From Witness against Torture
Wikileaks files reveal corrupt system of detention
The hundreds of classified “Joint Task Force” documents distributed by
/Wikileaks/ to /The New York Times/, /National Public Radio/, /The
Telegraph/, /McClatcheys/ and other news organization confirm what
critics of the detention camp at Guantanamo have long maintained: that
men are detained there based on a patchwork of insinuations, Orwellian
double-think, and pseudo-evidence contaminated by torture and an
internal system that rewards detainees for speaking against their fellow
captives.The prison should therefore be closed, with a fair judicial
process — and not the notoriously unreliable assessments of the US
military — used to weigh actual evidence in determining the fate of
the detained men.
“The /Wikileaks/ documents further reveal Guantanamo as a full systems
failure that spans two administrations and implicates every branch of
government,” says Matt Daloisio of Witness Against Torture. “If there is
any hope to ending the Guantanamo nightmare, it must be found in a time
tested system of law instead of fear-driven politics that has led the
Congress, the Executive, and the Judiciary to imprison innocent men,
justify cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and fail at holding
anyone accountable.”
While recording detainees’ minor transgressions of camp policy, the
files make scant mention of the abuse — including physical torture —
that many suffered at American hands.They describe as suicides the
deaths in 2006 of three detained men that, independent evidence suggest,
may have been the result of torture.And they reveal that the testimony
of unreliable witnesses and informants has repeatedly been used to
justify continued detentions.
“Internal assessments like these have been terribly unreliable, as case
after case has shown, and as the high percentage of successful habeas
challenges suggests,” says Jeremy Varon on Witness Against Torture.
“It’s time to turn the page on this dreadful interrogation camp.It can
never be reconciled with the law and the values Americans profess.It
must close.”
Witness Against Torturedemands:
* Close the prison at Guantánamo Bay;
* Free all prisoners who have been cleared for release, ensuring
their safe resettlement and providing asylum in the U.S. for those
unable to go elsewhere;
* Produce charges against all other prisoners and prosecute them in
U.S. courts;
* Open all detention centers to outside scrutiny. That includes
accepting the oversight of the International Committee of the Red
Cross of all facilities; and
* Conduct a comprehensive criminal inquiry against all those who
designed and carried out torture policies under the Bush
administration.
Who We Are:In December 2005, Witness Against Torture drew international
attention when its members walked to Guantánamo Bay to protest at the
prison. Since its return, the group has organized vigils, marches,
nonviolent direct actions, and educational events opposing torture and
calling for the close of Guantánamo.
