- Dear Mr. Rense:
-
- As the following article echoes, the barbarism of Bush
along with his hounds including Rumsfeld is beyond comprehension. They
have imprisoned children ages 13 to 16 and they have imprisoned the mentally
ill. Such inhuman treatment has made millions crying for revenge. As one
Afghan wrote me from Pakistan:
-
- "America took our children and put them in cages
like they were animals, and America expects us to be kind. We will not
forget America's savagery and barbarism. We will do worse with their soldiers
who we have as prisoners; and we will fight till we are either dead or
victorious."
-
- The problem is that Bush and his gang of criminals have
successfully implemented their masters' agenda of the "clash of civilizations".
However, they fail to realize the lessons of history, namely any power
that has gone up, has eventually come down and crumbled. This is precisely
what will happen to this country due to the criminal undertakings of few
in Washington DC.
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, PhD
- mdmiraki@ameritech.net
-
-
- Cry From Cages Of A Jail Beyond Reach Of The
Law
-
- By Michael McKenna in Cuba
- 5-4-3
-
- It is late in the night, hours after the blistering sun
has disappeared into the Caribbean and Camp Delta has come to life. The
eerie daytime silence of the 660 or so prisoners, captured in the Afghan
war, has broken into a chilling chorus of dissent and religious devotion.
Under blinding floodlights and the watchful eye of sentries, perched in
plywood towers, the world's most feared prison population seemingly finds
its voice.
-
- The iron grill walls of the cells, where most have been
held for more than a year, are banged incessantly as the suspected terrorists
yell and even scream to an accompaniment of lightning flashes typical of
the tropics. With the heavy machinery of ongoing construction quietened
for the day, US military minders tell the media contingent, escorted near
the mesh-covered perimeter fence, the racket is more about prayer than
protest.
-
- The minders say the Muslim call to prayer, recorded at
Mecca and played over loudspeakers five times a day, was aired an hour
earlier and detainees are merely "shouting passages of the Koran"
to each other from their cells. Whether the explanation is right or wrong,
it comes across like another in the armoury of rehearsed lines employed
by military personnel in the public relations battle being fought over
the detention facility.
-
- The detainees they are never called prisoners have remained
in legal, political and geographical limbo since first being brought to
the tent prison, later replaced by permanent cell blocks, in January of
last year. Among them are Australians David Hicks and Mambouh Habib arrested
in Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively who were in the first group to
arrive in Cuba.
-
- Some are juveniles as young as 13 years of age, while
others are described by Guantanamo medical staff as suffering from serious
mental illness. They are guarded by a corp of twenty-something reservists,
plucked out of suburbia, who wear silver tape over their name tags for
fear of future retribution back home by released detainees. Emotion runs
high, with pictures of the Twin Towers in the guard's communal rooms and
the enlisted soldiers saluting with the bark "honour bound" that
is met by the officer's response "defend freedom".
-
- Against the backdrop of the naval base that became a
symbol of the Cold War during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, a new war
on terrorism is being waged by Americans from Guantanamo Bay. The mantra
of politician and soldier alike, is that the detainees are being held for
the world's protection and to gather information on the terrorist networks
through regular interrogation.
-
- Human rights groups have described the conditions as
appalling and challenged the legality of the prisoners' detention in US
courts. The US deems the prisoners, who come from 42 different countries,
as "unlawful enemy combatants", and beyond the protection of
the Geneva Convention. All were captured in Afghanistan and neighbouring
Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, which dismantled the Taliban
regime and dispersed the al-Qaida network in the wake of the September
11 terrorist attacks.
-
- Camp X-Ray, the makeshift tent prison where detainees
were first held, has been replaced by Camp Delta. The new facility made
up of unit blocks with single open-air cages and a new dormitory unit that
opened last month has a sense of permanence that would give little hope
to prisoners or human rights advocates. Senior officers at Camp Delta say
it has been built to operate for between five and 10 years and could eventually
house 1000 detainees.
