Politics

Leaky Gitmo

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Long gone are the days when government whistle-blowers passed documents directly to journalists at the New York Times; now the honorable and/or disgruntled can simply navigate over to Wikileaks.org and anonymously post government documents to the site (the homepage features prominently a quote from Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers). Wired reports that a sensitive—though not classified—manual detailing "day-to-day procedures" at Guantánamo Bay, including "comfort items" for cooperative prisoners and how to deal with hunger strikes, was recently posted to the site. The 200-plus page document seems to have disappeared from the site (as of this writing, the entire site seems to have disappeared), though a quick Google search reveals that it has already made the inevitable jump onto various BitTorrrent trackers. From Wired's account:

A never-before-seen military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. military's Guantánamo Bay detention facility has been leaked to the web, affording a rare inside glimpse into the institution where the United States has imprisoned hundreds of suspected terrorists since 2002. The 238-page document, "Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures," is dated March 28, 2003. It is unclassified, but designated "For Official Use Only." It hit the web last Wednesday on Wikileaks.org.

The 238-page document, "Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures," is dated March 28, 2003. It is unclassified, but designated "For Official Use Only." It hit the web last Wednesday on Wikileaks.org.

Nothing sensational in the document, but a few suggestive bits, according to an ACLU spokesman that combed the document:

"What strikes me is the level of detail for handling all kind of situations, from admission to barbers and burials," says Jamil Dakwar, advocacy director of the ACLU's Human Rights program. Dakwar was in Guantánamo last week for a military-commission hearing.

Dakwar sees hints of Abu Ghraib in a section instructing guards to use dogs to intimidate prisoners. He also raises concerns over a section on the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, which indicates that some prisoners were hidden from Red Cross representative.

Last year, Jacob Sullum wondered if there were any innocents among those held at Guantanamo.