Back to News & Commentary

What Kind Of Investigation Leaves Questions Unanswered?

Share This Page
December 18, 2009

It鈥檚 easy to forget that the were human beings: brothers, husbands, fathers, sons, uncles, friends. It may be easier to jump to the conclusion that these men must have been terrorists who wanted to sabotage America and its freedom.

Maybe they were, and maybe they were not 鈥 but not one of the three detainees that died that day were ever charged with a crime during the five years they were imprisoned at Guant谩namo. In fact, one of men who died was approved and scheduled for release 19 days after his life ended.

What we do know is that on June 10, 2006 three men died in the U.S. military鈥檚 maximum-security facility at Guant谩namo Bay under questionable circumstances. Three and a half years later, even the simplest of questions surrounding their deaths鈥攚ho, what, when, where, why and how鈥攔emain unclear from the military鈥檚 investigation.

Here at the , we plowed through more than 1,700 pages of investigative material dozens of times over. Each time we鈥檇 come back to the drawing table, more unclear than before, with more questions than answers, and unable to understand any of the supposed facts the investigation revealed.

The questions we sought to answer: How was it possible for three detainees to kill themselves and then hang dead in their individual cells for more than two hours without any guards or other detainees noticing? How did the military conclude this was a conspiracy when it did not find or present any substantial evidence of a conspiracy? Why were the detainees given life-saving treatment measures when their bodies were discovered in rigor mortis, an indication of sure death? What is the physical explanation for how the detainees were able to shove rags so far down their throats without inducing a gag reflex? Why were routine records kept at Guant谩namo 鈥 including the 鈥淒etainee Information Management System鈥 (DIMS), pass-on book, video surveillance and other logs 鈥 unavailable to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigation?

The are often inconsistent and contradictory when considered alongside Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place at Guant谩namo. According to the government鈥檚 own autopsies, each detainee had been hanging unobserved for a minimum of two hours. Three simultaneous deaths under these circumstances at one of the most maximum-security facilities on the planet raises serious questions about the security of the camp. The resulting investigation into the deaths indicated the negligence of NCIS to reach a factually based conclusion.

The Center for Policy & Research recently published a report, that deconstructs and then synthesizes the military鈥檚 investigation into the June 10 deaths. The investigation was incompetent at best, and the story as presented by NCIS is an insult to any analytical mind. While we are completely unsure of what actually happened that night, it is deeply concerning that three men died in the U.S. military鈥檚 custody. The bottom line is this: the truth remains unknown to the American public and the families of these three men.

Like the 红杏视频, we hope that the Justice Department and Congress will launch a thorough investigation to seek the truth behind the three deaths that occurred at Guant谩namo on June 10, 2006, as well as other instances of detainee abuse and torture that have occurred in U.S. custody.

- Meghan Chrisner & Kelli Stout on behalf of the Center for Policy & Research at Seton Hall University School of Law

Learn More 红杏视频 the Issues on This Page