Dive into the dark and controversial world of Guantánamo Bay, where human rights, legal boundaries, and shocking practices converge. We'll explore the most disturbing and little-known facts about this notorious military prison that continue to challenge international law and human rights.
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00:00Guantanamo harms our partnerships with allies and other countries whose cooperation we need
00:04against terrorism.
00:06When I talk to other world leaders, they bring up the fact that Guantanamo is not resolved.
00:11Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the wildest, most disturbing
00:16facts you should know about the notorious U.S. military prison.
00:19President Trump has instructed officials to essentially convert into a massive detention
00:24center to hold people awaiting deportation, in this case to Venezuela.
00:31Number 10.
00:32Hunger strikes are common.
00:34More than half the detainees at the Guantanamo prison are now on hunger strike.
00:39Government figures disclosed this weekend show 84 of the 166 captives at the facility
00:45are now participating.
00:47A smaller number began the protest in early February.
00:50They objected to their living conditions and to alleged mishandling of the Quran by
00:55military guards.
00:57For those unlucky enough to be detained at Guantanamo Bay, undergoing a hunger strike
01:01can be an unpleasant but effective means of protesting one's conditions and situation.
01:06Force feeding techniques are also common in response, and according to Democracy Now!,
01:12that entailed, quote, large feeding tubes being forcefully shoved up their noses and
01:17down into their stomachs, with guards using the same tubes from one patient to another,
01:22end quote.
01:23We were trying to be patient and work with them, give them the opportunity to comply.
01:29We hit the point where, you know, I felt we were accepting too much risk, and it was time
01:34to take action.
01:36A mass hunger strike held by detainees in 2013 yielded a force feeding operation so
01:41large that the government subsequently declined to release information about incidents like
01:46this one.
01:47Some, including British defense attorney Clive Stafford-Smith, have accused the government
01:51of fudging the numbers to reduce negative press.
01:54These are the feeding tubes that we use whenever it is determined at a very high level that
02:01somebody has reached that point in their hunger strike, and everyone is allowed to hunger
02:03strike, that is their right to protest, but if somebody gets to that point where they
02:10need additional medical care, or it's reached the point where it's threatening their life,
02:15that's where the decision is made way above me to step in.
02:19Number nine, some released detainees returned to their former lives.
02:24For some Guantanamo Bay detainees, the American government has asserted that their imprisonment
02:29does not end their previous activities.
02:32As reported by Reuters in 2016, 111 of 532 prisoners released by the administration of
02:38George W. Bush are confirmed to have returned to the battlefield, with 74 others suspected
02:44of doing so.
02:45For example, Abdallah al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti detainee accused of being a Taliban fighter who was
02:51released in 2006, reportedly committed a bombing in Mosul, Iraq in 2008 that took his own life
02:58and the lives of several others.
03:00However, you might want to take the government's word with a grain of salt, as their assessment
03:04of who had returned to terrorism was broadly defined.
03:08It included testimonies of former detainees who had criticized their treatment at the
03:12prison.
03:13Number eight, an Air Force veteran was permanently disabled in a training drill.
03:18Have you ever heard the name Sean Baker before?
03:21And no, we're not referring to the Onora and the Florida Project filmmaker of the same
03:26name.
03:27Baker, who is reported to have served during the first Gulf War, was part of what was supposed
03:31to be a routine training exercise at Guantanamo Bay.
03:35Baker donned an orange jumpsuit while wearing his army uniform underneath, given the role
03:40of a fictional, insubordinate detainee.
03:43However, the soldiers being trained were misinformed and believed Baker to be an actual detainee.
03:49Baker was beaten so severely that he suffered several seizures and was hospitalized for
03:54nearly two months as a result.
03:57Number seven, Gitmo may host a clandestine black site.
04:01We figured that we needed to find a place where we could take Abu Zubaydah and we could
04:09debrief him secretly without the attention of the press or anybody else.
04:17And a place where Abu Zubaydah himself wouldn't know where he was.
04:21It's inarguable that Guantanamo Bay is home to Camp 7, an area with the most intense security
04:27on the base that was initially kept secret from the public.
04:30Camp 7 was at one point populated with what the U.S. government referred to as, quote,
04:35high-value detainees, or senior members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
04:40So their intentions and priorities are to protect information rather than appear innocent.
04:45And because of that, you have to find some way to shift their priorities in the moment.
04:51However, there may or may not exist yet another, even more secretive area, Camp No.
04:57The name is sort of fitting.
04:59Camp No, whether it's real or the stuff of urban legend, is an alleged black site, which
05:04refers to a place where prisoners are held without due process.
05:08Attorney Scott Horton attested to the facility's existence in 2010 and alleged that at least
05:13three detainees had been killed there.
