Everybody is whispering in hushed and frightened tones about Scott Horton's investigative piece in the March, 2010, online edition of Harper's, a tale which could be of mayhem and the murder of three apparently innocent Guantanamo captives, all of whom were set for release, apparently tortured to death on the night of June 9, 2006, at a mysterious facility just off the GWOT concentration camp perimeter, dubbed "Camp No", where -- again, apparently -- the odd captive was now and again taken for "special treatment." Apparently. Or maybe not.
Well. One doesn't know. One has no way of knowing. The Offical Story is that the three dead captives that night committed suicide by tying their arms and feet, stuffing rags down their throats and hanging themselves in their cells from ropes made of shreds from their clothing and bedding. All three. At the same time. This was, claimed a shrieking, hysterical, Queeg-like caricature of a PrizonKamp Kommandant named "Admiral" Harry Harris (sure, whatever, Dude) a perfidious act of "asymmetrical warfare!!!™" designed to thwart the Pure Aims And Goals of American Goodness, an act that will live in Infamy, and on and on and on, spit flying out of his foam-flecked mouth, fire from his coal-black eyes.
Anyone who remembers the incident, and it was in all the press and media at the time, surely remembers Harris's over-the-top description of what happened and some of us remember the aftermath, a mad scramble to lock down the captives even more than they already were, take all their stuff, particularly their papers, and monitor and dog them 24/7. We may also remember their hunger strikes over and over, protesting their brutal treatment among other things (oh, like their innocence or their languishing without charges in a concentration camp in Cuba for years-and-years, that sort of thing.) We may remember there were occasional suicides among the captives. And there were persistent reports of torture.
From Horton's investigation, it is not possible to know what really happened. He says that witnesses came forth after Obama was elected, went to the Justice Department, spoke with highly placed lawyers thereat, and were promised a thorough investigation of what could have been a very terrible crime.
And nothing happened.
The investigation, if it was done at all, was closed with nothing more than a hint as to why: the "gist" of witness statements could not be confirmed. kthxbai.
Very strange, even suspicious.
Of course, that's Horton's point. And part of the problem here is that there have been so many lies, so much deception, so much perfidy and so much lawlessness, murder and mayhem surrounding practically every aspect of the So-Called Global War on Terror and its numerous extensions and side actions that it's really not possible for a mere mortal to know or understand what the hell is going on in any given case, let alone get a handle on the whole picture.
From appearances, the implications of the Horton piece in Harpers (and I really do suggest any reader subscribe to Harper's if only for Horton's periodic reporting and opining, there's always plenty more to get into, and the archives are a stupendous resource, but I digress)... the implications are that the three dead captives delivered to the camp clinic the night of June 9, 2006, were tortured to death en masse at the off-campus facility dubbed "Camp No," a purported Black Site, used for "special purposes" by... whomever.
And then a frantic effort was ordered and made to plant a cover story that the three had suicided themselves, perfidiously, and anyone who breathed a word about the truth was to be hounded until they desisted. The camp was the scoured for any potential "evidence" that could be used against prisoners and/or their attorneys, and -- apparently most importantly -- the "asymmetrical warfare" tactic of hunger strikes by the prisoners was to be ended once and for all.
Which may be ultimately what this is all about. I don't know.
The flaw in Horton's piece, so to speak, is that the story he tells lacks sufficient context to clearly understand what was happening in the concentration camp, the long-time resistance of the captives, and their persistent hunger strikes that were gaining a good deal of attention world-wide and bringing the whole operation of the Guantanamo prison camp facilities under increasing scrutiny and criticism. The three dead captives were, it is my understanding -- though I can't say I "know" anything about it -- were resisting their captivity, had been targeted (and at least one of them was scheduled) for release, and they had all participated in hunger strikes, may have actually been on a hunger strike when their deaths occurred.
Another prisoner is mentioned in the piece who claims in his attorney's affidavit that he was severely abused -- tortured -- that night as well, beaten and tormented for hours, but he survived. Apparently, he, too was on a hunger strike.
The upshot of the actions at the camp afterwards was to prevent the captives from communicating with one another and from communicating in confidence with their attorneys so as to prevent them from organizing further acts of resistance of any kind.
But resistance and a simple hunger strike (plus the occasional suicide) is hard to square with the kind of brutality and mayhem toward the captives that is still being reported out of Guantanamo.
There is still a lot we don't know.
But one thing that comes out of Horton's report is that the Department of Justice may be so corrupted it is now irredeemable. I doubt he would go that far, but given the backturning of the Department on this case, one of many egregious incidents, the prognosis for "Justice" ever being achieved through the agency of this Department is becoming vanishingly small.
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