DOD Contradicts DOD: An Analysis of the Response to Death in Camp Delta

The Seton Hall School of Law Center for Policy and Research Report, Death in Camp Delta, analyzed the official investigation into the June 9-10, 2006 deaths of three detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Detention Facility. The Center found a deeply flawed investigation, which failed to resolve serious questions about what really happened that night that resulted in the deaths of three men in U.S. military custody. In response to an article in Harper’s Magazine which built on the Seton Hall study and independently investigated the events at Camp Delta, the Department of Defense (DOD) provided further information. Unfortunately, this response, like the initial investigation itself, is disturbingly flawed. While the response confirms at least some of Seton Hall’s criticisms of the earlier investigation in the course of providing new information, it also contradicts factual claims in its own investigation, raising new questions as to whether the DOD can be trusted to investigate its own conduct. In analyzing the DODs response, the Center finds that:

Keywords: Death in Camp Delta, detainees, Guantanamo Bay, Military custody, Department of Defense, DOD, military

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Denbeaux, Mark and Taylor, Paul W. and Beroth, Brian and Buerkle, Scott and Camoni, Sean August and Deutsch, Adam and Dresser, Jesse and Fish, Michelle and Litwin, Marissa and McDonough, Michael and Patterson, Michael and Sterritt, Shannon and Stout, Kelli and Chrisner, Meghan, DOD Contradicts DOD: An Analysis of the Response to Death in Camp Delta (February 10, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2002908 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2002908