Guantánamo is an insult to human civilisation — and American values — but it has survived as a prison for nearly a decade largely because successive U.S. administrations have peddled the myth that its cell blocks are a vital frontline in the global war against terror. So dangerous are the men ‘Gitmo' holds, it is claimed, that they can never be safely released from captivity or even afforded the protections of an open and transparent judicial process. This myth has now been exploded by the release and publication of more than 700 official Pentagon documents by WikiLeaks. The documents lay bare what U.S. military interrogators knew about the men they were holding. And though they do not tell us much about the interrogation techniques used at Guantánamo or the other prisons to which many were initially “rendered,” the files provide a damning insight into a chaotic and dysfunctional system that swept up individuals with no connection to al-Qaeda or terrorism and held them for months and even years at a stretch despite their innocence being apparent after a few weeks of detention. Of the 600-odd prisoners released since 2002, some turned out to have been press-ganged by the Taliban or al-Qaeda in the chaotic days following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, while others were framed by unreliable bounty-hunters.
Above all, the documents establish the ineffectiveness of the Guantánamo method as a means of fighting terror. Terrorism may be a special crime that requires special investigative tools but what the latest files reveal is the ad hoc and even experimental nature of the interrogation enterprise in which U.S. military personnel simply made up the rules as they went along. And the inefficiencies cut both ways: innocent men — including one Afghan as old as 89 — and children as young as 14 languished for long periods while potentially dangerous individuals, such as Abu Sufian Qumu of the al-Qaeda, were released. Qumu is now said to be leading a section of the Nato-backed rebels fighting against the Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi. Another interesting aspect of the documents is the place accorded to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate in the 2007 Joint Task Force Guantánamo Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants. Any link to the ISI or al-Qaida, Hamas, or Hizbollah, the document notes, should be considered an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity. This assessment points to the single biggest flaw in the U.S. approach to terrorism. When it is clear at the operational level that the problem lies in Pakistan and its ISI, facilities such as Guantánamo are, at best, a lawless, witch-doctorish attempt to treat the symptom without going after the root cause of the disease. In reality, we know Gitmo doesn't even treat the symptom. It corrodes the very attributes of human civilisation that the terrorists wish to destroy. There can be no substitute for due process and the rule of law, even for men accused of monstrous crimes. That is why Barack Obama once promised to shut the place down. The latest documents are a reminder of that unfulfilled promise. Bravo WikiLeaks.
This is for the people of America first and then to the whole world to rise to the occasion and realize that terrorism cannot be fought by doing such heinous crimes of detaining and killing innocent people. It really hurts to know that a democratic country like USA can have G-Bay for so long in existence. It is not just about the successive presidents but for the whole of America that it never went in protests against the existence of G-Bay. IT IS TIME THAT WE START BEING HUMANS.
Where is the outrage about human rights abuses in India? Seems like the Indian elite and journalists are more concerned about the US detaining 600 people in Guantanamo than the far greater number of atrocities being committed in Kashmir, Jharkhand and Northeast.We need to get our own house in order instead of acting like hypocrites. Ever wonder what a Wikileaks would expose about our own security and intelligence organisations??
Whatever the US Government is doing in the name of terrorism,its all rubbish and baseless things!!! The US Government always try to have monopoly over the world!!! We can easily predict it by seeing the history!!! Thanks Wiki leaks for these things in front of everyone!!
United States of America is the only nation in the whole world whose Foreign Policy is based on sole principle of self-interest, thus overhauling the whole meaning and structure of foreign policy tooth and nail. Time and again, USA has proved that it doesn't care for the principles such as liberty, equality and judiciousness which are enshrined in their constitution as reflected by the statue of liberty and often violates those principles in the means of biased treatment meted out to the citizens of other countries. Guantanamo is no exception. The horror which Indians in particular and South Asians in general have to experience in customs check at US airports reflects that ideology. India has far more terror experiences, but it hasn't resorted to such draconian measures. The hippocratic and high- handed behaviour of US policies result in the open support of terrorist states such as Pakistan as it talks of tackling terror. The US should realise that it is no longer the guardian of world politics as the deficit of the US budget is complemented by the whole world in form of devaluation of USD. The need of the hour is that developing countries should raise their voices against attrocities committed by the USA such as Guantanamo prison.
well done!!THE HINDU ..for bringing this report to light.Hats off to wikileaks...It has exposed the real picture of Usa.Progress on democratic front and economy is not all enough.A country needs to be sympathatic towards its citizens.treating terrorists or alleged in some other case in such a way is no way to eradivate terrorism.Inface by doing it US is tainting its own image and this way it is making those criminal bigger terrorists. As commented by previous person,our PM is pleased by good dinner offered to him by US president.
It is commonsense that the U.S is not alone in this kind of crime.It is therefore a pity that WikiLeaks has nothing to reveal on other countries.
The Americans are no saints and our PM by siding them as shown the myopic side of his nature.One good dinner from Obama was enough to turn our PM towards the US. The US has no respect for human beings. They care only for money and policies which help them to make more money.Yet we are fooling ourselves that the US are Champions of democracy and care for human values.
Bravo 'THE HINDU' for once again raising it's voice against the brutal, inhumane crimes of the American Imperialism of which the infamous Guantanamo is just the tip of the iceberg. The nastiest plots and conspiracies that the American Imperialism has always been proactively involved in destabilising the societies all throughout the world just for the solitary agenda of imposing it's hegemony virtually in every part of the globe - and the Guantanamo remains the glaringly spine-chilling instance literally slaughtering the Human civilization.
No Country is treats War Criminals in the proper way. And US is not an exemption. The things happening in SriLanka is also the same at the Guantanamo Bay. Compared to the western countries India is far better in treating the Terrorists. India consider them as human beings and also listen to their options which shows India is a Democritic Country. Excellant Job done by WikiLeaks.
Guantanamo and Abu Ghareb prison of Baghdad are two most heinous crimes against humanity. No matter of ablution can absolve these cruel sins from pages of American history and it will be remembered as a source of agression, humiliation and subjugation rather than tool fo justice and punishment.
Yet another expose on the tainted US 'war on terrorism'. Post-9/11, the enormous pressure to keep terrorism out of the country, and at the same time curb the wrong-doers has led America to take seemingly foolish and preposterous decisions. Decisions that have cost the lives and efforts of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent civilians who strove to make a better living in the 'land of opportunities', so to speak. Places like G-Bay, whose conduct and conditions are out of bounds from the rest of the world, be it American allies or Human Rights Organizations, paints a sorry picture on America's handling of such a sensitive issue. I compare the American response to terrorism as a small child's temper tantrum - an outburst of rage, wanting to destroy everything that was responsible for its present state of mind, and belittling the critical eyes of its onlookers. Wake up, America. You don't rule the whole world. Not just yet.
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