On air 1700GMT: Does Wikileaks prove Guantanamo should continue?
| 13:05 UK time, Monday, 25 April 2011
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@davidleigh3: Got a Casio watch? That makes you a #Guantanamo Bay terrorist, says the leaks to the #Guardian (keep reading to find out what this tweet's about)
It's one of the most-read stories around the world and we have so many details to discuss. Wikileaks last night. They offer new insights to the men that the United States consider terrorists, their interrogations, and the evidence against them. They also reignite the debate over whether Guantanamo should remain open.
From the files, we know there are 172 prisoners at Guantanamo and the United States considers them a rated as a "high risk" posing a threat to the US and its allies. They also show that about 200 prisoners already transferred to other countries, were also designated "high risk" before they were freed or passed to the custody of other governments. So it's difficult to know how the assesment is made on who should be released and then whether Guantanamo is an effective prison system.
However, the obtained by Wikileak (DABs) show certain inmates were more dangerous than previously known to the public.
Here are a couple of snippets from the release.
"Detainee is an admitted member of al-Qaida who developed specialized improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for the use against US military forces and civilians.
"Detainee was an intended '20th Hijacker' for the 11 September 2011 attacks but failed to gain entry to the US."
Also, there has been much condemnation of the treatment of detainees over the past 10 years but the files give very little information on harsh treatment or interrogation techniques at the camp. If there are very dangerous men intent on doing the US harm according to these documents, do they make the case for keeping Guantanamo open?
Another issue raised is that the documents show that some the and that some innocent people were held. How does that inform your opinion about the prison?
The files also reveal the hostility between detainees and interrogators at times.
Another snippet:
"One detainee said he would like to tell his friends in Iraq to find the interrogator, slice him up, and make a shwarma (a type of sandwich) out of him, with the interrogator's head sticking out of the end of the shwarma."
And the Casio watch? .
There's lots to talk about.Ìý Please do post below.
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