Who's In Guantanamo, Anyway?
The National Journal has another great reported piece on the 'enemy combatants' detained in Guantanamo. After sifting through unclassified files of 132 detainees, and transcripts for 314 prisoners who had plead their case before the military tribunals, the National Journal found little evidence that the administration is detaining terrorists.
According to the magazine, "The government's documents tie only eight of the 132 men directly to plans for terrorists attacks outside of Afghanistan." Of those eight, one, an Australian, says he confessed under torture and has been released to Australia; another, a Brit, was 'cleared after a few hours of questioning in London.' The other six turn out to be Bosnians, accused of planning an attack on the American Embassy, but who's charges had been dropped by a Bosnian judge just before the US seize them anyways.
The grab-bag character of the Guantanamo detainees is further evidence that the administration is constantly stubbing its toe as it prances around the world. It is not merely that the administration is incompetent, but that it has deployed a massive apparatus wholly out of proportion to the nature and extent of the threat. Not encountering many straightforward enemies, the government has turned the thinnest of rumors, vaguest of conjectures and weakest of associations into evidence of participation in terrorist plots, and grounds for indefinite detention.*
*See here and here for a follow up National Journal article and op-ed, with profiles of various defense lawyers and a few prisoners. One quote from the article 'The lawyers representing Guantanamo prisoners say the evidence against their clients is weak, indirect, and often based on lies from other detainees. Defense Department documents suggest their right.' These aren't ideologically committed ACLU lawyers, but rather an array of attorneys from mainstream firms who arrived without strong, pre-formed ideas about the nature of the cases. (Thanks to Political Theory Daily for alerting us to these National Journal links.)
According to the magazine, "The government's documents tie only eight of the 132 men directly to plans for terrorists attacks outside of Afghanistan." Of those eight, one, an Australian, says he confessed under torture and has been released to Australia; another, a Brit, was 'cleared after a few hours of questioning in London.' The other six turn out to be Bosnians, accused of planning an attack on the American Embassy, but who's charges had been dropped by a Bosnian judge just before the US seize them anyways.
The grab-bag character of the Guantanamo detainees is further evidence that the administration is constantly stubbing its toe as it prances around the world. It is not merely that the administration is incompetent, but that it has deployed a massive apparatus wholly out of proportion to the nature and extent of the threat. Not encountering many straightforward enemies, the government has turned the thinnest of rumors, vaguest of conjectures and weakest of associations into evidence of participation in terrorist plots, and grounds for indefinite detention.*
*See here and here for a follow up National Journal article and op-ed, with profiles of various defense lawyers and a few prisoners. One quote from the article 'The lawyers representing Guantanamo prisoners say the evidence against their clients is weak, indirect, and often based on lies from other detainees. Defense Department documents suggest their right.' These aren't ideologically committed ACLU lawyers, but rather an array of attorneys from mainstream firms who arrived without strong, pre-formed ideas about the nature of the cases. (Thanks to Political Theory Daily for alerting us to these National Journal links.)
2 Comments:
For me, this is actually the most interesting tidbit that comes out of the article:
"Most are from Arab countries, and most were arrested in Pakistan by Pakistani authorities." I wish the article gave some sense as to the selection criteria for this sample of 137 cases.
To the extent it is reliable, it seems to confirm that the operating logic of GWOT, if there is one, is to go after "Muslims out of place" -- automatically classed as those ubiquitous "foreign fighters" we hear so much about in Iraq and elsewhere (as opposed to the other foreign fighters, i.e. "international/coalition forces"). Whether intentionally or not, the target ends up being anything resembeling transnational political activity -- fighting, journalism, aid work, trade -- not sanctioned by the powers that be.
The last human rights first update says:
Meanwhile, a new report that compiles Pentagon data on the more than 500 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, profiles the prisoners. Among the findings, the report notes that half of the detainees held were found not to have committed any hostile acts against U.S. coalition forces, and only eight percent are considered fighters for a terrorist group. Read more.
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