was shaking like a washing machine. They questioned me at gunpoint and told me that if I confessed I could go home.

 

“‘They had already searched me and my cell twice that day, gone through my stuff, touched my Koran, felt my body around my private parts. And now they wanted to do it again, just to provoke me, but I said no, because if you submit to everything you turn into a zombie.

 

“'I heard a guard talking into his radio, ‘ERF, ERF, ERF,’ and I knew what was coming - the Extreme Reaction Force. The five cowards, I called them - five guys running in with riot gear. They pepper-sprayed me in the face and I started vomiting; in all I must have brought up five cupfuls. They pinned me down and attacked me, poking their fingers in my eyes, and forced my head into the toilet pan and flushed. They tied me up like a beast and then they were kneeling on me, kicking and punching. Finally they dragged me out of the cell in chains, into the rec yard, and shaved my beard, my hair, my eyebrows.’

 

“Tarek Dergoul, a British citizen born and brought up in east London and released without charge after almost two years at Guantanamo Bay, was describing one of many alleged assaults he says he suffered in American custody. […] Dergoul’s testimony suggests that Guantanamo hides another terrible secret - proof, in the shape of hundreds of videos shot by US guards, that here, too, America’s war against terror has led to wanton brutality against helpless detainees. […]”

 

Excerpt from an article of the “Observer” from May 16th, 2004.

Camp Delta at the Guantánamo Naval Base

 

Related Media Reports

 

November 15th, 2008 - George W. Bush Could Pardon Spies Involved in Torture

1 news article by Daily Telegraph

 

November 10th, 2008 - Obama Plans US Terror Trials to Replace Guantanamo

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

October 15th, 2008 - CIA Tactics Endorsed In Secret Memos

1 news article by the Washington Post

 

September 4th, 2008 - Mexico Drug Plane Used for US ‘Rendition’ Flights: Report

2 news articles by Agence France Presse & CounterPunch

 

August 18th, 2008 - Marine Lawyer has Sought Judicial Reform

1 news article by the San Diego Union-Tribune

 

June 22nd, 2008 - Inside a 9/11 Mastermind’s Interrogation

1 news article by the New York Times

 

June 13th, 2008 - Justices Say Detainees Can Seek Release

2 news articles by the Washington Post & Agence France Presse

 

June 6th, 2008 - British Judge Sets Hearing on Evidence for Detainee

1 news article by the New York Times

 

May 24th, 2008 - US Secretary of State Rice Defends Torture at Google Event

1 news article by World Socialist Web Site

 

April 21st, 2008 - Torture Victim’s Records Lost at Guantánamo, Admits Camp General

1 news article by the Guardian

 

April 2nd, 2008 - U.S. and Britain at Odds Over Guantánamo Inmate

1 news article by the New York Times

 

February 6th, 2008 - AP Confirms Secret Camp Inside Gitmo

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

January 14th, 2008 - Joint Chiefs Chairman: Close Guantanamo

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

October 4th, 2007 - Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations

1 news article by the New York Times

 

July 21st, 2007 - Court Tells U.S. to Reveal Data on Detainees at Guantánamo

2 news articles by the New York Times

 

June 5th, 2007 - Military Judges Dismiss Charges for 2 Detainees

1 news article by New York Times

 

May 31st, 2007 - Death of Guantanamo Detainee Is Apparent Suicide, Military Says

1 news article by the Washington Post

 

April 30th, 2007 - Guantanamo Lawyers Predict More Suicides

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

February 20th, 2007 - Guantanamo Detainees Can’t Challenge Cases in U.S. Courts

1 news article by the Washington Post

 

February 14th, 2007 - Bush Order Allows Guantanamo Trials to Move Ahead

1 news article by Reuters

 

