Six "High-Value" Guantánamo Prisoners Held, Plus "Ghost Prisoner"

August 2 / 3, 2008
Six "High-Value" Guantánamo Prisoners Held, Plus "Ghost Prisoner"
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar
The CIA's Secret Prison on Diego Garcia
By ANDY WORTHINGTON
http://www.counterp unch.org/ worthington08022 008.html

The existence of a secret, CIA-run prison on the island of Diego
Garcia in the Indian Ocean has long been a leaky secret in the "War
on Terror," and yesterday's revelations in TIME -- based on
disclosures by a "senior American official" (now retired), who
was "a frequent participant in White House Situation Room meetings"
after the 9/11 attacks, and who reported that "a CIA counter-
terrorism official twice said that a high-value prisoner or
prisoners were being interrogated on the island" -- will come as no
surprise to those who have been studying the story closely.

The news will, however, be an embarrassment to the U.S. government,
which has persistently denied claims that it operated a secret "War
on Terror" prison on Diego Garcia, and will be a source of even more
consternation to the British government, which is more closely bound
than its law-shredding Transatlantic neighbor to international laws
and treaties preventing any kind of involvement whatsoever in
kidnapping, "extraordinary rendition" and the practice of torture.

This is not the first time that TIME has exposed the existence of a
secret prison on Diego Garcia. In 2003, the magazine broke the story
that Hambali, one of 14 "high-value detainees" transferred to
Guantánamo in September 2006, was being held there, and in the years
since confirmation has also come from other sources. Twice, in 2004
and 2006, Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star US general, who is
now professor of international security studies at the West Point
military academy, revealed the prison's existence. In May 2004, he
blithely declared on MSNBC's Deborah Norville Tonight, "We're
probably holding around 3,000 people, you know, Bagram air field,
Diego Garcia, Guantánamo, 16 camps throughout Iraq," and in December
2006 he spoke out again, saying, in an NPR interview with Robert
Siegel, "They're behind bars … we've got them on Diego Garcia, in
Bagram air field, in Guantánamo."

The prison's existence was also confirmed by Dick Marty, a Swiss
senator who produced a detailed report on "extraordinary rendition"
for the Council of Europe in June 2007 (PDF) and by Manfred Novak,
the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture, in March this year. Having
spoken to senior CIA officers during his research, Marty told the
European Parliament, "We have received concurring confirmations that
United States agencies have used Diego Garcia, which is the
international legal responsibility of the UK, in the `processing' of
high-value detainees," and Manfred Novak explained to the Observer
that "he had received credible evidence from well-placed sources
familiar with the situation on the island that detainees were held
on Diego Garcia between 2002 and 2003." The penultimate piece of the
jigsaw puzzle came in May, when El Pais broke the story that "ghost
prisoner" Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, whose current whereabouts are
unknown, was imprisoned on the island in 2005, shortly after his
capture in Pakistan -- although the English-speaking press failed to
notice.

Despite these previous disclosures, yesterday's article, by Adam
Zagorin, is particularly striking because of the high-level nature
of the source, and his admission that "the CIA officer surprised
attendees by volunteering the information, apparently to demonstrate
that the agency was doing its best to obtain valuable intelligence. "
In addition, the source noted that "the U.S. may also have kept
prisoners on ships within Diego Garcia's territorial waters, a
contention the U.S. has long denied."

Zagorin also spoke to Richard Clarke (at the time the National
Security Council's Special Advisor to President Bush regarding
counter-terrorism) , who explained, "In my presence, in the White
House, the possibility of using Diego Garcia for detaining high
value targets was discussed." Although Clarke "did not witness a
final resolution of the issue," he added, "Given everything that we
know about the administration' s approach to the law on these
matters, I find the report that the U.S. did use the island for
detention or interrogation entirely credible," and he also pointed
out that using the island for interrogations or detentions without
British permission "is a violation of UK law, as well as of the bi-
lateral agreement governing the island."

Zagorin's source did not name the prisoners, but it seems clear that
the period he was referring to ("2002 and possibly 2003") was when
three particular "high-value detainees" -- Abu Zubaydah, Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh -- are reported to have been
held on the island, and it seems entirely plausible, therefore, that
after these three were transferred to another secret CIA facility in
Poland, the prison was used not only to hold Hambali, but also to
hold the two other "high-value detainees" captured with him --
Mohammed bin Lep (aka Lillie) and Mohd Farik bin Amin (aka Zubair).
The addition of Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, who, it seems, may have
been held into 2006, not only confirms that a secret prison existed,
but that it was possibly in use for four years straight.

