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Bush: Amnesty Report on Guantanamo Abuses is “Absurd”

HeadlineJun 01, 2005

On Tuesday President Bush dismissed a report on U.S. committing human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay. He told reporters at a news conference “I’m aware of the Amnesty International report. It’s an absurd allegation.” Last week Amnesty compared Guantanamo to the Soviet-era gulag prison camps. Meanwhile the Associated Press is reporting it has obtained government documents that indicate many Guantanamo detainees may be at the prison only because they were sold to the U.S. for a bounty. During military tribunals held at the prison, detainees testified that they were essentially sold to the U.S. who were paying thousands of dollars in cash for suspects. One former CIA intelligence officer who helped lead the search for Osama bin Laden told AP the accounts sounded legitimate because U.S. allies regularly gave out money to help catch Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. That officer — Gary Schroen — said he took a suitcase of $3 million in cash into Afghanistan himself to help supply and win over warlords.

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