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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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October 6th, 2006 - Prisoner Abuse
by U.S. Guantanamo Guards Described |
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Prisoner Abuse by U.S.
Guantanamo Guards Described By Will Dunham Reuters Friday, October 6, 2006; 8:06 PM Washington - Guantanamo
guards described physically and mentally abusing detainees, including
slamming one's head into a cell door and denying them privileges merely to
anger them, a U.S. Marine said in a document made public on Friday. "Examples of this abuse
included hitting detainees, denying them water, and removal of privileges for
no reason," the Marine Corps sergeant stated in a sworn affidavit sent
to the Pentagon's inspector general's office for investigation. The affidavit, signed on Wednesday,
was provided by lawyers representing some of the approximately 455 foreign
terrorism suspects held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It
represents the latest in a series of allegations of abuse of Guantanamo
detainees by U.S. personnel. The name of the sergeant, a
female paralegal in a detainee criminal case, was blacked out. The sergeant
described an hourlong conversation with guards at a bar at the base on
September 23, but the affidavit mentioned only the first names of those accused
of taking part in the abuse. U.S. Navy Cmdr. Robert
Durand, a spokesman for the military task force running the Guantanamo
facility, said: "The mission of the Joint Task Force is the safe and
humane care and custody of detained enemy combatants. Abuse or harassment of
detainees in any form is not condoned or tolerated." "The Joint Task Force
will cooperate fully with the inspector general to learn the facts of the
matter and will take action where misconduct is discovered," Durand
added by e-mail. A Navy sailor named Bo told
of beating detainees. "One such story Bo told involved him taking a
detainee by the head and hitting the detainee's head into the cell
door," the sergeant wrote, adding that Bo stated that others at
Guantanamo knew of his actions and did not punish him. A guard named Steven said
that even when the conduct of detainees was good, guards would take away
personal items. "He said they do this to anger the detainees so they can
punish them when they object or complain," she stated. ‘A common practice’ The affidavit said about
five other guards talking at the bar admitted to hitting detainees, including
punching them in the face. "From the whole conversation, I understood
that striking detainees was a common practice. Everyone in the group laughed
at the others' stories of beating detainees," she wrote. Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, a
Marine lawyer assigned to defend a Canadian detainee, Omar Ahmed Khadr,
charged with murder, said in a memo to the inspector general's office that
the abuse described violated U.S. and international law. The United States has faced
international criticism over its indefinite detention of Guantanamo
detainees, many held more than four years without charges. The Pentagon
contends the facility is vital to detain and interrogate terrorism suspects
who might otherwise return to the battlefield. Wells Dixon, a lawyer
representing four current Guantanamo detainees, said the latest account of
abuse reflected a complete breakdown in the chain of command at Guantanamo
and a lack of accountability by senior military officials there. "The fact that members
of the U.S. Navy can sit around at a bar and laugh about beating detainees
for no reason is outrageous. We're one step away from Abu Ghraib (Iraq prison
abuse scandal) or possibly worse," Dixon said. © 2006 Reuters External link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100601368.html AP Learns Gitmo Guards Brag
of Beatings By Thomas Watkins Associated Press Friday, October 6, 2006 Camp Pendleton, Calif. - Guards
at Guantanamo Bay bragged about beating detainees and described it as common
practice, a Marine sergeant said in a sworn statement obtained by The
Associated Press. The two-page statement was
sent Wednesday to the Inspector General at the Department of Defense by a
high-ranking Marine Corps defense lawyer. The lawyer sent the
statement on behalf of a paralegal who said men she met on Sept. 23 at a bar
on the base identified themselves to her as guards. The woman, whose name was
blacked out, said she spent about an hour talking with them. No one was in
uniform, she said. A 19-year-old sailor
referred to only as Bo "told the other guards and me about him beating
different detainees being held in the prison," the statement said. "One such story Bo told
involved him taking a detainee by the head and hitting the detainee's head
into the cell door. Bo said that his actions were known by others," but
that he was never punished, the statement said. The paralegal was identified
in the affidavit as a sergeant working on an unidentified Guantanamo-related
case. The statement was provided
to the AP on Thursday night by Lt. Col. Colby Vokey. He is the Marine Corps'
defense coordinator for the western United States and based at Camp
Pendleton. A Guantanamo Bay spokesman
said the base would cooperate with any Pentagon investigation. A Pentagon
spokesman declined immediate comment. A call to the inspector general's
office was not immediately returned. Other guards "also told
their own stories of abuse towards the detainees" that included hitting
them, denying them water and "removing privileges for no reason." "About 5 others in the
group admitted hitting detainees" and that included "punching in
the face," the affidavit said. "From the whole
conversation, I understood that striking detainees was a common
practice," the sergeant wrote. "Everyone in the group laughed at
the others stories of beating detainees." Vokey called for an
investigation, saying the abuse alleged in the affidavit "is offensive
and violates United States and international law." Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand
condemned abuse or harassment of detainees and said he would cooperate fully
with the inspector general. "The mission of the
Joint Task Force is the safe and humane care and custody of detained enemy
combatants," he said. Guantanamo was
internationally condemned shortly after it opened more than four years ago
when pictures captured prisoners kneeling, shackled and being herded into
wire cages. That was followed by reports of prisoner abuse, heavy-handed
interrogations, hunger strikes and suicides. Military investigators said
in July 2005 they confirmed abusive and degrading treatment of a suspected
terrorist at Guantanamo Bay that included forcing him to wear a bra, dance
with another man and behave like a dog. However, the chief
investigator, Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt, said "no torture
occurred" during the interrogation of Mohamed al-Qahtani, a Saudi who
was captured in December 2001 along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Last month, U.N. human
rights investigators criticized the United States for failing to take steps
to close Guantanamo Bay, home to 450 detainees, including 14 terrorist suspects
who had been kept in secret CIA prisons around the world. Described as the most
dangerous of America's "war on terror" prisoners, fewer than a
dozen inmates have been charged with crimes. AP Writer Robert Jablon in
Los Angeles contributed to this report. External link:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/10/06/national/a092938D55.DTL |