Many at Gitmo are innocent

[PLC1]

Ex-Bush admin official: Many at Gitmo are innocent

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Many detainees locked up at Guantanamo were innocent men swept up by U.S. forces unable to distinguish enemies from noncombatants, a former Bush administration official said Thursday.

Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel, said vetting on the battlefield during the early stages of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan was incompetent with no meaningful attempt to discriminate "who we were transporting to Cuba for detention and interrogation."

Wilkerson told the AP in a telephone interview that many detainees "clearly had no connection to al-Qaida and the Taliban and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Pakistanis turned many over for $5,000 a head."

Some 800 men have been held at Guantanamo since the prison opened in January 2002, and 240 remain. Wilkerson said two dozen are terrorists, including confessed Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody in September 2006.

"We need to put those people in a high-security prison like the one in Colorado, forget them and throw away the key," Wilkerson said. "We can't try them because we tortured them and didn't keep an evidence trail."

But the rest of the detainees need to be released, he said.

A couple of dozen out of 800 are actually terrorists, and we really can't try them because they were tortured. Pathetic.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

most of the right on here will not care if they are innocent , if they are tortured, or if we break US or international law...so almost pointless to post this.

 

[Pandora]

If they are innocent then hopefully they will be let out, given a few million dollars to make up for the mean evil ugly Americans crazed and blood thirsty quest to keep the Nation safe. I understand the obama administration is proudly releasing at least a few of these guys in the United States and they can use the new found money to buy a house right next to yours.

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/some-gitmo-prisoners-could-released-in-us-2569286

 

[pocketfullofshells]

If they are innocent then hopefully they will be let out, given a few million dollars to make up for the mean evil ugly Americans crazed and blood thirsty quest to keep the Nation safe. I understand the obama administration is proudly releasing at least a few of these guys in the United States and they can use the new found money to buy a house right next to yours.

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/some-gitmo-prisoners-could-released-in-us-2569286

don't act like you care, you dont. you dont even want them to have real trials to show they are not guilty in the first place..

 

[Mr. Shaman]

most of the right on here will not care if they are innocent , if they are tortured, or if we break US or international law...so almost pointless to post this.

C'mon...c'mon.....you got something against KAPITALISM??!!!​

 

[BigRob]

don't act like you care, you dont. you dont even want them to have real trials to show they are not guilty in the first place..

I don't care. Some guy who says he got his information "reading memos" and can somehow claim that only a few of them are terrorists is ridiculous. Further, the way GTMO operated, high ranking officers were kept at a distance for the most part, to ensure that interrogators credibility was not ruined, and to have the detainee perceive they where the "boss." This guy would have had no interaction with any of the prisoners or interrogation methods.

Now, certainly there are probably a few people there who do not deserve to be, but the majority of them should be there.

The number of people "tortured" at GTMO is tiny, and it is a real problem that trying them would result in them being set free at this point, which no one wants.

It is certainly a problem holding them forever, but simply saying "close the base and figure it out" has so far yielded no results. Europe has backed off of taking any. Yemen seems to be willing to take a few, but Yemen is one of the major hotbeds of terrorism in the world. Sending someone there all but assures they get involved again.

 

[Pandora]

don't act like you care, you dont. you dont even want them to have real trials to show they are not guilty in the first place..

You don’t know anything about me so don’t pretend you do. I will tell you this much, if there really is anyone innocent there, then I do hope they are released and sent back to their own country. But if there is anyone guilty and they are really released on our soil, I do hope they end up next door to you. And I hope you and people like you are the only ones affected by what they will do next. You will surely deserve it fully and completely.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Further, the way GTMO operated, high ranking officers were kept at a distance for the most part, to ensure that interrogators credibility was not ruined....

Yeah, we wouldn't want any torturers leaving there, with a bad "rep", or anything.

Hell, they might (actually) try to secure positions in the field-of-education....and, we wouldn't want any Moms or Dads gettin' overly-excited at such a prospect.​

 

[Dr.Who]

Then I guess congress should find a way to determine who is innocent and who is guilty. It is their jobs to write laws after all.

 

[chestnut]

Send them to their own country. Keep them out of the U.S.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Then I guess congress should find a way to determine who is innocent and who is guilty. It is their jobs to write laws after all.

well we are working on that , after 8 years of how can we make sure no they have no lawyers, no legal rights, and cant see any evidence against them, or even know what they are charged with.

And for all you torture lovers, outside of being illegal, its also putting our cases at risk, cost some already, and also....does not work.

 

[Dr.Who]

well we are working on that , after 8 years of how can we make sure no they have no lawyers, no legal rights, and cant see any evidence against them, or even know what they are charged with.

And for all you torture lovers, outside of being illegal, its also putting our cases at risk, cost some already, and also....does not work.

It would seem (if you are correct) that perhaps the Presidential powers have become too large if all the kings horses and all the kings men can't even knock him off the wall.

 

[Andy]

well we are working on that , after 8 years of how can we make sure no they have no lawyers, no legal rights, and cant see any evidence against them, or even know what they are charged with.

And for all you torture lovers, outside of being illegal, its also putting our cases at risk, cost some already, and also....does not work.

Actually, no you are not. Most are simply being released as far as I've read.

You keep forgetting the Constitution only applies to American citizens. This is like high school level education here.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Actually, no you are not. Most are simply being released as far as I've read.

Ya' gotta quit relying on the tabloids (and, NY Post) for your news.

​

 

[BigRob]

Yeah, we wouldn't want any torturers leaving there, with a bad "rep", or anything.

Hell, they might (actually) try to secure positions in the field-of-education....and, we wouldn't want any Moms or Dads gettin' overly-excited at such a prospect.​

You miss the entire issue...big shock... huge.