Gitmo Sgt: Three ‘Suicides’ Were Tortured To Death
A staff sergeant at Guantanamo Bay claims to have solved one of the military prison’s greatest mysteries: Three men the Pentagon says killed themselves were actually tortured to death by the CIA.
The official government line was that Yasser Talal al-Zahrani of Yemen, and Salah Ahmed al-Salami and Mani Shaman al-Utaybi, both of Saudi Arabia, killed themselves in 2006 in a suicide pact.
Rear Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, called the deaths “an asymmetric warfare committed against us.” The men were said to have hanged themselves.
Staff Sgt. Joseph Hickman, a Marine veteran who reenlisted in the Maryland National Guard after 9/11, contradicts the military version of events in his new book, “Murder at Camp Delta: A Staff Sergeant’s Pursuit of the Truth About Guantanamo Bay.” And he paints a sinister picture of the government’s use of the prison as a “battle lab” for cruelly inventive, experimental torture tactics.
Staff Sgt. Joseph Hickman, a Marine veteran who reenlisted in the Maryland National Guard after 9/11, contradicts the military version of events in his new book, ‘Murder at Camp Delta: A Staff Sergeant’s Pursuit of the Truth About Guantanamo Bay.’
Staff Sgt. Joseph Hickman, a Marine veteran who reenlisted in the Maryland National Guard after 9/11, contradicts the military version of events in his new book, ‘Murder at Camp Delta: A Staff Sergeant’s Pursuit of the Truth About Guantanamo Bay.’
“It is my informed opinion that there were three wrongful deaths at Gitmo on June 9, 2006, while I was on duty,” Hickman wrote.
The article goes on at some length to provide details of the allegations, including what happened upon Hickman learning that news outlets had reported three Guantánamo inmates had committed suicide:
The intense level of secrecy enforced at the camp prohibited Hickman from raising questions, but he fully expected to be asked for his report. Yet even during the Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe, Hickman says, he and his men weren’t tapped for their account, a complete break from military protocol.
The naval investigation confirmed that the men had committed suicide and further claimed they had fashioned dummies from bedding to fool guards into believing they were asleep in their bunks.
Hickman, according to the book, concluded that narrative was valid only “if each of the three men had been veritable Al Qaeda Houdinis able to (1) hoard materials; (2) fabricate them under the noses of guards into dummies and ropes; (3) partially cover their cells in ways that would make their hangings invisible to the guards; (4) make dummies that presented the illusion of skin and breathing movements, and (5) like acrobats, climb onto their sinks or cots, shove rags deep into their throats, bind their feet, affix their neck into their nooses, tie masks over their faces, bind their hands and then jump or fall from their perches — but silently so as not to attract the guards’ attention.”
Hickman appeared on last Thursday’s edition of Democracy Now:
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By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.
20 responses to Gitmo Sgt: Three ‘Suicides’ Were Tortured To Death
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Carla Akins January 18th, 2015 at 11:22
I’m afraid the horror of what happened here is more than most American’s will ever admit, and certainly more than they can deal with.
dave-dr-gonzo January 18th, 2015 at 12:52
All the more reason to flog the story. Americans need to learn to handle the truth about what was done to “protect” their “freedoms”.
tracey marie January 18th, 2015 at 14:49
some will not care, their bigotry and hate are stronger then their sense of humanity
granpa.usthai January 18th, 2015 at 15:15
and in THEIR name and by THEIR will.
(makes a big difference when under a conquering foreign military rule)
tracey marie January 18th, 2015 at 14:48
We sent doctors to perfect and devise torture techniques…who else did such a thing, I wonder
greenfloyd January 19th, 2015 at 00:52
Obama’s making a lot of progress on closing GITMO, transfering inmates. Some going home, others (higher risk I guess) to custodial nations who hold their passports and hopefully monitor. I assume after some time any charges would be dropped, although there are reports of one former Taliban who went back to Afghanistan and established an Islamic State outpost there. I imagine he’s now on the hit list.
I think America will be better off without Gitmo, with its inmates freed or put on trail in a US criminal court under civilian control. Then let the healing begin.
Perhaps Obama would consider a joint venture with Cuba and open an American zone theme park… :) I think we still have 99 years on the lease.
Carla Akins January 18th, 2015 at 12:22
I’m afraid the horror of what happened here is more than most American’s will ever admit, and certainly more than they can deal with.
dave-dr-gonzo January 18th, 2015 at 13:52
All the more reason to flog the story. Americans need to learn to handle the truth about what was done to “protect” their “freedoms”.
tracey marie January 18th, 2015 at 15:49
some will not care, their bigotry and hate are stronger then their sense of humanity
granpa.usthai January 18th, 2015 at 16:15
and in THEIR name and by THEIR will.
(makes a big difference when under a conquering foreign military rule)
tracey marie January 18th, 2015 at 15:48
We sent doctors to perfect and devise torture techniques…who else did such a thing, I wonder
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org January 19th, 2015 at 01:52
Obama’s making a lot of progress on closing GITMO, transfering inmates. Some going home, others (higher risk I guess) to custodial nations who hold their passports and hopefully monitor. I assume after some time any charges would be dropped, although there are reports of one former Taliban who went back to Afghanistan and established an Islamic State outpost there. I imagine he’s now on the hit list.
I think America will be better off without Gitmo, with its inmates freed or put on trail in a US criminal court under civilian control. Then let the healing begin.
Perhaps Obama would consider a joint venture with Cuba and open an American zone theme park… :) I think we still have 99 years on the lease.
labman57 January 18th, 2015 at 13:13
Is this what conservatives have in mind when they continually refer to America’s “exceptionalism”?
Guantanamo has given the U.S. a black eye and has undermined the principles upon which our nation was created.
We had become the enemy.
labman57 January 18th, 2015 at 14:13
Is this what conservatives have in mind when they continually refer to America’s “exceptionalism”?
Guantanamo has given the U.S. a black eye and has undermined the principles upon which our nation was created.
We had become the enemy.
Apocalypse January 18th, 2015 at 14:11
Will it be swept under the rug and forgotten forgotten…like this was?
Apocalypse January 18th, 2015 at 15:11
Will it be swept under the rug and forgotten forgotten…like this was?
bpollen January 18th, 2015 at 15:16
It sounds like Guantanamo could move to Florida and actually improve the stats on inmate deaths in the state.
bpollen January 18th, 2015 at 16:16
It sounds like Guantanamo could move to Florida and actually improve the stats on inmate deaths in the state.
GreatLakeSailor January 18th, 2015 at 23:25
But, but, but RoJo was just on Tox(TorturePropagandaShow)News saying we need to round up more “evil” people and hold ’em and “interrogate” ’em for, like, forever ’cause then well be safe!
Mmmm, safe….
GreatLakeSailor January 19th, 2015 at 00:25
But, but, but RoJo was just on Tox(TorturePropagandaShow)News saying we need to round up more “evil” people and hold ’em and “interrogate” ’em for, like, forever ’cause then well be safe!
Mmmm, safe….