What shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, since it was reported at the time; the Bush administration lied about the guilt of many Guantanamo detainees. I guess the news is the level of the official coming clean.
While I’m sure there were more than a few bad people in the initial roundups, the truth is that hundreds of people were gathered – offered by Afghans and Pakistanis in return for bounties of up to $5,000 each – with little or no evidence. Some were children as young as 12, others elderly – as old as 93.
The administration knew they had absolutely no reason to hold them, but rationalized that the kidnapping and imprisonment (sometimes torture) of innocent people was acceptable as they made their case for invasion.
Referring to Mr Cheney, Colonel Wilkerson, who served 31 years in the US Army, asserted: “He had absolutely no concern that the vast majority of Guantánamo detainees were innocent ... If hundreds of innocent individuals had to suffer in order to detain a handful of hardcore terrorists, so be it.”
He alleged that for Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld “innocent people languishing in Guantánamo for years was justified by the broader War on Terror and the small number of terrorists who were responsible for the September 11 attacks”.
He added: “I discussed the issue of the Guantánamo detainees with Secretary Powell. 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 Guantánamo decision making.”
There are still 180 people being held at the facility, even though President Obama’s initial deadline for closing has passed. There is no doubt that some of the innocents eventually released, became insurgents due to their treatment.
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