Wikileaks Releases Sensitive Guantanamo Manual 643
James Hardine writes "Wired is reporting that a never-before-seen military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. military's Guantánamo Bay detention facility has been leaked to the web, via the whistle-blowing site Wikileaks.org, affording a rare inside glimpse into the institution where the United States has imprisoned hundreds of suspected terrorists since 2002. The 238-page document, "Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures," is dated March 28, 2003. The disclosure highlights the internet's usefulness to whistle-blowers in anonymously propagating documents the government and others would rather conceal. The Pentagon has been resisting — since October 2003 — a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union seeking the very same document. Anonymous open-government activists created Wikileaks in January, hoping to turn it into a clearinghouse for such disclosures. The site uses a Wikipedia-like system to enlist the public in authenticating and analyzing the documents it publishes. The Camp Delta document includes schematics of the camp, detailed checklists of what "comfort items" such as extra toilet paper can be given to detainees as rewards, six pages of instructions on how to process new detainees, instructions on how to psychologically manipulate prisoners, and rules for dealing with hunger strikes."
Link to actual Wikileak articles (Score:3, Interesting)
Related article on the leak: "US violates chemical weapons convention" [wikileaks.org]
Re:You know something? (Score:5, Interesting)
Internet and the art of disinformation (Score:2, Interesting)
Most of what you know is wrong. We live in a misinformation soup. Sorting one fact from another is not only hard, it's damned near impossible. From corporations to politicians, the truth is hidden in billions of falsehoods.
That's why I live in a fantasy world.
The internet.
Yet Another Left Wing Loony Site (Score:1, Interesting)
Prediction: Anti-leak software (Score:3, Interesting)
Given:
1. Effective DRM is impossible.
2. By definition, there is no such thing as DRM against printed documents.
I reckon the next big thing will be some sort of software which puts the fear of God into those who may wish to leak documents - by making the leaker identifiable. Specifically, watermarking them. Where two spellings of a word are equally acceptable, use one in the version sent to person A and another in the version sent to person B. Change the spacing slightly. Tweak letter shapes here and there.
Of course, then you get anti-anti-leak. Rather than publish the original document, you publish an OCR'd version.... but DeCSS hasn't stopped DVDs being shipped with CSS encryption, and it hasn't dissuaded the likes of Macrovision.
Re:Prosecute them. (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Prosecute them. (Score:3, Interesting)
For the people of Iraq, a win would be to see the Americans and their allies leave - they're doing nothing but creating instability and turning sympathy into hatred by propping up corrupt dictators throughout the region (Pakistan, Saudi-Arabia, and in Iraq Chalibi and now Nouri al-Maliki). The US lost the peace when it installed a puppet government and disbanded the army.
For the US, the only way to 'win' now is not to play. The alternative is drawn-out civil war and eventual withdrawal when the political/economic cost becomes too high. It's too late now to flood the country with troops, and the US doesn't have the troops or money to do it in any case without a draft and austerity measures.
Re:You know something? (Score:3, Interesting)
Granted, as you perceptively point out, that doesn't stop rabid fanbois of EITHER faction from waving it around slobbering that they finally have THE PROOF (which somehow always manages to justify their original preconceptions).
Um, well, in actual point of fact... (Score:3, Interesting)
There were eight years between the first World Trade Center bombing and 9/11. How many years has it been since 9/11/2001? Oh, right, just over six. We might actually have some evidence that the current policies are working if we were to go, say, 1.5 times as long between al-Qaeda terrorist incidents on U.S. soil, to allow for statistical variation.
hmm sensitive? (Score:3, Interesting)
f. Do not use the left hand to give a detainee food.
Muslims use their left hand to clean themselves and it
is culturally inappropriate to offer food with the left
hand.
g. Do not relate terrorism to Islam. It is
inappropriate to equate any religion to such heinous
activity.
h. Do not point a finger at detainees as it is
considered very disrespectful and derogatory.
i. Avoid using foul language as it displays a lack of
composure.
These all seem to be fairly positive things, from the point of view of respecting the ways of the people who are detained. This is far less a smoking gun from what I've read and more a guide on how to make people feel as secure and happy as possible when in the camp (which I know won't be a bed of roses for them...). I really wouldn't be amazed if this was "leaked" by a supporter of the guantanamo bay compound. But maybe that's just my cynical nature, it is possible that a lot of the people in the military really do just want to make the situation as good as possible for the people who they happen to have there
Re:That Doesn't Matter (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Prosecute them. (Score:4, Interesting)
A lie of omission -- ie, by deliberately censoring and leaving out intelligence that contradicts your interpretation -- is still a lie.
If scientists had several studies showing that there was a strong possibility of particles smaller than atoms, and deliberately coverd up those studies and experiments so that they could say the atom was the smallest particle as they fervently believe, then yes, it would be a lie.
What you seem to be confused about is whether a lie has to be intentional. It may well be that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc all fervently believed that their interpretation was correct and that contrary information was not reliable. They may have sincerely believed they were "eliminating confusion", but ultimately they and their delegates made the decision to only tell one side of the story, and deny that a different interpretation even existed. That's a lie, that's conscious, purposeful deception so that you can get what you want.
Re:Prosecute them. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Prosecute them. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Too much emphasis on religion (Score:3, Interesting)
I have to say, your extreme reaction to the OP's post either shows that I'm pretty ignorant of Islam, or that you're reading something into the OP's post that isn't there. I am open to discovering that I am more ignorant of Islam than I thought, but that kind of hate you're displaying isn't helping me understand Islam any better, quite the opposite: if you're a normal moderate muslim and you get this mad then I'd suggest that normal moderate muslims need to lighten up a wee bit and quit taking their dogma so seriously. Then again, I think that about all religions so don't think I'm singling you out.
looks mostly harmless EXCEPT.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Appendix G
Camp Echo
This annex is classified and available to those individuals that have a requirement to have it. All requests for copies of this annex are to be submitted to JDOG Operations.
So, camp echo is where the bad things happen, I imagine. Maybe that document is next?