05:16If you're talking to a person who is a senior al-Qaeda leader or something like that, it's
05:20perfectly reasonable that they would sit and say, well, Islam is the religion of peace.
05:24They use the same thing when it comes to words like innocent.
05:27Number six, a major 9-11 figure has been held there for almost two decades.
05:32The accused mastermind of the 9-11 terror attack and two co-defendants have reached
05:36a plea deal.
05:37Authorities say they will now plead guilty to multiple charges, including the murder
05:40of 2,976 people, reportedly to be spared the death penalty.
05:46Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind and the two alleged co-conspirators have been
05:50held at Guantanamo Bay for years now.
05:52The man born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, although he's known to have employed at least 50 pseudonyms,
05:59has quite the, let's say, distinctive resume.
06:02The former head of propaganda for al-Qaeda, Mohammed has been accused of participating
06:07in several of the most infamous terror attacks of the past few decades, like the 1993 World
06:12Trade Center bombing, Richard Reed's shoe bombing attempt, murder of Daniel Pearl and
06:17crucially the events of 9-11.
06:19The New York Times reporting, war court prosecutor sent a letter to family members of the victims
06:24of the attacks, saying in exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible
06:29punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses,
06:35including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet.
06:41In fact, the 2004 9-11 commission report referred to Mohammed as, quote, the principal architect
06:47of the 9-11 attacks.
06:49Located in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi in 2003, Mohammed has been holed up at Guantanamo
06:55Bay since 2006, bouncing around in the legal system between life in prison or the death
07:01penalty.
07:02The Pentagon has not released details of the deal publicly, but the trials of the 9-11
07:07conspirators has been delayed for years.
07:10Last September, President Biden rejected a set of demands that had formed the basis of
07:14the plea negotiations.
07:16Some of the victims' families had expressed outrage when word came last year that a plea
07:20deal was in the works.
07:25According to the U.S. military, he was a Taliban commander with ties to Osama bin Laden.
07:29He was never formally charged.
07:32And his lawyer long argued that Gul quit the Taliban movement before the 9-11 attacks.
07:37Awal didn't have any property.
07:40He was a jihadi commander who fought against the Soviets.
07:43He was not a traitor.
07:44He is now a martyr.
07:46In total, nine detainees have died while in the custody of Guantanamo Bay.
07:50One died of cancer, but the other eight cases – one heart attack and seven cases where
07:56prisoners reportedly took their own lives – have been met with scrutiny, particularly
08:01one incident in which three prisoners allegedly took their own lives in 2006.
08:06According to ex-Guantanamo Guard-turned-whistleblower Joseph Hickman, the alleged event in which
08:11three prisoners took their own lives was almost certainly a cover-up.
08:16The NCIS investigation into the event was heavily criticized for inconsistencies.
08:21They would have all three had to tie their hands and feet together by themselves, shoved
08:26rags down their throats, put a mask over their face, made a noose, hung it from the ceiling
08:34or the side of the cell block, jumped into the noose, and hung themselves simultaneously.
08:41These doubts, coupled with the presence of rags in the throats of the men, aroused further
08:45suspicion of foul play – suspicions that were fully expanded upon in a joint investigation
08:50by NBC and Harper's Magazine, which suggested that they were tortured to death during interrogation.
08:56As of 2011, it's believed that a technique called dryboarding may have been used.
09:01According to ex-Guantanamo Guard-turned-whistleblower Joseph Hickman, the triple suicide was almost
09:06certainly a cover-up.
09:07What did these reports claim was wrong with the story?
09:12They claimed that I was a perimeter guard and I was never inside of Camp Delta, so I
09:16wouldn't know.
09:17The fact is, is more than half of my duties were spent inside of Camp Delta, and almost
09:25half was outside on the perimeter.
09:28And both positions gives me a pretty good view of what happened.
09:32Number 4.
09:33Inmates are detained indefinitely without trial.
09:36In America, everyone has the right to a fair trial.
09:39Unfortunately for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, that doesn't apply to them as suspected
09:44foreign terrorists, which the U.S. view as enemy combatants.
09:49In some cases, individuals have been held for more than a decade without charges or
09:53a trial.
09:55Under the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF, of 2001, America justifies
10:01indefinite detention, deeming their detainees to be security risks.
10:05Legal loopholes aside, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have both called this
10:09practice illegal.
10:11Of 779 detainees, most have been released without charge.
10:16According to former Bush administration official Lawrence B. Wilkerson, many detainees were
10:21handed over to the U.S. for cash bounties and were just, quote, in the wrong place at
10:26the wrong time.
10:28Number 3.
10:29Minors can be detained.
10:31I cannot answer why they were there that long, except that knowing that if they were returned,
10:37they could end up back on the battlefield and end up being killed.
