Torture Victim’s Records Lost at Guantánamo, Admits Camp General
The former head of interrogations at Guantánamo Bay found that records of an al-Qaida suspect tortured at the prison camp were mysteriously lost by the US military, according to a new book by one of Britain’s top human rights lawyers.
Retired general Michael Dunlavey, who supervised Guantánamo for eight months in 2002, tried to locate records on Mohammed al-Qahtani, accused by the US of plotting the 9/11 attacks, but found they had disappeared.
The records on al-Qahtani, who was interrogated for 48 days - “were backed up … after I left, there was a snafu and all was lost”, Dunlavey told Philippe Sands QC, who reports the conversation in his book Torture Team, previewed last week by the Guardian. Snafu stands for Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.
Saudi-born al-Qahtani was sexually taunted, forced to perform dog tricks and given enemas at Guantánamo.
The CIA admitted last year that it destroyed videotapes of al-Qaida suspects being interrogated at a secret “black site” in Thailand. No proof has so far emerged that tapes of interrogations at Guantánamo were destroyed, but Sands’ report suggests the US may have also buried politically sensitive proof relating to abuse by interrogators at the prison camp.
Other new evidence has also emerged in the last month that raises questions about destroyed tapes at Guantánamo.
Cameras that run 24 hours a day at the prison were set to automatically record over their contents, the US military admitted in court papers. It is unclear how much, if any, prisoner mistreatment was on the taped-over video, but the military admitted that the automatic erasure “likely destroyed” potential evidence in at least one prisoner’s case.
The erased tapes may have violated a 2005 court order to preserve “all evidence [of] the torture, mistreatment and abuse of detainees” at Guantánamo. The order was retroactive, so it also applies to the 2003 loss of al-Qahtani’s records.
Lawyers representing other Guantánamo detainees are asking whether tapes of their clients’ treatment may also be erased. “You can’t just destroy relevant evidence,” said Jonathan Hafetz, of the Brennan Centre for Justice in New York.
David H Remes, a lawyer for 16 Guantánamo prisoners, said the CIA’s destruction of interrogation videos shows the US government is capable of getting rid of potentially incriminating evidence.
“[In Guantánamo] the government had a system that automatically overwrote records,” Remes told the Guardian. “That is a passive form of evidence destruction. If a party has destroyed evidence in one place, there’s no reason to assume it has preserved evidence in another place.”
More than 24,000 interrogations were videotaped at Guantánamo, according to a US army report unearthed by researchers at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
The US military office at Guantánamo did not return a request for comment from the Guardian about its taping policies.
© 2008 The Guardian
In the US, the National Lawyers Guild is calling for the dismissal and prosecution of John Yoo. It’s a step in the right direction.
Of course, if Yoo is willing to sit, beg, and roll over, he may have earned himself a treat!
Let’s see - emails missing at the White House, records and tapes missing at Guantanamo. What’s the common link?
The common link is so transparent that it is a cartoon. Except for the torture and death and law breaking parts, it would be hilarious by now.
I cannot believe Berkeley. I mean what does Yoo teach?
Records lost?? Really, imagine that, my my___ wonders never cease.
” More than 24,000 interrogations were videotaped at Guantánamo, according to a US army report unearthed by researchers at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
The US military office at Guantánamo did not return a request for comment from the Guardian about its taping policies.”
What can they say? All of the interrogation tapes have mysteriously disappeared along with the record of this phone call.
Yeah, and Richard Nixon ‘accidentally’ erased those 18 min of Watergate tapes.
I’ll believe the US is serious when someone goes to jail. Me, if I was wantonly destroying evidence in defiance of a court order, I know I’d end up in the slammer. So, this will provide an interesting test case for exactly how much of the ‘rule of law’ still applies to the military and its torturers.
As always, watch actions, not words. In this case, watch for the ‘action’ of someone going to prison for destroying evidence in defiance of a court order.
But unless we do something radical like elect the Green Party this fall, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it.
“Lost” as in fed to an inferno.
Don’t anyone hold their breath in November, waitng for the election results to show a Green Party nominee is the new president.
Not a problem — as they’ve already “admitted” to felonious evidence tampering,
We can do just as South Africa did (following end of A-PART-HATE) ,
Amnesty for those who voluntarily admit to what they did (and saw), in addition to reparations and public apologies.
Not a problem at all
The government “lost” the video of Padilla’s last interrogation. Padilla’s lawyers wanted to see it. The government offered a summary of the interrogator’s notes. Presumably the government’s lawyers wrote the summary. One suspects they might have left something out.
Conveniently destroy evidence, claim unawareness, and insulate military personnel from prosecution under the Military Commission Act of 2006, what else does anyone need to prove that this Presidential Adminstration and the MIC are guilty of war crimes, obstruction of justice, and incompetence? Wow, interesting.
