Bush Administration Accused of Imprisoning Innocent People at Guantanamo Detention Camp Knowingly
The Bush administration including former president George Bush himself, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld deliberately did not stop the deportation of hundreds of innocent men at the Guantanamo Bay to strengthen their cause of War on Terror reports The Times.
Colin Powell’s top aide, Lawrence Wilkerson in a signed declaration to support a lawsuit filed by one of the detainees made these allegations which is the first instance of any of the President’s top aides making such a claim.
Wilkerson accused that Cheney and Rumsfeld were fully aware that the majority of the of detainees were actually innocent but their release was “politically impossible”.
It is also understood that General Powell has given his support to Colonel Wilkerson as he is said to be upset over the misinformation that he had shared when he made the case for Iraq invasion.
Colonel Wilkerson claimed that the majority of the detainees had never seen an US soldier at the time of their capture as their age ranged from 12 to 93. It is interesting to note that Wilkerson has been along time critic of bush administration’s polices particularly pertaining to the Iraq war. He also claimed that many of the detainees were turned over by Afghans and Pakistanis for upto $5000.
Colonel Wilkerson also claimed that one of the reasons why the detainees were released was that it would have revealed the absurd approach of the operation which would have shown the administration in poor light and hence was not acceptable to the administration.
He also accused Mr Cheney, “ he had absolutely has no concern that the vast majority of Guantanamo detainees were innocent …if hundreds of innocent individuals had to suffer in order to detain a handful of hardcore terrorists, so be it.” He claimed that for Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld “innocent people languishing in Guantanamo for years was justified by the broader war on terror and the small number of terrorists who were responsible for the September 11 attacks.”
He added: “I discussed the issue of the Guantánamo detainees with Secretary Powell. I learnt that it was his view that it was not just Vice-President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld, but also President Bush who was involved in all of the Guantánamo decision making.”
Colonel Wilkerson claimed that the incapacitation of the innocent detainees was acceptable provided the real militants were captured which would have also portrayed a good intelligence report for the Bush administration which was keen to prove alink between Saddam Hussain and the 9/11 terrorist strikes.
On the other hand the supporters of the Guantanamo detention claim that the detainees were started to be released as early as 2002.
A spokesperson on behalf of the Bush administration said, “We are not going to have any comment on that.”
He also claimed that the Defense Secretary had worked hard to ensure early release of the detainees and to keep the prison population to the minimum.
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