February 3rd, 2007 - Life Harsher in New Guantanamo Unit

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

January 4th, 2007 - Pentagon Says Abuses Already Investigated

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

January 3rd, 2007 - FBI Details Possible Detainee Abuse

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

December 16th, 2006 - Military Taking a Tougher Line With Detainees

1 news article by New York Times

 

November 17th, 2006 - U.S. Military Plans New Compound for Trials

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

November 4th, 2006 - U.S. Seeks to Silence Terror Suspect

1 news article by the Associated Press

 

October 18th, 2006 - Regret and Resentment at Guantanamo

1 news article by BBC News

 

October 17th, 2006 - Bush Signs Bill Setting Detainee Rules

2 news articles by the New York Times & Reuters

 

October 17th, 2006 - U.S. Faces Obstacles To Freeing Detainees

2 news articles by the Washington Post & Reuters

 

October 15th, 2006 - Marine Corps Issues Gag Order in Detainee Abuse Case

1 news article by the Los Angeles Times

 

October 15th, 2006 - Expecting U.S. Help, Sent to Guantánamo

1 news article by the New York Times

 

October 13th, 2006 - Southern Command to Probe Gitmo Charges

3 news articles by the Associated Press (2) & the Washington Post

 

October 7th, 2006 - Pentagon to Probe Gitmo Beatings Claim

2 news articles by the Associated Press & the Los Angeles Times

 

October 6th, 2006 - Prisoner Abuse by U.S. Guantanamo Guards Described

2 news articles by Reuters & the Associated Press

 

October 1st, 2006 - Detainee Memo Created Divide in White House

2 news articles by the New York Times & Bahrain Daily News

 

September 29th, 2006 - Senate Approves Broad New Rules to Try Detainees

3 news articles by the New York Times, the Associated Press & Reuters

 

September 22nd, 2006 - Top Republicans Reach an Accord on Detainee Bill

1 new article by the New York Times

 

September 16th, 2006 - Military Lawyers Caught in Middle on Tribunals

1 news article by the New York Times

 

September 10th, 2006 - At a Secret Interrogation, Dispute Flared Over Tactics

1 news article by the New York Times

 

July 13th, 2006 - White House Prods Congress to Curb Detainee Rights

1 news article by the New York Times

 

June 29th, 2006 - Supreme Court Blocks Bush, Gitmo War Trials

2 news articles by the Associated Press and the Washington Post

 

June 18th, 2006 - How US hid the suicide secrets of Guantanamo

1 news article by the Observer

 

June 12th, 2006 -  Prisoners’ Ruse Is Suspected at Guantánamo

3 news articles by the Guardian, New York Times and Al Jazeera

 

June 11th 2006 -  Three Prisoners commit Suicide at Guantánamo

2 news articles by the New York Times and the Washington Post

 

May 16th, 2004 - US Guards ‘Filmed Beatings’ at Terror Camp

1 news article by the Observer

 

Government Reports

 

July 9th, 2008 - Human Rights Annual Report 2007

Report by the U.K. House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee

 

“[…] 74. The FCO report states that it is the Government’s position that the circumstances in which detainees are held indefinitely are ‘unacceptable’ and that it firmly believes the detention facility ‘should close’. It welcomes ‘President Bush’s commitment to close the detention facility as soon as practicable’. However, Human Rights Watch’s submission notes that ‘in fact, President Bush has now stated that he will not do so, and that he will leave Guantánamo for the next President to deal with’. The FCO report notes some outstanding concerns with the US Military Commissions Act 2006 (which aims to bring about the trial of some of the detainees), particularly relating to habeas corpus and the treatment of those acquitted. In what was seen as a coded criticism of the United States, the Foreign Secretary commented in February 2008 that ‘it’s very, very important that we always assert that our system of values is different from those who attacked the US’ on 9/11. […]

 

