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Other examples also show irresponsible misreporting, including "scare stories that abet those forces seeking to legitimate the continued existence of Guantanamo and the scheme of detention without charge that the place was created to facilitate."
Moreover, besides scandalous ongoing levels of torture and abuse, Times reports refused even to mention, let alone explain, their lawlessness and effect on innocent victims. In addition, Times, Washington Post, and other major media coverage ignore the fact that most of the remaining 172 detainees, "had been cleared for release by the Interagency Task Force set up in 2009." Instead, as quoted above, The Times called at least most of them "high risk....posing a threat to the United States and its allies."
In fact, their risk assessments "are based on patently unreliable information, much of it the product of other interrogations at Guantanamo," producing torture-extracted confessions or other bogus information. In addition, the files "are years out of date and repeat inaccurate Bush administration allegations long since put to rest."
Yet innocent men will be held indefinitely, either uncharged or tried illegally in military commissions using spurious "evidence" to convict them, including the 9/11 suspects. In fact, their alleged guilt is very much open to question, including the so-called mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), brutally tortured for months in several locations before sent to Guananamo for even more.
Overall, the released documents reveal a sordid story of "government attempting to justify its mistakes and detaining, interrogating and abusing men - as well as teenage boys and men old enough to be suffering from dementia - for years based on bad (or bogus) evidence, hearsay (or) sheer incompetence."
They disclose a scandalous lack of accountability, transparency and respect for international and US law. They also reveal that Washington withheld "information the public sorely needs in order to be able to make informed decisions about vital government policies. In addition, they show that the" media, including The New York Times repeatedly, disgraced themselves by misreporting.
Unlike official Washington and America's media, CCR (for almost 15 years) has advanced and protected constitutionally guaranteed rights and those stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - the same ones Seton Hall's Mark Denbeaux and his dedicated team respect, teach and support.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at Email address removed. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/ .
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