The media organization WikiLeaks has released the first of more than one hundred classified or “otherwise restricted” policies from the US Department of Defense that lay out rules and procedures for detainees in US military custody. The “Detainee Policies” show how the US military has handled detention for the past decade and will be released over the course of the next month, according to a press release.
On the first day of the release, five policies have been posted. The most significant of the postings is the 2002 manual for Camp Delta at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said of the manual, “This document is of significant historical importance. Guantanamo Bay has become the symbol for systematized human rights abuse in the West with good reason.”
The manual contains the following “Confinement Philosophy.”
A detainee is not confined more punishment or discipline by any person, except as provided by law or regulation. Hazing, corporal punishment, harassment, unauthorized exercises, unnecessary restrictions, deprivations and demeaning treatment serve no useful purpose and are prohibited. This SOP sets forth regulations and procedures that ensure fair, firm, impartial and humane treatment of detainees in compliance with law, regulation and United States Military Policy.This “philosophy” has not been followed. For example, it was widely reported in 2005 that Erik Saar, a former Army sergeant and Arabic translator, was writing a book on his experience in Camp Delta. In the camp, “female interrogators” had “tried to break Muslim detainees at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing miniskirts and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man’s face with fake menstrual blood.” That definitely would be “demeaning treatment” that serves “no useful purpose” other than to break a prisoner and humiliate him.
Read More: WikiLeaks Releases US Military Policies For Detention & Avoiding Accountability For Torture
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