How careless of the Ministry of Information Retrieval - or was it?
No ‘records’ - no ‘trial’ - no Punishment - alas.
What’s a President to do but start the torture all over again?
uh… lost… yeah, that’s it. Lost.
It is just a CYA situation. Just in case there should be a new Nuremberg, all the hard evidence will be gone and the courts will not accept hearsay evidence. The rats will just sneer and walk away.
Conveniently lost
A “defense” budget topping $1 trillion and they’re still using the videotapes, circa 1971, are they? We’re supposed to just accept that?
Do the spy satellites record on the videotape, too? How ’bout dem UAVs - they got a Betacam mounted in the nose, or is it S-VHS?
Does Halliburton have the no-bid videotape supply contract? What’s the Pentagon paying per tape? Do they have a temperature-controlled storage area for the tapes that the dog didn’t eat? Are there specific ranks in the military for this sort of production, like 1st Lt. Director of Photography? Is there a Marine Grip and Electric Corp?
And, the big question: how many of hours of torture tape did Cheney/Decider watch, and were they wearing flag lapel pins while watching?
Must’ve been a SNAFU that there are any records left at all.
The reason we know the full extent of what went on under Hitler is because the NAZI’s kept meticulous records.
My guess is that the Bush administration figured that the Guantanamo Bay records were a bit too meticulous. At least they had something to destroy.
Besides this being another “cheerleading post” where I say “ditto” to the sentiments expressed by the rest of you, I want to bring up a new point:
Why did these records exist in the first place! Something has to first exist before it can be “lost” or destroyed. Seems that someone wanted to know which techniques were the most effective and which were the least effective for future reference.
Seems that someone wanted “proof” that the those working in the prison were not just pretending to torture while playing checkers with the inmates.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Did you hear that Omar Khadr’s lawyer gave him a copy of “Lord of the Rings” recently and the guards confiscated it? They said that the only paper that Omar Khadr’s lawyers were allowed to show him were those related to his case.
Did you hear that the US soldiers were throwing grenades at the compound that Omar Khadr was in? We don’t know whether or not Khadr and the others had any grenades of their own or not - and we may never know.
I know-I know. One of the dogs that they had eating the detainees balls took a break and ate the records along with Yoo’s homework.
The lice in Washington had really better start hiring more competent dog-trainers.
Start trying both the CIA interrogators and the military interrogators,and the military prison guards and their officers who where involved in these war crimes…….
They are as disgraced and guilty as all of the NAZI torturers of the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Charge Rumsfelf and the Military Chain of Command directly in line over the prisoner torturering at Guantanamo. Try them at the International War Crimes Court at the Hauge…
Arrest and try BUSH and CHENEY for WAR CRIMES.
This government is “in your face” with criminality, yet nothing is done by our elected leadership.
And we can only look forward to three elitests candidates, McCain, Clinton, and Obama. None has dirtied their hands working. All are multi millionairs.
What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong with this nation?
Not enough “activist judges” who follow the letter of the law instead of doing the Bush administration’s bidding?
Trials take time. Bush will probably plead incompetence (ie he let others handle those portfolios and did what they told him) and Cheney may die from another heart attack first.
Oh, how I love the Guardian! One of the few major newspapers that would actually publish the word ‘Fucked’ - and at the top of the pyramid (1st three paras).
Way to go Guardian!!!
Tell me more about the image of the ‘hole in the wall’ and palm trees behind it… real? photoshop?
Torture Victim’s Records Lost at Guantánamo, Admits Camp General
No surprise there.
Oops.
Records lost? Oh, how convenient…
“…The erased tapes may have violated a 2005 court order to preserve “all evidence [of] the torture, mistreatment and abuse of detainees” at Guantánamo.”
Who cares? Our “opposition party” is complicit. Democratic leadership was well informed of what’s happening, including “left-wing liberal” Madam Pelosi.
And yet, the American Sheeple follow the ObamaBillary train. Ah well…..
“al-Qhatani was sexually taunted, forced to do dog tricks and given enemas”….Wait a minute, Guardian: we appreciate the article and the growing insight into the depths of depravity to which we hve fallen, BUT your choice of words do not convey any reality whatsoever when they totally deny the evil inherent in TORTURE:
Teenagers are taunted in high school, dog tricks sound like fun, and enemas? Hell you pay big bucks for those at the posh spas.
NO, torture destroys individuals receiving, as well as those torturing. Also the friends and families of both groups. To wit: torture destroys cultures. Period.