-
- Only 23 mostly Pakistani prisoners have been released
since January 2002 and speculation is that some paramilitaries and Fedayeen
fighters captured in Iraq will be sent to Cuba. Military officials will
not discuss the identities of any of the detainees and questions about
Hicks and Habib are met with a uniform "who?".
-
- Guantanamo Bay base commander Major General Geoffrey
Miller says the military is preparing for the long term. "This is
an extended war on terrorism and the information we are still gathering
from these people enables us to make advances in that war everyday."
Maj Gen Miller said the process of interrogation was an arduous process
and the assessment of detainees, for their possible release or prosecution,
took time. But the release of prisoners does not mean they are innocent.
"I am confident that every single detainee in Camp Delta is in his
proper place," Maj Gen Miller said. "They have all been involved
in the war of terrorism in some fashion, obviously at different levels,
but that's our job to go through the interrogation process to make recommendations
and find the information."
-
- Maj Gen Miller dismisses claims that "stress and
duress" techniques are being used in the interrogation sessions. "Those
accusations are categorically incorrect, we use standard interrogation
techniques approved by our military and we get better at them every day,"
he said.
-
- Commandant Sgt Major John Vannatta, warden of Indiana's
largest medium security prison when not in fatigues, says one of the tools
to get information is food and accommodation privileges. The prisoners
are divided up into four security classifications depending on their behaviour
and cooperation. Sgt Major Vannatta said an incentive system was set-up,
ahead of the opening of "Camp 4", where 50 prisoners had been
rewarded with dormitory accommodation, books and a communal eating and
recreational area. Camp 4 also serves as a half-way house before release.
-
- Detainees in Camps 1 to 3 receive two hot and a cold
vegetarian meal each day, with those in Camp 4 being fed a portion-and-a-half
of "three hots", as well as desserts once a week. All the hot
meals are either vegetarian or fish, after the detainees refused to believe
the beef and chicken on offer was Halal (prepared with the appropriate
Islamic procedures). Next month, meat will be back on the menu after detainees
accepted a Halal certificate in Arabic from the wholesaler.
-
- Those not in Camp 4 live in open-air cells that measure
2m by 2.4m in blocks that house 48 people. They are given a Koran and prayer
mat and orient themselves to the Holy City of Mecca, in the east, by arrows
embossed on the frames of their cots. In one corner there is a toilet,
basically a hole in the floor, and along one wall a low sink, positioned
so that it can also be used for ritual washing of the feet before prayer.
This is where detainees spend every hour, except to shower or kick a soccer
ball around for a maximum of 20 minutes a day (depending on behaviour)
in a small, enclosed exercise yard.
-
- All detainees are shackled in irons when moved around
the facility. The same conditions applied to juvenile detainees who, only
recently, have been separated in Camp 4.Officials say the detainees receive
high-level medical care that, initially, focused on treating war wounds
but has a strong emphasis on treating the mentally ill. Captain Albert
Simkus, the chief medical officer, said there were 85 cases of mental illness
-- ranging from mild depression to schizophrenia-- and that most arrived
already suffering their condition. It is a claim disputed by some groups,
who argue their captivity and uncertain fate are contributing factors.
-
- All of the military, from soldiers to officers, disagree
with claims the prisoners are being mistreated. Specialist Melissa Shepherd,
22, a 911 operator from Illinois, says the prisoners are respected "even
though they don't always respect us". Ms Shepherd says she has been
spat on and her orders are often ignored by prisoners because they are
raised in a culture that does not respect women. "But I am a professional
soldier, I guard them and treat them humanely despite what they have done,"
she says.
-
- But not everyone in Camp Delta, like many in the outside
world, seem wholly convinced of the detainees continued threat against
the US. Captain Youseff Yee, the Islamic chaplain who oversees detainees'
religious needs, was asked whether he was treated with suspicion by the
population (all of whom are Muslims) because he wears the US uniform. "What
you are saying is that because they are Muslim they are going to hate or
have suspicions because I wear an American flag. "How they came to
be here I have no part, how they were captured, how they were bought and
sold and how they came to Guantanamo Bay is before I got here. My role
is to help people . . . and to tend to their religious needs."
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