These damaging revelations seal Diego Garcia's reputation as a
quagmire of injustice. A British sovereign territory -- albeit one
that was leased to the United States nearly 40 years ago, when the
islanders were shamefully discarded by the British government and
exiled to face destitution and death by misery in Mauritius -- Diego
Garcia has long been a source of shame to opponents of modern
colonial activity. Until now, however, the only admission that any
activities connected with the "War on Terror" had taken place on the
island came in February, when, after years of denials on the part of
the British government, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary,
finally conceded that requests for information from his U.S.
counterparts had revealed that, in 2002, two rendition flights had
refuelled on the island. "In both cases," Miliband stated with
confidence, "a U.S. plane with a single detainee on board refuelled
at the U.S. facility in Diego Garcia. The detainees did not leave
the plane, and the U.S. Government has assured us that no U.S.
detainees have ever been held on Diego Garcia."

The British government had been provoked to action by critics within
the UK, in particular the All-Party Parliamentary Group on
Extraordinary Rendition, led by the Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, and the
legal action charity Reprieve, which represents 30 prisoners in
Guantánamo, but the story appeared to grind to a halt when Michael
Hayden, the CIA's director, stepped forward to deny that Diego
Garcia had ever been used as a "War on Terror" prison.

"That is false," Gen. Hayden said when asked if a secret prison had
existed on Diego Garcia, adding, as the New York Times put it,
that "neither of the two detainees carried aboard the rendition
flights that refuelled at Diego Garcia `was ever part of the CIA's
high-value terrorist interrogation program.'" He also explained that
one of the detainees "was ultimately transferred to Guantánamo,"
while the other "was returned to his home country," which was
identified by State Department officials as Morocco. "These were
rendition operations," he added, "nothing more."

Four weeks ago, however, the story resurfaced once more, as David
Miliband reported the results of his latest request for information
from his U.S. counterparts. This concerned a list of rendition
flights, which, in the opinion of Reprieve and the All-Party
Parliamentary Group, may also have passed through British territory,
but the Foreign Secretary was confident that there was no further
evidence to be mined, stating, "The United States Government
confirmed that, with the exception of two cases related to Diego
Garcia in 2002, there have been no other instances in which U.S.
intelligence flights landed in the United Kingdom, our Overseas
Territories, or the Crown Dependencies, with a detainee on board
since 11 September 2001."

Yet again, the assurances of his U.S. colleagues did nothing to
assuage the critics. Reprieve noted that the British
government "intentionally failed to ask the right questions of the
U.S., and accepted implausible U.S. assurances at face value," and
added, presciently, "This remains a transatlantic cover-up of epic
proportions. While the British government seems content to accept
whatever nonsense it is fed by its U.S. allies, the sordid truth
about Diego Garcia's central role in the unjust rendition and
detention of prisoners in the so-called `War on Terror' cannot be
hidden forever."

Just three days after David Miliband's last attempt to draw a line
under the story, the British Foreign Affairs Select Committee
published its latest report on the British Overseas Territories
(PDF), and was scathing about Diego Garcia, declaring that "it is
deplorable that previous U.S. assurances about rendition flights
have turned out to be false. The failure of the United States
Administration to tell the truth resulted in the UK Government
inadvertently misleading our Select Committee and the House of
Commons. We intend to examine further the extent of UK supervision
of U.S. activities on Diego Garcia, including all flights and ships
serviced from Diego Garcia."

Today's revelations, of course, leave the U.S. administration
looking like bald-faced liars and the British government looking
like myopic dupes. Whether Michael Hayden was also duped is not
known, but his strenuous denial, just five months ago, that a secret
prison existed, which was manned by his own employees, will do
nothing for the credibility of the U.S. administration, which likes
to pretend that it does not torture and has nothing to conceal, but
is persistently discovered not only being economical with the truth,
but also behaving exactly as though it has guilty secrets to hide.

Whether this scandal will awaken much indignation in the American
public remains to be seen, but it is hugely damaging to the British
government, which is legally responsible for the activities that
take place on its territory, however much it likes to hide
behind "assurances" from its leaseholders that they have done
nothing wrong.

It scarcely seems possible, but Diego Garcia's dark history has
suddenly grown even darker.

