Families of dead Guantanamo detainees challenge Pentagon’s official suicide story
By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
In 2006 three detainees of the nightmarish torture camp dubbed Guantanamo Bay (or “Gitmo”) supposedly committed suicide. According to the Pentagon’s official story, the men hung themselves in their cells.
The families of two of the three victims are now challenging this story as it directly conflicts with the eye-witness accounts of four US military guards.
According to one of the soldiers, Joe Hickman, who was stationed in a guard tower on the evening of their alleged murder, the men were moved into a van in order to be transported to an even more secretive site outside of the main compound.
This secondary location is lovingly referred to as “Camp No”, because when anyone asks if it exists, they have to say, “No.”
Later, the vehicle dropped the three men off at the medical facility where Sergeant Hickman alleges he was told they swallowed rags. I find that to be a highly unusual way to attempt suicide but maybe that is just me.
Not surprisingly, the Justice Department attempted to discredit Hickman’s testimony and eyewitness account by claiming, “the gist of Sergeant Hickman’s information could not be confirmed.”
Why would a Sergeant in the United States military stationed at Guantanamo Bay invent a problem where one never existed? Can one comfortably claim that he was making it up for attention or some other ulterior motive?
According to one of the fathers of the inmates who supposedly committed suicide, upon inspection of his son’s body, he observed “all the traces of torture” and upon subsequent medical examination found that, “his son’s esophagus had been ripped out and his body bore signs of torture, including several injection marks on his hands.”
These facts alone should warrant an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of these men. Hopefully the increased media coverage and open calls for investigation by these families, coupled with the eye-witness testimony of US soldiers and the physical evidence will garner justice.
In an age where the United States is accusing other nations of human rights violations worthy of invasion, e.g. Libya, how can we allow these grievous abuses of human rights to occur at the hands of our own citizens in the name of our country?
Madison Ruppert is a Los Angeles-based independent journalist and researcher as well as the founder, owner, administrator and editor of EndtheLie.com. He has no affiliations with any government agencies, political parties, non-governmental organizations, or economic schools. He is available for freelance writing assignments and appearances or interviews in any format. He can be reached by emailing
God this is so sick. The people responsible have no souls and no conscience. No wonder this country is circling the drain. It seems like this is just preparation for when they bring it here to the USA. It’s only a matter of time now.