Guantanamo Bay, the Prison where suspected terroists to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were held were innocent. The idea of this investigation is noted to have come from one question; that is, what happened in Guantanamo?

One can imagine that with the plight of so many American citizens in prison and jail being innocent, there is the question of why this case should be any different.

The report, “America’s Prison for Terrorists Often Held the Wrong Men is a project which maps out the harrowing plight of those men who were detained by the United States Military, and were thought to be terrorist in one form or another during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The journalist notes about the series:  “An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad.”

The report on the project, begins with a video denoting the plight of those men taken to prison, the journalist says, “The men were difficult to find and hesitant to talk, because they were worried about retribution of their government. “

The account of the investigation indicates that the use of databases served as tool to locate the men who had been imprisoned. Lassete says, “An eight-month McClatchy investigation in 11 countries on three continents has found that Akhtiar was one of dozens of men — and, according to several officials, perhaps hundreds — whom the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments.”

In summary, the tools used in the investigation to find the men are as follows:

Databases: Government and Agency Records. Houston states, “A journalist should consider which level of government records (federal, state, county, city, or special district) to examine first.”  This includes government databases.

• U.S. Military Tribunal Transcripts (Unclassified)
• Military  Court Marshal Documents
Interviews with the Detainees, which include travel to: Human sources were located through Court Marshal documents described above.
• Germany
• Refugee Center of Albania
• Mosque in Jordan
• Dangerous cities and streets of Afghanistan

Other sources included: Human sources as well, however, these add to the thinking or the rationale of the United States officials.
• The Bush Administration
• Defense Officials in Washington

Source:

America’s Prisons for Terrorists Often held the Wrong Men. Guantanamo: Beyond the law.Houston, B. (2009). The investigative reporter’s handbook: A guide to documents, databases and techniques (5th). Boston, MA: Be

Watch: Bush ‘Knew Guantanamo Prisoners Were Innocent’