On 13 Jun., 22:48, Don Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:
> #1) the detainees are NOT prisoners of war. If you can accept this
> fact(any google search should clear this up for you) then it pretty
> much negates most of your objections to U.S. breaking international
> law.
What the Gitmo detainees ARE, Don, is a point that can well be
discussed. Basically, people whose guilt (with a few exceptions) has
not been proven in any judicial process whatsoever. Suspects, interred
without charge for many years. Interred in Guantanamo, which is, in
terms of international law, a legal limbo. Interred there, as a
conscious choice by the Bush regime, to remove them from the due legal
process and basic human rights which they would have been entitled to,
had they been held in the USA. Thus, conveniently, also outside the
scope of the Geneva Convention. A deliberate, cynical, denial of all
the values the Bush regime claimed to be fighting for in the "War on
Terror." Beyond even the kind of control to which the procedures
followed in Abu Ghraib ultimately had to bow. An environment in which
continuous chaining of suspects, sleep deprivation, waterboarding and
other methods of torture could be carried out, without any fear of
inconvenient judicial oversight, press reporting, or anything else of
that sort.
As Allan pointed it, it is little wonder that many of those who
arrived there innocent of any wrongdoing have been radicalised in an
islamicist direction as a result of their experiences there. Which
does leave the US with the problem of what to do with them now. But,
as Colin Powell repeatedly pointed out to various Bush presidents, "if
you break it, it's yours." Maybe one way to start solving the problem
would be with a sincere apology to the detainees, followed by thoughts
about compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
Francis
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
""Minds Eye"" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
