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NY Times Obtains Classified Documents on Guantanamo Detainees

The New York Times and other media outlets have major reports tonight on leaked classfied documents regarding Guantanamo detainees. You can view several of the leaked documents, courtesy of Wikileaks, here. the Times reports some of the leaked files pertain to detainee suicides.

[A] collection of secret detainee assessment files obtained by The New York Times reveal that the threat of suicide has created a chronic tension at the prison — a tactic frequently discussed by the captives and a constant fear for their captors.

[More...]

The files for about two dozen detainees refer to suicide attempts or threats. Others mention informants who pass on rumors about which prisoner had volunteered to kill himself next and efforts to organize suicide attempts. Two prisoners were overheard weighing whether it would create enough time for someone to end his life if fellow prisoners blocked their cell windows, distracting guards who would have to remove the obstructions.

And that's not all the Times and other newspapers have obtained:

A trove of more than 700 classified military documents provides new and detailed accounts of the men who have done time at the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba, and offers new insight into the evidence against the 172 men still locked up there.

What's in the treasure trove?

The documents meticulously record the detainees’ “pocket litter” when they were captured: a bus ticket to Kabul, a fake passport and forged student ID, a restaurant receipt, even a poem. They list the prisoners’ illnesses — hepatitis, gout, tuberculosis, depression. They note their serial interrogations, enumerating — even after six or more years of relentless questioning — remaining “areas of potential exploitation.” They describe inmates’ infractions — punching guards, tearing apart shower shoes, shouting across cellblocks. And, as analysts try to bolster the case for continued incarceration, they record years of detainees’ comments about one another.

...The dossiers also show the seat-of-the-pants intelligence gathering in war zones that led to the incarcerations of innocent men for years in cases of mistaken identity or simple misfortune.

The Times says Wikileaks obtained the documents last year, but it obtained them from a different source. President Obama is criticizing the publication of the documents. NPR also has a report on the documents, and the Guardian should have one up soon.

The Washington Post reports as well, but curiously focuses on where the leaders of al Qaida were on 9/11 instead of on the detainees.

The New York Times has an updated detainee database here.

Update: More from Carol Rosenberg at the Miami Herald here.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Simply unforgivable (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by ruffian on Mon Apr 25, 2011 at 03:33:55 PM EST

    The dossiers also show the seat-of-the-pants intelligence gathering in war zones that led to the incarcerations of innocent men for years in cases of mistaken identity or simple misfortune.

    Someone on some level knew they had the wrong guys.

    just what is this (2.00 / 1) (#5)
    by diogenes on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 10:17:44 PM EST
    "Others mention informants who pass on rumors about which prisoner had volunteered to kill himself next and efforts to organize suicide attempts."

    It sure looks as if these prisoners are using suicide to make voluntary political statements rather than suffering from hopeless despair.    

    I remember from a book about (none / 0) (#6)
    by Harry Saxon on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 10:31:30 PM EST
    psychiatry from the 50s', the author mentioned that his mentor in psychiatry believed that a hospital where there were no suicides was a inhuman place because(presumably) of the lack of privacy such a policy implies.

    Parent
    here's a report on the (none / 0) (#8)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 10:35:44 PM EST
    Then why chose that graphic for this thread? (none / 0) (#1)
    by BTAL on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 08:45:11 PM EST
    Unless President Obama has changed, altered or corrected the situation with his policies and actions then the choice to put a GWB graphic with this thread is, well you fill in the blank.

    I recently read the term "Obushma," (none / 0) (#2)
    by oculus on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 09:23:14 PM EST
    which apparently isn't all that new but is new to me.  Seems appropos.

    Parent
    Because Bush was President (none / 0) (#3)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 09:37:50 PM EST
    when the suicides occurred.

    Parent
    Care to address the number of suicides (2.00 / 1) (#4)
    by BTAL on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 09:41:45 PM EST
    that the military are experiencing today?

    The suicides in the military ranks did not decrease on Jan 20th, 2009.

    Parent

    No, this is about (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Apr 24, 2011 at 10:33:36 PM EST
    Guantanamo, if you'd like to discuss something else, take it to an open thread or somewhere else. Your efforts to change the topic are not welcome.

    Parent
    to be clearer (none / 0) (#9)
    by Jeralyn on Mon Apr 25, 2011 at 12:22:01 AM EST
    many of the released documents are about the suicides at Guantanamo that took place while Bush was President. Follow the link I provided to the New York Times article tonight about it. The topic is not suicides in the military in general. It is Guantanamo.

    Parent
    The article indicates ... (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Robot Porter on Mon Apr 25, 2011 at 02:10:17 PM EST
    5 suicides.  Three were part of a suicide pact, i.e. they happened at the same time.  That was during the Bush administration.  Since then there have been two others.  One during the Bush administration, one during the Obama administration.

    And, of course, this is all from an article based on alleged leaked documents.  So none of this should be accepted as fact at this point.

    Parent

    the released documents cover (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Jeralyn on Mon Apr 25, 2011 at 08:41:25 PM EST
    2002 to 2008. There have been investigations of the three suicides under Bush in this time period. Read the report by the Seton Hall Law School 's Center for Policy and Research, Death in Camp Delta.

    Parent
    My post refers to ... (none / 0) (#14)
    by Robot Porter on Tue Apr 26, 2011 at 01:52:15 PM EST
    the article (linked in your diary) which states:

    Since then, two other detainees have succeeded in killing themselves -- one in 2007, and another in 2009.

    The 2009 suicide actually occurred in June.  So that was definitely while Obama was president.

    Parent

    Chris Floyd (none / 0) (#10)
    by lilburro on Mon Apr 25, 2011 at 09:48:44 AM EST
    has a good take on the Guantanamo disaster.

    Of course it was that bad.  Of course, I assume the Bush administration will suffer no consequences whatsoever.  And of course, the Obama Administration must have known the extent of what happened at Gitmo.

    F*cking a.