Only true individual AND collective expiation and repentance (no religion needed or wanted) on the part of ALL involved (which technically speaking means ALL of U.S.) can possibly ever repair the damage we have inflicted on ourselves and others. When people in the US realize what the neo=cons have done, it is entirely possible that they may begin to feel strong negative emotions towards the erstwhile war-mongers, bandits and torturers.
So let’s take a deep breath and notice that the shit is hitting the fan, time to watch out, Amurrikans! Anything could happen. We are fortunate indeed to have renegade folks in all the “services” (read war machine) who still understand the principles of democracy and the dangers in fascism. If we go over the abyss because of the train of events now cascading, at least we know that there were lots of good people trying their best to Do the Right Thing. the Road to Hell is Paved…..
Torture and bureaucratic errors. Perfect together. It’s Brazil (the movie).
Maybe Guantanamo is run by my dental insurance company. They are always “losing” the doctor’s requests for work to be approved.
Who could be surprised by the lost of records?
It would have been a real surprise if they had done something right for once.
To the Democratic “leadership” in Congress: During the Watergate investigations and impeachment proceedings, the Democratic leadership defined “obstruction of justice” as an impeachable offense for which President Nixon was about to be impeached when he hastily resigned. This latest “loss” of material evidence gathered in anticipation of prosecutions of federal prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is the umpteenth notorious repetition of “obstruction of justice” by federal officials during the current Bush Administration. Is impeachment still “off the table” for these eminently impeachable criminals? Do you really expect the Bush Administration’s Department of “Justice” to do anything about these repeated and increasingly defiant criminal acts by federal officials acting under the orders of the President? Do you care? If the Democratically controlled Congress remains acquiescent in the face of these outrageous crimes by the Executive Branch, what has become of your solemn oaths “to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic”? Why in hell do you expect loyal Americans to come out and vote this November for members of Congress who have no loyalty to our constitutional form of government? And why should I vote for an Obama or Clinton who is perfectly happy to keep impeachment “off the table” for Republican officials who not only brazenly violate the law, but dare Democrats like Obama and Clinton to do something about it?
Maybe with no records we could claim that the Bush Presidency never existed.
Richard, as much voting seems to be useless; not voting is worse. First make certain your voting procedure is honest, second, make sure anyone who tampers with the process is severely punished, third, vote for anybody not now in office, fourth make lots of noise. That’s a tremendous departure from present custom I know; but, not getting involved will be fatal to the system we thought we were living with. Fight back in any way you can.
I would bet if the truth is known. The government conveniently lost his records because they had no evidence of terrorist acts to begin with. So many innocent people have gotten caught up in the governments witch hunt for terrorist suspects it’s becoming common place. So whenever they accuse someone of terrorism I take it with a grain of salt. Maybe they know what they are talking about but the chances are they don’t. As far as they are concerned all of the Sunni and Shiite insurgents in Iraq are terrorists. There isn’t much that comes out of the Bush Administrations mouths that’s believable anymore.
Interesting how none of the detainees could be sent to Germany for those trials, which then fell apart.
Interesting how Afghan taxi drivers were interrogated for 6 years, yet not one question was asked of Zaccarrias Mussoui.
Interesting how we were told that Khalid Sheik Mohammed was killed in an FBI/Pakistani raid on 9/11/2002, then captured several months later.
Are these guys liars, clowns, co-conspirators or all of the above?
Uh, looks like these people are all competing for the highly coveted Rosemary Prize, named for Nixon’s secretary who erased the 18 minutes of the Nixon tapes….
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2005/01/23/woods050123.html
“This week on “Lost”….Cheney the smoke monster eats all the evidence, while Chimpy enters a time distortion and jumps back and forth between Nurneburg and his own War Crimes trial.”
I predict the last bit evidence destruction will be the burning of Cheney and Bush’s bodies in a bomb crater al la Hilter.
More criminal actions from our ciminal leaders. No suprise here. As a first time poster, I am surprised I have not seen this idea floated before.
If you are as sick of our leaders committing crimes as I am and are as sick of watching for profit health care kill more and more Americans then read on.
Withdraw your consent! It is that easy. No more organ donors, no more blood donors, no more guilty verditcs for property and consensual crimes.
If you have an organ donor sticker on your license, withdraw your consent.
Stop donating blood.
If you are selected for jury duty, unless it is for a violent or sex crime, vote against the corporate or government interest. Period!
No healthcare for the workers, no body products for the rulers. No criminal convictions for the ruling elite, no criminal convictions for the working class. Yes, it is total class warfare and it has been a long time coming. It is so easy, just do nothing, don’t co-operate.
Withdrawn,
Since this is your first post, you must also be a new reader to think we are surprised by anything the Bush Gang does.
I don’t think that doing nothing is a good strategy for class warfare though… doing nothing is what the ruling elite wants us to do and is kinda what our government is now doing.