10:40There's no way that these kids know anything of any importance, and to mastermind a significant
10:48threat to anyone was probably fairly unlikely.
10:51Ever heard of Camp Iguana?
10:54They have outdoor activities, air conditioning, televisions, twin beds, and you can see the
10:59ocean.
11:00It's basically sleepaway camp, except it's a special section of Guantanamo Bay used to
11:05house detainees under the age of 16, who they refer to as juvenile enemy combatants.
11:12When Asadula came out, he spoke to me in perfect English, and I was so shocked that such a
11:17young boy had been to Guantanamo Bay.
11:19But even more surprising in some ways that the experience had actually been a positive
11:23one for him.
11:24He had learned English and math, and he knew how to play chess, and he knew there were
11:29dinosaurs, that the world was round.
11:31Nobody else in his village knew any of that.
11:33Call them whatever you want, they are children, and everywhere else in the world, taking them
11:38by force is called kidnapping, no matter how well you treat them.
11:42The parents of Asadula Rahman searched for their son for seven months before being informed
11:47of his whereabouts.
11:48The youngest detainee ever?
11:50He was taken at just 10 years old.
11:52In total, it's been reported that 15 to 22 minors have been admitted.
11:56I still have the wounds in my mind, and it still hurts.
12:00They told me that they didn't know the plans, that they would take pictures of me, and they
12:04took pictures of me that I didn't even recognize.
12:06It was very difficult for us, we had to go through a lot.
12:08If I had told them a lot, I wouldn't have committed any crime, my age, my time, Asad.
12:14I didn't do anything.
12:15They told us, you tell us the plans, the plans of the Taliban, the commanders.
12:21Number two, the rent might be cheap, but the cost is high.
12:24The prison buildings were set up as temporary, expeditionary, war on terror sites.
12:31And they opened, as you know, in 2002.
12:34And many of the buildings and structures that they've been using are that much older and
12:39have needed repairs and replacement and maintenance.
12:43America's Guantanamo Bay land lease reportedly only costs $4,085 per month, an arrangement
12:49dating back to the 1903 Platt Amendment.
12:52In protest of this occupation, however, Cuba has allegedly refused to cash the checks in
12:5755 years.
12:59Despite low rent, Guantanamo Bay is staggeringly expensive.
13:03The price of keeping a soldier, mostly National Guard, in uniform has also gone up across
13:10the years.
13:11And this detention center of 40 prisoners has 1,800 soldiers.
13:17That's 45 troops for every prisoner.
13:20No one seems to be able to agree on an exact figure, but the annual cost per prisoner is
13:25$900,000, according to President Obama, $2.7 million, according to Democratic Representative
13:31Adam Smith, and $5 million by the ACLU's estimation.
13:36Any of these numbers are astronomical when compared to the average cost per prisoner
13:39at a maximum security federal prison, roughly $34,000.
13:45Last tallied in 2015, Guantanamo Bay has cost the U.S. $5.6 trillion.
13:51Guantanamo is just plain expensive, you know, it's down here in Cuba, everything comes in
13:56by airplane or barge, everything has a markup, construction has a markup, this is an extremely
14:02isolated expensive place to run this kind of operation.
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14:22Number one, it may never close.
14:24For many years, it's been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance
14:30our national security.
14:33It undermines it.
14:36This is not just my opinion, this is the opinion of experts, this is the opinion of many in
14:39our military.
14:42It's counterproductive to our fight against terrorists.
14:45When President Obama took office in 2009, he promised to close Guantanamo Bay.
14:51We've covered a wide variety of horrors perpetrated at this institution, any of which should have
14:56been enough to get that place shut down.
14:58But try as he might, Obama repeatedly failed.
15:01The reason?
15:02A government divided.
15:04These men don't belong in a courtroom in Kentucky, Madam President.
15:07They belong at the secure detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, far, far away from
15:14U.S. civilians.
15:15At every turn, Obama's efforts were blocked, including the passing of a bill by congressional
15:20Republicans forbidding the transfer of detainees to U.S. soil or spending any funds to alter
15:25or build new structures to house them.
15:28With the election of Donald Trump came a promise to not only keep the prison open, but, quote,
15:33load it up with some bad dudes, including Americans, despite that being illegal.
15:39With 56 percent of Americans opposing its closure, it'll likely stay open or even grow.
15:45Criminals and suspected gang members aren't the only migrants, immigrants being transported
15:49to Guantanamo Bay ahead of their planned deportation.
15:52According to both internal government documents and U.S. officials, the Trump administration
15:57is also sending nonviolent detainees who do not have serious criminal records or in some
16:02cases any criminal records at all.
16:04Which Guantanamo Bay fun fact shocked you the most?
16:07Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
16:09There were no reported serious injuries, but the prison was put on lockdown and the number
16:14of hunger strikers skyrocketed.