Three prisoners held at Guantanamo apparently committed suicide yesterday, amid ongoing prisoner protests against their 4 to 5 year detentions without charge or even a ghost of due process. The Navy is investigating the nature of their deaths. Guantanamo will go down in history along with the Japanese Internment and the Trail of Tears as one of the worst stains on America's history.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined the international chorus calling for the U.S. to close its camp. When the Germans think your detention camp is too harsh, that should be the sign that you have gone too far.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Three Prisoners "Released"
Posted by Dr. Strangelove at 1:15 PM
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6 comments:
A bit harsh on the Germans, Dr, but I see your point. In Oz we have detention camps for illegal immigrants supported by the Howard government. Unfortunately this appears justifiable to the right wingers. How the hell did we get in this state? Why are our governments avoiding due process? Is it really such a vote winner?
// posted by Numbat o Love
Apparently, the guards check the prisoners every two minutes. And yet there were still three simultaneous suicides. Which leads one to wonder whether the official description of "suicide" is accurate. (Naturally, there is no provision for a neutral autopsy on the bodies.)
One cannot help but wonder if these prisoners might they have died from interrogation methods--from torture? Such deaths have already occurred in other American prison camps in Afghanistan and Iraq. All three men had gone on hunger strikes earlier and at least one had been repeatedly force-fed (i.e. they were strapped into chairs and feeding tubes were inserted through their noses). Perhaps five years in the tender mercies of the US military left these men more fragile than their interrogators had thought.
I have no sympathy for terrorists. But those accused of being terrorists deserve due process. And five years' imprisonment without any charges is nobody's definition of due process... except for some right-wingers. I always want to ask such people: wouldn't you feel differently if it were your own son or daughter who stood accused? And if you think that can't happen, you're forgetting that dozens of men have been released from Guantanamo freely with no charges. (Many had simply been turned over by Pakistanis and Afghans for paid bounty.)
"Is it really such a vote winner [to avoid due process]?" asks Numbat. Well a few things are obvious. First, due process is denied to these prisoners because honoring that basic right would either free them or make interrogation more difficult... and would also allow neutral third parties to see what was going on in Gitmo. And I imagine that would be a terrible embarassment.
I'm officially ashamed to be an American.
// posted by siddharthawolf
I'm ashamed of my government. I'll always be proud to be an American.
// posted by LTG
To me it's the same thing....as a regular American, I'm ashamed that I've allowed the elected government officials to misrepresent the country. I personally can't stand patriotism (it's a round world last time I checked).
// posted by siddharthawolf
What we are seeing in the US and in Australia and other places is a resurgance of nationalism and right wing populism. It scares the hell out of me and it's more dangerous than Al Qaeda - the supposed threat to which it is a response.
Gitmo and the Howard Government's policy towards immigrants are examples of a kind of quasi-fascist disregard for individual liberty and rights that are the foundation of democracy itself.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
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