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Documents Confirm DOD and CIA Cooperation on Secret Prisons

By possum

As a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filing by three human rights groups, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), nearly a thousand pages of documents were gathered and then released to the public.  The documents confirm

US Department of Defence involvement in the CIA's "ghost" detention program, and the existence of secret prisons at Bagram air base in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

The documents were released by the government as a result of a 2007 lawsuit and FOIA requests going back to 2004.  This marks the first time such documents were released by the administration.  Over 12,000 pages of documents are on the request list but are not yet released.  Much of the information in the documents was blacked out.  According to Tom Parker, Policy Director for Counterterrorism, Terrorism and Human Rights, for AIUSA

Out of thousands of pages, most of what might be of interest was redacted

Heavily redacted is an understatement.  All the information on many pages is blacked out leaving only minor identification marks on the top and bottom of the page.  Further observations from Parker illustrate the seriousness of the omissions.

While the sheer number of pages creates the appearance of transparency, it is clear this is only the tip of the iceberg and that the government agencies have not complied with spirit of President Obama's memo on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The documents released confirm much of what has long been rumored here and at other sites on the internet.

the DOD interpreted the "security internee" provisions of the Geneva Conventions to allow for "ghosting" of detainees by prohibiting the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting.

The DOD knew the action was illegal but continued to bar visits to further DOD interests in interrogation.  DOD allowed detainees to be held up to 30 days without ICRC registration thus giving the CIA an opportunity to sort the prisoners without outside supervision.

Considerations of public opinion were discussed.  In a 2006 e-mail

in response to the release of a critical UN special rapporteur report on Guant?namo, high-level personnel within the US Transportation Command discussed delaying the return of releasable Guant?namo detainees to avoid bad press.

From that same document:

We may need to definitely thinkg about checking with Southcom to see if we can hold off on return flights for 45 days or so until things die down.

The author was worried about detainees receiving a possible "heroes" welcome on their return home.

Some of the documentation confirms shortfalls in the system.

The contracting system failed to insure that properly trained linguist and interrogator personnel were hired to support operations at Abu Graib.

This admission marks One of many failures to plan in any measure of adequate fashion.

The documents may be seen in electronic form here.  Many pages are copies of public news releases.  Many pages are duplicated.  With the amount redacted the real information parts are few and far between.  There may be more in those documents of interest, but the mining will take large amounts of time.

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on February 14, 2009 (boomark / email).