Guantanamo Manual Leaked

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 12:10:16 PM EST
Tags: Guantanamo, Detainees (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

A sensitive manual on Guantanamo detainees has been leaked.

The 238-page document, "Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures," is dated March 28, 2003. It is unclassified, but designated "For Official Use Only." It hit the web last Wednesday on Wikileaks.org.

What's Wikileaks?

The Pentagon has been resisting -- since October 2003 -- a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union seeking the very same document.

Anonymous open-government activists created Wikileaks in January, hoping to turn it into a clearinghouse for such disclosures. The site uses a Wikipedia-like system to enlist the public in authenticating and analyzing the documents it publishes.

As to the document itself, it's a layout of Camp Delta and its policies. The full, 237 page document is here.

[Hat tip to reader Scribe.]

< Giuliani Reacts to Regan-Fox-Bernie Lawsuit: With a Laugh | What To Ask Of Our Candidates >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

Guantanamo Manual Leaked | 7 comments (7 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

Must've been all the waterboarding... (none / 0) (#1)
by Dadler on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 12:44:36 PM EST

...that caused the leak. Just can't seal up those pesky cracks (in our moral compass).

The claim (none / 0) (#2)
by jondee on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 12:55:45 PM EST

that "we dont torture" has always been a transparently hypocritical lie. Operation Phoenix tortured everytthing that moved during Vietnam and we outsourced torture through the auspices of the School of the Americas in Latin America in the seventies and eighties in order to nuetralize 'em uppity, commonist peasants.

If we trained people to rape and torture nuns in the eighties, we should anyone be shocked over whats going on now?

I'm reading the SOP (none / 0) (#3)
by scribe on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 01:54:50 PM EST

and am about 15 pages in. So far, the most important thing I've seen regarding detainee treatment is making sure all the soldiers carry their official card on Rules of Engagement and Rules for Applying Force at all times. That, and no one is to consume mind-altering substances within 8 hours of beginning a shift and you can get in loads of trouble for breaking that rule.

As if a soldier having a card in his wallet will prevent him from beating the crap out of a captive.

But, it's a nice, objective standard and, if there's one thing the military understands, it's objective, measurable (in Go - No Go terms) standards.

I don't know about Gitmo (none / 0) (#4)
by Jen M on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 02:02:49 PM EST

But our soldiers wear there silly required info cards clipped with their IDs to their upper left pockets.


Oh, and they kept good records (none / 0) (#5)
by scribe on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 02:46:11 PM EST

go look at paragraph 2-8 and the subparagraphs stressing how important they are.
"Strict control and continuous records managment is critical to ensure thorough accountability of all information...."

So, in paragraph 3-3.g. (part of the paragraph detailing the composition of the teams for moving captives from aircraft to the prison or vice-versa), we see this:

"The JDOG also provides a Military Working Dog team. They utilize an A/C HMMWV that provides comfort to the Dogs. The Combat Camera Team will also be located in this vehicle."

The only reason one has a Combat Camera Team (their job is what their name implies) is to made video/still images of whatever is in their area. In other words, every one of these movements of captives should have a video and/or still image record. Those images should have been preserved.

And section 3.5 details the whole in-processing of captives. A lot of banal details, including their having a DNA sample taken.

Then, in section 4-20, we get to the good stuff: Behavior management.
During their first two weeks there, they are not to get any contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross or a Chaplain. (Sounds to me like a possible violation of the Geneva Conventions, but I'd have to check to be sure.) And no Koran for at least their first two weeks, either.

But, 4-20.a. makes clear the purpose of the program is to take advantage of the captive, isolate him and make him helpless and dependent upon his interrogators. In other words, the same as was done to Jose Padilla.

Enough of this - all these banalities are making me ill.


: Let me guess. (none / 0) (#7)
by jimakaPPJ on Thu Nov 15, 2007 at 09:24:12 AM EST

You want them treated the same way we treat a person arrested for say, a Quickie Mart robbery is treated..

But, 4-20.a. makes clear the purpose of the program is to take advantage of the captive, isolate him and make him helpless and dependent upon his interrogators. In other words, the same as was done to Jose Padilla.
BTW - Separate Padilla from non-citizens. He deserves citizen rights. The non-citizens do not.

Dear Dadler (none / 0) (#6)
by bradkohl on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 05:32:46 PM EST

Saw that you posted about writing for the koala. Just curious to what years you contributed. I was editor from 2005-6 and helped to set up some message boards where contributors of old and new can see what we're working on and contribute if they feel so inclined.

e-mail editor@thekoala.org
or
go to www.thekoala.org and click on staff
or
just e-mail me and I can set you up an account. Hopefully I'll see you on there
-Brad
bkohlen@yahoo.com