Guantanamo Bay files leak
Encyclopedia
The Guantánamo Bay files leak (also known as The Guantánamo Files) began on 25 April 2011, when WikiLeaks
, along with several independent news organizations, began publishing 779 formerly secret documents relating to detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp. The documents consist of classified assessments, interviews, and internal memos, which were written by The Pentagon
's Joint Task Force Guantanamo
, headquartered at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
. The documents are marked "secret" and NOFORN (information that is not to be shared with representatives of other countries).
The documents reveal that over 150 innocent Afghans and Pakistanis, including farmers, chefs, and drivers, were held for years without charge. The documents also reveal that some of the prison's youngest and oldest detainees, which include Mohammed Sadiq a 89 year old man and Naqib Ullah a 14 year old boy, suffered from fragile mental and physical conditions. They also contain statements from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessing to interrogators that Al-Qaeda possesses nuclear capacity
.
says it received the documents from an anonymous source other than WikiLeaks, which it shared with other news outlets such as The Guardian
and NPR
. WikiLeaks suggested on Twitter
that the source might be Daniel Domscheit-Berg
, a former associate. WikiLeaks, however, noted that "our first partner, The Telegraph
, published the Gitmo Files at 1:00 AM GMT, long before NYT or Guardian." The original source of the leak may be Bradley Manning, who is currently detained for allegedly having leaked other material to WikiLeaks. The Guardian reports that "the Gitmo files are the fifth (and very nearly the final) cache of data that disaffected US soldier Bradley Manning is alleged to have turned over to the WikiLeaks website more than a year ago." However, before the time of Manning's alleged leak, WikiLeaks was already being reported and rumored to have Gitmo files.
The Justice Department said the documents remained legally classified and informed the lawyers who represent the prisoners in Guantanamo that they are not allowed to read the documents which have been published by the New York Times and other media outlets.
was captured or killed by U.S. allies
, an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell would detonate a "weapon of mass destruction" in a "secret location" in Europe, and promised it would be "a nuclear hellstorm
". By March 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been waterboarded
at least 183 times by the CIA. No such attack occurred following bin Laden's death
in May 2011.
version opened with the statement:
While the CNN
version stated:
The stark contrast between foreign and American newspapers was noted by several journalists, including Glenn Greenwald
, who described the differences as "stark, predictable and revealing". "Foreign newspapers highlight how these documents show U.S. actions to be so oppressive and unjust, while American newspapers downplayed that fact."
The US government issued a statement that read: "it is unfortunate that The New York Times and other news organizations have made the decision to publish numerous documents obtained illegally by Wikileaks concerning the Guantanamo detention facility." The documents seem to be "Detainee Assessment Briefs" (DABs) written between 2002 and 2009 and "may or may not represent the current view of a given detainee."
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
, along with several independent news organizations, began publishing 779 formerly secret documents relating to detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp. The documents consist of classified assessments, interviews, and internal memos, which were written by The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
's Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Joint Task Force Guantanamo is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the island. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command...
, headquartered at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
. The documents are marked "secret" and NOFORN (information that is not to be shared with representatives of other countries).
The documents reveal that over 150 innocent Afghans and Pakistanis, including farmers, chefs, and drivers, were held for years without charge. The documents also reveal that some of the prison's youngest and oldest detainees, which include Mohammed Sadiq a 89 year old man and Naqib Ullah a 14 year old boy, suffered from fragile mental and physical conditions. They also contain statements from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessing to interrogators that Al-Qaeda possesses nuclear capacity
Nuclear terrorism
Nuclear terrorism denotes the use, or threat of the use, of nuclear weapons or radiological weapons in acts of terrorism, includingattacks against facilities where radioactive materials are present...
.
Source of the leak
The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
says it received the documents from an anonymous source other than WikiLeaks, which it shared with other news outlets such as The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
. WikiLeaks suggested on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
that the source might be Daniel Domscheit-Berg
Daniel Domscheit-Berg
-External links:*, the whistleblower website started by Domscheit-Berg* collected news and commentary at Der Spiegel...
, a former associate. WikiLeaks, however, noted that "our first partner, The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, published the Gitmo Files at 1:00 AM GMT, long before NYT or Guardian." The original source of the leak may be Bradley Manning, who is currently detained for allegedly having leaked other material to WikiLeaks. The Guardian reports that "the Gitmo files are the fifth (and very nearly the final) cache of data that disaffected US soldier Bradley Manning is alleged to have turned over to the WikiLeaks website more than a year ago." However, before the time of Manning's alleged leak, WikiLeaks was already being reported and rumored to have Gitmo files.
Detainees
Al-Jazeera journalist Sami al-Hajj was detained from 2002 to 2008 "to provide information on [...] the al-Jazeera News Network's training program, telecommunications equipment, and newsgathering operations." He was considered to be "a HIGH risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies." He claims to have been beaten and sexually assaulted.The Justice Department said the documents remained legally classified and informed the lawyers who represent the prisoners in Guantanamo that they are not allowed to read the documents which have been published by the New York Times and other media outlets.
"Nuclear hellstorm"
Another element from the documents cited Khalid Sheikh Mohammed saying that, if Osama Bin LadenOsama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
was captured or killed by U.S. allies
Coalition of the willing
The term coalition of the willing is a post-1990 political phrase used to collectively describe participants in military or military-humanitarian interventions for which the United Nations Security Council cannot agree to mount a full UN peacekeeping operation...
, an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell would detonate a "weapon of mass destruction" in a "secret location" in Europe, and promised it would be "a nuclear hellstorm
Nuclear terrorism
Nuclear terrorism denotes the use, or threat of the use, of nuclear weapons or radiological weapons in acts of terrorism, includingattacks against facilities where radioactive materials are present...
". By March 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been waterboarded
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...
at least 183 times by the CIA. No such attack occurred following bin Laden's death
Death of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden, then head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local time by a United States special forces military unit....
in May 2011.
Reactions
As for previous releases, Wikileaks stated that at least as important as the content of the published documents is the reaction of each media news outlet; Wikileaks suggested to "compare the first paragraph of these two stories about the same thing" by BBC and CNN. The BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
version opened with the statement:
While the CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
version stated:
The stark contrast between foreign and American newspapers was noted by several journalists, including Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Greenwald is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics...
, who described the differences as "stark, predictable and revealing". "Foreign newspapers highlight how these documents show U.S. actions to be so oppressive and unjust, while American newspapers downplayed that fact."
The US government issued a statement that read: "it is unfortunate that The New York Times and other news organizations have made the decision to publish numerous documents obtained illegally by Wikileaks concerning the Guantanamo detention facility." The documents seem to be "Detainee Assessment Briefs" (DABs) written between 2002 and 2009 and "may or may not represent the current view of a given detainee."
External links
- Guantanamo files by WikiLeaksWikileaksWikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...