Glass Houses

[Jessica Blue]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says most suspected terrorists at a U.S. prison camp in Cuba will probably be detained for the course of the global war on terrorism rather than face trial.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/09/11/military.trials.ap/index.html

Does the Bush administration understand fully the concept of human rights...? Over the course of the last few months we have been regaled with the righteous trumpeting of the war hawks who claim the war in Iraq was as much about "human rights" as WMD's. Yet we need only look to Guantanamo bay to see that Bush and Co. seem to have a very convenient view of what constitutes those human rights.

Not only may suspected[emphasis on suspected] terrorists be held indefinitely without trial or legal representation, they may also have been subjected to torture, oddly rationalised by the fact this happens on Non-American soil.

By far the most disturbing development is the American practice of handing over recalcitrant prisoners to be tortured by compliant regimes in Jordan, Morocco and particularly Egypt, where beating, drowning and even electric shock treatment are used.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1038894,00.html

We should all be concerned about this, since in theory at least, anyone may now be picked up, accused of terrorist activities or associations and be locked up indefinitely. The US has no requirement to prove its case through a court trial...it's enough apparently, to be acting in the name of the *war on terrorism.*

It seems duplicitous at best, for the current US administration to hold itself up as the great purveyor of freedom and human rights. Such flouting of International laws and protections does a disservice to America and all its citizens.

 

[subgenius]

Good points.

When one learns the "code" one knows that "they" mean the opposite of what they say. They aren't for civil liberties and human rights.

When Rummy says they'll be detained for the duration of the war on terror isn't that a life sentence? Pretty stiff penalty for someone convicted of no crime.

 

[Jon_in_london]

Ummm lets see... yes, they are 'illegal combatants' because Rummy says they are and therefore they arent actually human beans anymore and dont have any rights anymore the filthy falaffel-munching sand-negros!

 

[wollery]

As I understand it the Patriot act allows the FBI to detain any non-American indefinitely on US soil without charges or representation if they are suspected of having terrorist links. They don't have to say what those suspicions are or justify the detention in any other way.
This is a blatant contravention of the international convention on human rights, not to mention the US constitution!

 

[sorgoth]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says most suspected terrorists at a U.S. prison camp in Cuba will probably be detained for the course of the global war on terrorism rather than face trial.

Global? Okay, now I`m scared.

 

[Tmy]

HEY make up your mind!! Are you mad cause we're keeping them, or are you mad cause we're handing them over to these other countries!

Just kidding. What annoys me is how they toss around "we're at war" when it suits them, but when it comes to the POW rules all of a sudden its not a "war".