By Paisley Dodds
The Associated Press, 31 May 2005
LONDON -- One Guantanamo prisoner told a military panel that American troops beat him so badly he wets his pants now. Another detainee claimed U.S. troops stripped prisoners in Afghanistan and intimidated them with dogs so they would admit to militant activity.
Tales of alleged abuse and forced confessions are among some 1,000 pages of tribunal transcripts the U.S. government released under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit -- the second batch of documents released in 10 days.
The testimonies offer a glimpse into the secretive world of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where about 520 men from 40 countries remain held, accused of having links to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Many have been held for three years.
Whether the stories are true may never be known. And it wasn't immediately clear how many abuse allegations had been logged from the tribunals or how many of them had been investigated. Dozens of complaints have surfaced from detention missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo, but the government couldn't offer a breakdown Monday.
U.S. condemns torture
The panel members were charged with determining whether the men were enemy combatants -- not with investigating abuse allegations, said a military spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Beci Brenton. She said tribunal members are supposed to forward abuse allegations to the Joint Task Force running the detention mission, which then forwards them to U.S. Southern Command in Miami.
In a statement Sunday, the Pentagon said many of the men have been trained to lie. U.S. troops treat detainees humanely and "U.S. policy condemns and prohibits torture," the statement said.
The tribunals were established after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Guantanamo prisoners could challenge their detentions before U.S. courts.
The Prisoners Talk
Excerpts from testimonies of detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay:
*"Americans hit me and beat me up so badly I believe I'm sexually dysfunctional. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep with my wife or not. I can't control my urination, and sometimes I put toilet paper down there so I won't wet my pants.'
-- Prisoner who said his medical problems from alleged abuse have not been taken seriously.
*"I kept telling him, no I didn't receive training. I was crying and finally I told him I did receive the training. My hands were tied behind my back and my knees were on the ground and my head was bleeding. I was in a lot of pain, so I said I had [military] training. At that point, with all my suffering, if he had asked me if I was Osama bin Laden, I would have said yes. What is my crime? Because of the United States, my hand is handicapped. I can't work. I can't do anything because of my hand. Am I an enemy of the United States?" -- One prisoner complaining he was allegedly abused and forced into confessing.
*"Some of you, not all of you, know God only on Sundays and some don't know God at all. My God, help me fight the infidels or the unfaithful ones." -- A prisoner accused of being the right-hand man of Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian captured in 2002 and accused of being a top al-Qaida leader.
*"There are a lot of criminals and terrorists here, but there are also a lot of innocent people here. This is because of personal disputes without solid evidence and by allegations only." -- A man who said he's innocent of accusations he controlled weapons caches for al-Qaida.
*"My understanding [is] that since you captured me, you have to present some kind of proof for holding me but it looks like it's working out the other way around; I'm giving you the statements." -- A prisoner complaining about the process.
*"The soldiers here even threatened to kill me. ... [One] started threatening me. He said 'I will cut off your head."' -- A prisoner who complained of mental and physical abuse.
*"I was happier when they handed me over because at least the Americans were going to ask me who I was and for what reason I was in prison. ... When they [Pakistanis] put you in prison, they ask you for dollars and try to bribe you there. They don't ask you what charges you are in prison for." -- A prisoner who said he was tortured by the Pakistanis.
-------------------------------
Citation: Paisley Dodds. "Guantanamo transcripts reveal complaints of beating, threats," The Associated Press, 31 May 2005.
Original URL: http://www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi
-------------------------------