Ex-Bush admin official: Many at Gitmo are innocent

Ex-Bush admin official: Many at Gitmo are innocent

news.yahoo.com

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. "There are still innocent people there," Lawrence B. Wilkerson, a Republican who was chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, told The Associated Press. "Some have been there six or seven years."

(visit the link for the full news article)

The case against the Military Commissions Act and the Patriot Act have more fuel for the fire now. The amazing part about this is that nobody talked while Bush was in office. What was Bush doing that could scare someone into not talking? I think these informants that are finally opening up deserve some recognition.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

He wasn't talking because the stuff was classified, not because Bush scared him.It says so in the article.

And if the info is still classified he could find himself in trouble for releasing it.

This is a lie. I believe all are innocent, not many or few as this aide says.

reply to post by jam321


When something is labeled "Classified" just to cover something up or protect somebody who did wrong, then I believe that all the people who are responsible for getting it "Classified" should be the ones who should find themselves "in trouble"!

Ex-Bush admin official: Many at Gitmo are innocent

Wilkerson, who first made the assertions in an Internet posting on Tuesday, told the AP he learned from briefings and by communicating with military commanders that the U.S. soon realized many Guantanamo detainees were innocent but nevertheless held them in hopes they could provide information for a "mosaic" of intelligence.

"It did not matter if a detainee were innocent. Indeed, because he lived in Afghanistan and was captured on or near the battle area, he must know something of importance," Wilkerson wrote in the blog. He said intelligence analysts hoped to gather "sufficient information about a village, a region, or a group of individuals, that dots could be connected and terrorists or their plots could be identified."

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."
******SKIP******
In his posting for The Washington Note blog, Wilkerson wrote that "U.S. leadership became aware of this lack of proper vetting very early on and, thus, of the reality that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had little intelligence value, and should be immediately released."

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney fought efforts to address the situation, Wilkerson said, because "to have admitted this reality would have been a black mark on their leadership."

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."
******SKIP******
Wilkerson, who flew combat missions as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and left the government in January 2005, said he did not speak out while in government because some of the information was classified.

"Classifying" information like this is just absurd!

Those who "Classified" this information should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

How 'bout starting with dirty Dick and his friend Rummy!

[edit on 3/19/2009 by Keyhole]

Originally posted by deltaboy
This is a lie. I believe all are innocent, not many or few as this aide says.

I'm sure that if you ask any of the inmates at Huntsville they'll all say they are innocent, too. Coincidence?

reply to post by Keyhole


As you often do, you provided a clear problem that I agree with as well. It has become too easy for somebody to classify anything they want.

My point was in reference to the op wondering what Bush was scaring them with so they wouldn't talk.

Here some more info that goes along with what you are stating.

Often, a claim of national security secrecy ends any public inquiry into allegations of misconduct and selective release of national security information allows the government to control public opinion and avoid embarrassment.

Classification of national security information under Executive Order 12958, as amended, is a critical tool at the disposal of the government to protect our nation, but rampant overclassification undermines the integrity of the very system we depend upon to ensure our safety and security. Security classification has surged dramatically since September 11, 2001, reaching an all-time high of 23 million classification decisions in 2007, nearly triple the number in 2001. The cost to protect classified information has skyrocketed from $4.7 billion in 2001 to $8.65 billion in 2007. Officials from throughout the military and intelligence sectors have admitted that 50 percent or more of classification decisions are unnecessary or improper.

2009transition.org...

A must read IMO

reply to post by sos37



At least they would have a voice, a lawyer, and some rights!

People held in Gitmo right now have none of that!

reply to post by Keyhole


Not to mention they have yet to be charge with anything. Don't you think its kind of weird that the govt. has a hard time charging anyone? Either they have a hard time finding evidence or there is none!!!

reply to post by Keyhole



What makes you feel that they deserve our lawyers and our rights?

Why not just ship them back to their own Country and let their courts deal with them?

Let me get this straight:

1. They held people without trial, sometimes for 6-7 years.
2. They tortured people who they held without trial.
3. They new that some of these people were innocent.
4. To cover up this disgusting crime, they classified it.

I didn't support prosecuting anybody in the administration, until I came to this thread.