You mean Bush & co. knew that many Gitmo detainees were innocent?

Why would detainees want to leave Gitmo with its free healthcare, regular playtimes and routine beatings? [Photo: Truthdig]

Yeah, I’m shocked, too. Here’s an allegation that might as well be called the Most Obvious Truth Evar^TM (or close to, anyway): a former Bush administration chief of staff is alleging that Bush, Cheney and ex-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld were all too aware that many, if not possibly even most, of the Guantanamo Bay detainees were (and are) innocent. And what’s more, they conveniently did absolutely nothing about it.

Wilkerson alleged Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld knew that most detainees held at the US detention camp in 2002 were innocent but believed it was "politically impossible to release them".

They were also keen to avoid revealing the "incredibly confused" detention operation, Wilkerson said, claiming prisoners were often rounded up by Afghan and Pakistani forces in return for cash, with little or no evidence as to why.

He alleged Cheney "had absolutely no concern that the vast majority of Guantanamo detainees were innocent... If hundreds of innocent individuals had to suffer in order to detain a handful of hardcore terrorists, so be it".

Wilkerson, who according to The Times has been a long-time critic of the Bush administration's approach to counter-terrorism, said he discussed the issue with Powell, who left his job in 2005.

"I learnt that it was his view that it was not just vice president Cheney and secretary Rumsfeld, but also president Bush who was involved in all of the Guantanamo decision-making," the newspaper reported him as saying.

Wilkerson's statement was filed in support of Adel Hassan Hamad, a Sudanese man held at Guantanamo Bay from March 2003 until December 2007. He claims he was tortured by US agents and filed a damages action Thursday, The Times said.

The day where you begin imprisoning hundreds of innocent people – who you know are innocent – in the name of “national security” is the day you ought to be imprisoned yourself for crimes against humanity. Now, why aren’t Bush & co. in jail by now? Or even being investigated at all?

(via @todayspolitics)