Guantanamo Military Policeman Sues Pentagon

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Sun Jun 19, 2005 at 08:44:49 PM EST
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In May, 2004, TChris wrote about Sean Baker.

Sean Baker was a member of a Military Police company assigned to Guantanamo Bay in January 2003, when he was ordered to play the role of a detainee during a training exercise. Baker quickly learned how detainees are treated when things go wrong.

Baker says what took place next happened at the hands of four U.S. soldiers - soldiers he believes didn't know he was one of them - has changed his life forever. "They grabbed my arms, my legs, twisted me up and unfortunately one of the individuals got up on my back from behind and put pressure down on me while I was face down," said Baker. "Then he - the same individual - reached around and began to choke me and press my head down against the steel floor. After several seconds, 20 to 30 seconds ... when I couldn't breath, I began to panic and I gave the code word I was supposed to give to stop the exercise, which was 'red.'"

The beating stopped when the soldiers saw Baker's army boots.

Baker sustained a traumatic brain injury that left him with a seizure disorder. Military records confirm that his injury "was due to soldier playing role as a detainee who was uncooperative."

As TChris wrote,

A "training" exercise implies teaching and supervision. Who supervised the senseless beating of a soldier? And what, exactly, was being taught?

In June, 2004, the Army acknowledged it was "partly" responsible for his medical discharge.

Reversing itself, the Army said Tuesday that a G.I. was discharged partly because of a head injury he suffered while posing as an uncooperative detainee during a training exercise at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The Army had previously said Specialist Sean Baker's medical discharge in April was unrelated to the injury he received last year at the detention center, where the United States holds suspected terrorists.

Today, via Billmon, we learn that Baker has sued the Pentagon for $15 million and asked to be reinstated to a position that will accomodate his injuries.

And right wingers are angry at him. Billmon continues:

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh dismissed Baker's claim that the repeated crushing blows to the head inflicted by his fellow guards had left h