“77. We conclude that the European Union can and must do more to help the United States in bringing about the overdue closure of the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay. We welcome the Government’s representations on behalf of the five British residents in Guantanamo Bay. Given its decision to intervene in their cases, we recommend that the Government should express particular concern over the prospective trial of Binyam Mohamed under the Military Commissions Act and lobby strongly against any use of the death penalty if he is found guilty. We recommend that the Government should continue to press for the return of Binyam Mohamed and Shaker Aamer to the UK. […]”

 

May 2008 - A Review of the FBI’s Involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations

Report by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General (6,1 MB)

 

“[…] Our report found that after FBI agents in GTMO and other military zones were confronted with interrogators from other agencies who used more aggressive interrogation techniques than the techniques that the FBI had successfully employed for many years, the FBI decided that it would not participate in joint interrogations of detainees with other agencies in which techniques not allowed by the FBI were used.

 

“Our review determined that the vast majority of FBI agents complied with FBI interview policies and separated themselves from interrogators who used non-FBI techniques. In a few instances, FBI agents used or participated in interrogations during which techniques were used that would not normally be permitted in the United States. These incidents were infrequent and were sometimes related to the unfamiliar circumstances agents encountered in the military zones. They in no way resembled the incidents of detainee mistreatment that occurred at Abu Ghraib.

 

“However, FBI agents continued to witness interrogation techniques by other agencies that caused them concern. Some of these concerns were reported to their supervisors, which sometimes resulted in friction between FBI and the military over the use of these interrogation techniques on detainees. Some FBI agents concerns were resolved directly by the agents working with their military counterparts, while other concerns were never reported. Ultimately, however, the DOD made the decisions regarding which interrogation techniques could be used on the detainees in military zones. In our report, we describe the types of techniques that FBI employees reported to their supervisors. […]”

 

February 6th, 2008 - Detainee Operations - JP 3-63

Military Doctrine by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (1,2 MB)

 

“[…] 4. Detainee Categories

 

“The DOD definition of the word ‘detainee’ includes any person captured, detained, or otherwise under the control of DOD personnel (military, civilian, or contract employee) […]. It does not include persons being held primarily for law enforcement purposes except where the United States is the occupying power. As a matter of policy, all detainees will be treated as EPWs until some other legal status is determined by competent authority. During the course of operations classified by the United States as international armed conflicts, captured opposition personnel who satisfy the criteria enumerated in the GPW will be granted the appropriate status as a matter of law. Detaining officials must recognize that detained enemy combatants who have not satisfied the applicable criteria in GPW will have a status as unlawful ECs, but are still entitled to humane treatment. The inhumane treatment of detainees is prohibited and is not justified by the stress of combat or deep provocation.

 

“a. Enemy Combatant. In general, a person engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners during an armed conflict. The term ‘enemy combatant’ includes both ‘lawful enemy combatants’ and ‘unlawful enemy combatants.’

 

“(1) Lawful ECs, who are entitled to protections under the GPW, include members of the regular armed forces of a state party to the conflict; militia, volunteer corps, and organized resistance movements belonging to a state party to the conflict, which are under responsible command, wear a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance, carry their arms openly, and abide by the laws of war; and, members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the detaining power. Lawful combatants are EPWs upon capture, and are entitled to ‘combatant immunity’ for their lawful pre-capture warlike acts. They may be prosecuted, however, for violations of the law of war. If so prosecuted, they still retain their status as EPWs.

 

“(2) Unlawful ECs are persons not entitled to combatant immunity, who engage in acts against the United States or its coalition partners in violation of the laws and customs of war during an armed conflict or who support such acts. For purposes of the war on terrorism, the term unlawful EC is defined to include, but is not limited to, an individual who is or was part of or supporting Taliban or al Qaeda forces or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.

