Bush 'knew Guantanamo prisoners were innocent' - report

[Praxius]

Bush 'knew Guantanamo prisoners were innocent' - report | News.com.au

FORMER US president George W. Bush and his senior aides have been accused of covering up the innocence of many Guantanamo Bay detainees, amid fears releasing them could harm the "war on terror".

The allegations were made in a document by Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, once chief of staff to Bush's first secretary of state, Colin Powell, in a lawsuit filed by a former Guantanamo inmate and published by The Times in London.

Colonel Wilkerson alleged Bush's vice-president, Dick Cheney, and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld knew most detainees held at the US detention camp in 2002 were innocent but believed it was "politically impossible to release them".

They were also keen to avoid revealing the "incredibly confused" detention operation, Colonel Wilkerson said, claiming prisoners were often rounded up by Afghan and Pakistani forces in return for cash, with little or no evidence as to why.

He alleged then-vice-president Cheney "had absolutely no concern that the vast majority of Guantanamo detainees were innocent... If hundreds of innocent individuals had to suffer in order to detain a handful of hardcore terrorists, so be it."

Colonel Wilkerson, who according to The Times has been a long-time critic of the Bush administration's approach to counter-terrorism, said he discussed the issue with Powell, who left his job in 2005.

"I learnt that it was his view that it was not just vice-president Cheney and secretary Rumsfeld, but also president Bush who was involved in all of the Guantanamo decision-making," the newspaper reported him as saying.

Colonel Wilkerson's statement was filed in support of Adel Hassan Hamad, a Sudanese held at Guantanamo Bay from March 2003 until December 2007. He alleges he was tortured by US agents and filed a damages action on Thursday, The Times said.

About 183 detainees remain at the US military jail in Cuba, including dozens already cleared for release. Most have been held without charge or trial.

Well then.... thoughts?

It doesn't really surprise me personally.

 

[EagleSmack]

A whole bunch have been released.

Like I said..shut it down. Send that Canadian Omar Khadar back to his hero's welcome in Canada. Send the real bad ones to Leveanworth Kansas and that wonderful SuperMax in Marion, Illinois.

I can't understand why Obama hasn't done this yet. He promised he would. Strange.

 

[CDNBear]

Well then.... thoughts?

It doesn't really surprise me personally.

Doesn't surprise me either, and I once defended the existence of the detention center at Gitmo.

They were also keen to avoid revealing the "incredibly confused" detention operation, Colonel Wilkerson said, claiming prisoners were often rounded up by Afghan and Pakistani forces in return for cash, with little or no evidence as to why.

Pretty much how and why the French started the habit of paying a bounty for scalps in North America.

People will do all sorts of things for money. It seems to be a common theme.

 

[Icarus27k]

This doesn't surprise me. People (especially Americans) have to understand that the Bush administration just frantically set up the Gitmo prison even though they knew it was unconstitutional and doomed to be closed. Any intelligent American knew when Gitmo was set up in 2002 that it wouldn't pass the constitutional test and that the US courts would eventually get involved and they would order it closed.

President Bush keeping innocent people there on purpose would be completely consistent with his strategy of doing everything possible to extend the legal process. If someone challenged Gitmo in court, question their abilitiy to bring the case and question whether certain courts have jurisdiction to hear the cas. When a plantiff eventually makes it to a courtroom, draw out the case for as long as possible. When the plantiff eventually wins the case, appeal it to the next highest court, and draw that court review out as long as possible, and so on until Gitmo is closed.

For Bush it wasn't a matter if he could win the argument. Just how long he could keep the argument going until he eventually lost. Everybody knew it.

 

[EagleSmack]

Yeah, I just can't figure out why GITMO is still open. Obama said he would close it down but he has yet to do it.

It must serve some purpose for the Obama Administration.

 

[Cliffy]

Doesn't surprise me either, and I once defended the existence of the detention center at Gitmo.


Pretty much how and why the French started the habit of paying a bounty for scalps in North America.

People will do all sorts of things for money. It seems to be a common theme.

Not to be too nit picky but the Dutch actually instituted scalping in NA according to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Gitmo is just another in a long line of American atrocities going back to the revolution. Not that it is that much different than most other aggressive countries.

 

[CDNBear]

Not to be too nit picky but the Dutch actually instituted scalping in NA according to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

And there's yet another historical account of it being British. It's been hotly debated, with no real definitive consensus.

Scalping was actually here before the Europeans arrived though, it was in the context of monetary value, that I was speaking.

 

[eh1eh]

Yeah, I just can't figure out why GITMO is still open. Obama said he would close it down but he has yet to do it.

It must serve some purpose for the Obama Administration.

The ten years lease goes until August 31, 2011.

 

[EagleSmack]

The ten years lease goes until August 31, 2011.

Lease for what? The US has a perpetual lease at Guantanamo Bay.

 

[eh1eh]

Lease for what? The US has a perpetual lease at Guantanamo Bay.

Oh ya, just ruin my troll.

 

[EagleSmack]

Not to be too nit picky but the Dutch actually instituted scalping in NA according to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Gitmo is just another in a long line of American atrocities going back to the revolution. Not that it is that much different than most other aggressive countries.

The Revolution was an atrocity?

Oh brother...