Wikileaks has recently released documents it gained access to regarding Guantanamo Bay – the infamous prison for Muslims caught around the world. The leak gives a clear picture of how the US treated those it didn’t really need to. The leaks show the flimsy evidence used to detain suspects and the brutal methods used to extract information from them. The leaks showed the systematic use of torture, forced testimony and the arrest of innocent people with serious mental and physical illnesses. Whilst the mainstream western media seems fascinated with radicalisation it is becoming increasingly clear that the countries the West continues to occupy are mere tools to be used to achieve much bigger aims.
Whilst the US continues to propagate its humanitarian image, the reality is the complete opposite. For those in captivity in Guantanamo Bay, many have remained incarcerated for over a decade with no trial. The 130 plus inmates have had their names blacklisted forever and many are now mentally and physically scarred. It appears rule of law and habeas corpus – all supposed western values, were all thrown out of the window.
The 779 formerly secret documents showed that anyone who happened to be in Afghanistan or had a flimsy link to the Taliban, were picked up, arrested and interrogated. Amongst the many that were sent to Guantanamo bay were an 89-year-old Afghan villager, suffering from senile dementia, and a 14-year-old boy who had been an innocent kidnap victim. The old man was transported to Cuba to be interrogated about “suspicious phone numbers” found in his compound. The 14-year-old was shipped out merely because of “his possible knowledge of Taliban…local leaders”. Furthermore a number of British nationals and residents were held for years even though US authorities knew they were not Taliban or al-Qaida members. One Briton, Jamal al-Harith, was rendered to Guantánamo simply because he had been held in a Taliban prison and was thought to have knowledge of their interrogation techniques.
The bizarre procedure continued as one man was transferred to the facility “because he was a mullah, who led prayers at Manu mosque in Kandahar province, Afghanistan … which placed him in a position to have special knowledge of the Taliban”. US authorities eventually released him after more than a year’s captivity, deciding he had no intelligence value. Another prisoner was shipped to the base “because of his general knowledge of activities in the areas of Khowst and Kabul as a result of his frequent travels through the region as a taxi driver”. The files also reveal that an al-Jazeera journalist was held at Guantánamo for six years, partly in order to be interrogated about the Arabic news network.
This is not at all surprising as the training manual for US interrogators gave the following advice in spotting potential terrorists, “Travel to Afghanistan for any reason after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 is likely a total fabrication with the true intentions being to support Usama Bin Laden through direct hostilities against the US forces.” Another aide also advised interrogators to lookout for signs of terrorist activity ranging from links to a number of mosques around the world, including two in London, to ownership of a particular model of Casio watch as “The Casio was known to be given to the students at al-Qaida bomb making training courses in Afghanistan”. Additionally those who have links to the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service along with al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence where thought to be suspicious. Interestingly the US continually accuses Pakistan of supporting terrorism but has no problem with allying with it.
Those who fulfilled these and other ridiculous requirements were subject to years of imprisonment and torture with little hope of a trial. The torture of inmates in Guantanamo is well documented. The recent case of Binyam Mohammed brought much of this to light. During his 7 years of incarceration the methods of CIA torture were all executed upon him where he was kept shackled for days on end in a pitch-black CIA cell, systematically deprived of sleep and subjected to 24-hour rock music played at top volume. Other inmates were also subjected to stress positions and extremely cold conditions for long periods. The infamous water boarding technique is another favourite of the US interrogators, where water is poured over a blanketed individual to ‘simulate’ drowning.
It has already been exposed that the US even outsourced some of its torturing by rendering suspects to the dark corners of the Arab world. The horrors of these places were kept secret and detainees often disappeared, having died or moved on to other places of torture. Binyam Mohammed was first taken to one of these places in Morocco where his genitals were slashed with a scalpel. These are but a few examples of the hidden behaviour of the worlds most powerful nations, and are not the exception to the rule.
The ugly reality of western values has not changed from British imperialism to today’s neo-colonialism. Torture is something that Western capitals have utilised to achieve their ends throughout history.
How anyone treats those it doesn’t need to treat well, is very telling about such a nation. It is now clear that the US utilised torture to gain useful information. Camp X ray was a method used to gain operationally useful information i.e. to force individuals to accept charges against them, whether they committed violent acts or not. The MI5 chief Jonathan Evans reiterated this point in October 2009: “And we should recall that notwithstanding these serious issues, the UK has gained huge intelligence benefits from our co-operation with the US agencies in recent years, and the US agencies have been generous in sharing intelligence with us.” Hence if torturing achieves the national interests of the West, justice goes out of the window.