 

“b. Enemy Prisoner of War. Individual under the custody and/or control of the DOD according to Articles 4 and 5 of the GPW. […]”

 

July 20th, 2007 -  Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3

Executive Order by the U.S. White House

 

February 14th, 2007 - Executive Order Trial of Alien Unlawful Enemy Combatants by Military Commission

Press Release by the U.S. White House

 

October 17th, 2006 - President Bush Signs Military Commissions Act of 2006

Press Release by the U.S. White House

 

September 28th, 2006 - Military Commissions Act of 2006

Act of U.S. Congress proposed to the U.S. President for acceptance

 

September 6th, 2006 - Summary of the High Value Terrorist Detainee Program

Report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence

 

September 5th, 2006 - The Department of Defense Detainee Program

Directive by the U.S. Department of Defense

 

September 2006 - FM 2-22.3 Human Intelligence Collector Operations

Field Manual by the U.S. Department of the Army

 

May 15th, 2006 - List of Individuals Detained at Guantánamo Bay from Jan 2002 through May 15, 2006

Report by the U.S. Department of Defense

 

February 15th, 2006 - Situation of Detainees at Guantánamo Bay

Report by the Commission on Human Rights, United Nations

 

“[…] 25. Many of the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay were captured in places where there was – at the time of their arrest – no armed conflict involving the United States. The case of the six men of Algerian origin detained in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 2001 is a well-known and well-documented example,24 but also numerous other detainees have been arrested under similar circumstances where international humanitarian law did not apply. The legal provision allowing the United States to hold belligerents without charges or access to counsel for the duration of hostilities can therefore not be invoked to justify their detention. […]”

 

March 28th, 2003 - Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

Report by the Joint Task Force - Guantanamo (JTF - GTMO) (4,3 MB)

 

“[…] a. This standard operating procedure (SOP) provides policy, procedures, and responsibilities for the security, administration, and treatment of detainees in custody at Camp Delta. This SOP also establishes procedures for transfer of custody from Camp Delta. […]”

 

March 14th, 2003 - Re: Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside the U. S.

Memorandum by U.S. Department of Justice (5,9 MB)

 

“[…] You have asked our Office to examine the legal standards governing military interrogations of alien unlawful combatants held outside the United States. You have requested that we examine both· domestic and international law that might be applicable to the conduct of those interrogations.

 

“In Part I, we conclude that the Fifth and Eighth Amendments, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, do not extend to alien enemy combatants held abroad. In Part II, we examine federal criminal law. We explain that several canons of construction apply here. Those canons of construction indicate that federal criminal laws of general applicability do not apply to properly authorized interrogations of enemy combatants, undertaken by military personnel in the course of an armed conflict. Such criminal statutes, if they were misconstrued to apply to the interrogation of enemy combatants, would conflict with the Constitution’s grant of the Commander in Chief power solely to the President. […]

 

“Third, we examine the applicability of customary international law. We conclude that as an expression of state practice, customary intemational law cannot impose a standard that differs from U.S. obligations under CAT, a recent multilateral treaty on the same subject. In any event, our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the President is free to override it at his discretion. […]”

 

 

Interrogation Reports

 

January 2nd, 2007 - Documents related to internal Guantanamo Bay Inquiry

Report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (5,2 MB)

 

June 7th, 2002 - Investigative FBI Report on Prisoner Abuse at Camp Delta

 

“[…] [censored] was interviewed at Camp Delta, present for the interview were SA [special agent] FBI, SA [censored] Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) [censored] linguist [censored] provided the following information, translated by:

 

“[censored] stated he had been beaten unconscious approximately three or four weeks ago when he was still at Camp X-Ray. According to [censored] an unknown number of guards entered his cell, unprovoked, and started spitting and cursing at him. The guards called him a ‘son of a bitch,’ and a ‘bastard,’ then told him he was crazy.

 

“[censored] rolled on his stomach to protect himself, [censored] stated a soldier named [censored] jumped on his back and started beating him in the face. [censored] then choked him until he passed out. [censored] stated that [censored] was beating him because [censored] is a muslim, and [censored] is christian. [censored] indicated there was a female guard named [censored] who was also beating him and grabbed his head and beat it into the cell floor.