The prisoners held on Diego Garcia
Abu Zubaydah (Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn). Saudi, b. 1971.
Seized in Faisalabad, Pakistan in a joint operation by Pakistani
forces and the FBI on 28 March 2002, he is regarded by the
administration as a senior al-Qaeda operative and training camp
facilitator, although this has been disputed by former FBI
interrogator Dan Coleman, who has described him as a minor
logistician with a split personality.

In February 2008, Gen. Michael Hayden, the director of the CIA,
admitted that Abu Zubaydah was one of three prisoners who had been
subjected to waterboarding (an ancient torture technique that
involves controlled drowning) in CIA custody. Held initially in
Thailand, and later in Poland, he is one of 14 "high-value
detainees" transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006. At his
tribunal in 2007, he denied being a member of al-Qaeda, and made a
point of mentioning that he had been tortured. He has not yet been
put forward for trial by Military Commission.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Kuwaiti/Pakistani, b. 1964 or 1965. The
supposed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Mohammed (commonly known as
KSM) was seized in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on March 1, 2003. Like Abu
Zubaydah, he was subjected to waterboarding, and is also presumed to
have been held initially in Thailand, and later in Poland.
Transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006, he confessed to
being "responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z" at his
tribunal in 2007, but also made a point of mentioning that he had
been tortured. He was put forward for trial by Military Commission
in February, and will face the death penalty if convicted.

Rumors that KSM was held on Diego Garcia have surfaced sporadically
over the years, one example being an article in the Toronto Star on
July 2, 2005, in which Lynda Hurst spoke to John Pike, a U.S.
defense analyst. Pike, who told Hurst that he believed that KSM had
been held on Diego Garcia, explained, "Diego Garcia is an obvious
place for a secret facility. They want somewhere that's difficult to
escape from, difficult to attack, not visible to prying eyes and
where a lot of other activity is going on. Diego Garcia is ideal."

Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Yemeni, b. 1972. A friend of the Hamburg cell
that led the 9/11 attacks, bin al-Shibh was seized in a raid in
Karachi, Pakistan on September 11, 2002. He was reportedly intended
as the 20th hijacker, but was unable to obtain a visa to enter the
United States, and subsequently worked closely with KSM in planning
the attacks. Transferred to Guantanamo in September 2006, he is also
presumed to have been held initially in Thailand, and later in
Poland, but his presence on Diego Garcia has long been suspected,
because analyses of flight records have revealed that a plane flew
from Pakistan to Diego Garcia immediately after his capture. He
refused to take part in his tribunal in 2007, but was put forward
for trial by Military Commission in February, and will face the
death penalty if convicted.

Hambali (Riduan Isamuddin). Indonesian, b. 1966. Seized in
Ayutthaya, Thailand in a joint operation by Thai forces and the CIA
on 11 August 2003, he is regarded as the main link between al-Qaeda
and its Indonesian counterpart, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). He is alleged
to have been one of the planners of the Bali bombings in October
2002, which killed over 200 people, and was transferred to
Guantánamo in September 2006. At his tribunal in 2007, he said that
he resigned from JI in 2000, and was not involved with al-Qaeda or
with any bombings or plots. He has not yet been put forward for
trial by Military Commission.

Lillie (Mohammed Nazir bin Lep) and Zubair (Mohd Farik bin Amin).
Malaysians, seized with Hambali, little is known of these two men,
beyond claims by the administration that they worked closely with
Hambali, although they were both discussed in another TIME article,
in October 2003, which examined Hambali's interrogation logs. They
were transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006, but have not yet
been put forward for trial by Military Commission.

Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (Abu Musab al-Suri). Syrian/Spanish, b.
1958. Seized in Quetta, Pakistan in October 2005 and handed over to
U.S. forces a month later, he is not accused of being involved in
direct attacks on U.S. forces, but is wanted in Spain as a witness
in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Regarded as one
of the most significant proponents of universal jihad, his writings
include a 1600-page book, The Global Islamic Resistance Call, which
was published on the internet in 2004. A critic of al-Qaeda, he
reportedly fell out with Osama bin Laden in 1998, and has stated
that the 9/11 attacks were catastrophic for the jihadi cause. Unlike
the six prisoners mentioned above, he was not transferred to
Guantánamo in September 2006, and it is not known, therefore,
whether he is being held in a secret CIA prison or if he has been
rendered to a third country.

Andy Worthington is a British historian, and the author of 'The
Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's
Illegal Prison' (published by Pluto Press). Visit his website at:
www.andyworthington .co.uk He can be reached at:
andy@andyworthingto n.co.uk