Last night, controversial whistleblowing site WikiLeaks released another one of its signature dumps of confidential government and military documents, this one pertaining to the prisoners kept at the United States’ detention center at Guantanamo Bay. In all, 779 classified dossiers on current and former Guantanamo detainees were released.
A number of media outlets, including the New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR have published the classified files in whole or in part, leading Glenn Greenwald to wonder why if WikiLeaks is being pursued by some government actors for espionage charges, the more traditional outlets aren’t as well. The Obama administration condemned the leaks in a statement: “These documents contain classified information about current and former GTMO detainees, and we strongly condemn the leaking of this sensitive information.”
In addition to shedding light on the actions of Al-Qaeda’s leadership before and after the 9/11 attacks, the documents pertain to the treatment of the detainees: While the Times reports that the documents “are largely silent about the use of the harsh interrogation tactics at Guantánamo — including sleep deprivation, shackling in stress positions and prolonged exposure to cold temperatures — that drew global condemnation,” it also notes that many prisoners appear to have been held for long periods without cause.