 

“[censored] stated that all the soldiers were aware of his [censored] problems, and he was taken to the hospital following the beating, where he received an IV and treatment for his facial wounds. [censored] claimed the camp warden, who is a tall african american male, visited him at the hospital and told the doctors to immediately return him to the camp. [censored] reported the aforementioned incident to two Red Cross representatives at Camp Delta, who he identified as [censored] and [censored]. [censored] stated he did not do anything to cause the guards to enter his cell, and did everything they instructed him to do. [censored] had what appeared to be a recent wound on the bridge of his nose.

 

“[censored] stated that he was put in an isolated cell after he was involved in a dispute over food givent to him. [censored] stated that he is unable to eat certain foods, and was placed in isolation after arguing with a guard. […]”

 

 

Legal Documents

 

June 12th, 2008 - Lakhdar Boumediene et al vs. George W. Bush et al - Opinion of the Court

U.S. Supreme Court

 

“[…] Petitioners are aliens designated as enemy combatantsand detained at the United States Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There are others detained there, also aliens, who are not parties to this suit.

 

“Petitioners present a question not resolved by our earlier cases relating to the detention of aliens at Guantanamo: whether they have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus, a privilege not to be withdrawn except inconformance with the Suspension Clause, Art. I, § 9, cl. 2. We hold these petitioners do have the habeas corpus privilege. Congress has enacted a statute, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA), 119 Stat. 2739, that provides certain procedures for review of the detainees’ status. We hold that those procedures are not an adequate and effective substitute for habeas corpus. Therefore § 7 of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), 28 U. S. C. A. §2241(e) (Supp. 2007), operates as an unconstitutional suspension of the writ.

 

“We do not address whether the President has authority to detain these petitioners nor do we hold that the writ must issue. These and other questions regarding the legality of the detention are to be resolved in the first instance by the District Court. […]”

 

February 20th, 2007 - Lakhdar Boumediene et al vs. George W. Bush et al - Opinion

U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia

 

June 29th, 2006 - Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al - Opinion

U.S. Supreme Court

 

“[…] Pursuant to Congress’ Joint Resolution authorizing the President to ‘use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided’ the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda terrorist attacks (AUMF), U. S. Armed Forces invaded Afghanistan. During the hostilities, in 2001, militia forces captured petitioner Hamdan, a Yemeni national, and turned him over to the U. S. military, which, in 2002, transported him to prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Over a year later, the President deemed Hamdan eligible for trial by military commission for then-unspecified crimes. After another year, he was charged with conspiracy ‘to commit ... offenses triable by military commission.’ […]

 

“The military commission at issue lacks the power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949. […] (a) The commission’s procedures, set forth in Commission OrderNo. 1, provide, among other things, that an accused and his civilian counsel may be excluded from, and precluded from ever learning what evidence was presented during, any part of the proceeding the official who appointed the commission or the presiding officer decides to ‘close.’ Grounds for closure include the protection of classified information, the physical safety of participants and witnesses, the protection of intelligence and law enforcement sources, methods, or activities, and ‘other national security interests.’ Appointed military defense counsel must be privy to these closed sessions, but may, at the presiding officer’s discretion, be forbidden to reveal to the client what took place therein.

 

“Another striking feature is that the rules governing Hamdan’s commission permit the admission of any evidence that, in the presiding officer’s opinion, would have probative value to a reasonable person. Moreover, the accused and his civilian counsel may be denied access to classified and other ‘protected information,’ so long as the presiding officer concludes that the evidence is ‘probative’ and that its admission without the accused’s knowledge would not result in the denial of a full and fair trial. […]”

 

Photo Credits

 

1) Guantánamo Bay, Camp Delta - April 5th, 2006 - Brennan Linsley/AP;

2) Guantánamo Bay, Camp Delta - June 25th, 2005 - Haraz Ghanbari/AP;

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