U.S government’s detainee policies being released by Wiki Leaks, no comment from Washington


Unknown | 14:06 |

Julian Assange’s Wiki Leaks began releasing more than 100 documents pertaining to U.S government’s “detainee policies” in camps in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

In a statement posted on its site Wiki Leaks said “over the next month, Wiki Leaks will release in chronological order the United States’ military detention policies followed for more than a decade. The documents include the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of detention camps in Iraq and Cuba, interrogation manuals and Fragmentary Orders (FRAGOs) of changes to detainee policies and procedures. A number of the ’Detainee Policies’ relate to Camp Bucca in Iraq, but there are also Department of Defense-wide policies and documents relating to Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and European U.S. Army Prison facilities”.
In a statement the site quoting its founder said further that “The ‘Detainee Policies’ show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the U.S. Department of Defense.”
“It shows the excesses of the early days of war against an unknown ‘enemy’ and how these policies matured and evolved,” it said, and led to “the permanent state of exception that the United States now finds itself in, a decade later.”
Among the documents being release by the whistle-blowing website is the 2002 manual for the staff at Camp Delta in Guantanamo. The manual was handed over to the staff, shortly after the detention center was approved by former president George W. Bush.
“This document is of significant historical importance. Guantanamo Bay has become the symbol for systematized human rights abuse in the West with good reason,” said Assange, the founder of the website.
He added: “‘The ‘Detainee Policies’ show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the US Department of Defense.
“It shows the excesses of the early days of war against an unknown ‘enemy’ and how these policies matured and evolved, ultimately deriving into the permanent state of exception that the United States now finds itself in, a decade later.”
In January this year UN Human rights Chief Navi Pillay criticized the U.S government for rights abuses of detainees in the camps. President Obama in 2009 pledged to close the detention center in Guantanamo, but due to stiff resistance from the members of the congress.
The Washington government has tried several times to arrest the founder, Julian Assange. In June this year he claimed political asylum from Ecuador government. Since then he has been operating from the Ecuadoran embassy in London.
Ecuador said on Wednesday it has requested a meeting with Britain to discuss the health of Assange, who it says is losing weight and suffering vision problems.
Source: Agencies & Wiki Leaks

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