The U.S. Government Says Fuck Human Rights
The U.S. government rejected an order from the United Nations to release or bring to trial the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.
The U.N. stated that the U.S. engages in torture and other human rights abuses, and illegally holds prisoners indefinitely and without charges. But, it's not like we didn't know that already.
In January, Human Rights Watch, probably the most respected watch dog group in the world, issued its annual 2006 report listing every country found to be violating human rights. As soon as the HRW 2006 report came out, news headlines from countries all over the world appeared on the Internet: USA, Armenia, Thailand, Iran, Italy, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, UK, Canada, Kyrgyzstan...and the list goes on. Everyone reads it. Governments fear it.
It's no surprise that the USA made the list of abusers. HRW charged the US of violating human rights in 11 separate categories. As expected, detainee abuse and torture were there. Hurricane Katrina is listed as well. Read the full report here. So what did White House spokeperson, Scott McClellan say about the report? "It appears to be based more on a political agenda than facts." (Boston Globe Jan. 19, 2006)
HRW does have an agenda and it's pretty open about that agenda. It exists to expose any country for human rights violations. The White House says the report is not based on facts, yet most of HRW's information came from the U.S. government. Here are some quotes from the report:
"At least eighty-six detainees have died in U.S. custody since 2002, and the U.S. government has admitted that at least twenty-seven of these cases were criminal homicides."
"In October, the United States responded to a three-year-old request by a team of independent United Nations experts to visit Guantanamo, but denied them the ability to meet privately with the detainees. The experts refused the invitation, because having access to detainees is a requirement for all their prison visits."
"The Bush Administration asserts that U.S. treaty obligations to refrain from cruel, inhuman and degrading (CID) treatment do not apply to the conduct of nonmilitary U.S. personnel interrogating non-U.S. citizens outside of the United States."
"Authorized Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) interrogation techniques apparently include a notorious method the administration has renamed 'waterboarding' (when practiced by Latin American dictatorships, it was called 'the submarine')—forcefully submerging a suspect’s head in water or otherwise making him believe he is about to drown. The director of the CIA has stated that waterboarding is a 'professional interrogation technique'."
"In March 2005, the Pentagon completed a one-time administrative review of each detainee at Guantanamo to determine whether he should be considered an “enemy combatant.” The proceedings were stacked against the detainees: they were presumed to be enemy combatants, were denied the assistance of counsel, were not able to bring in outside witnesses, and were not able to see all of the evidence against them. All but thirty-eight of the detainees were deemed enemy combatants (most of the thirty-eight are believed to be Uighurs from China). The Pentagon is also conducting annual reviews to determine if an enemy combatant is no longer a threat or useful for intelligence-gathering purposes and can be released. Neither U.S. domestic law nor international laws of war authorize such grounds for indefinite detention."
Now the U.N. is ordering the United States to shut down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and the U.K. is supporting the demand. The Bush administration said no.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan is dismissing the U.N. charges as a "rehash of old allegations" and "a discredit to the organisation." He also said, "The detainees are being treated humanely" and "Remember these are terrorists." (UK Guardian Jan 17, 2006)
John O' Neil of The New York Times reported:
The purpose of prolonged detention "is not primarily to prevent combatants from taking up arms against the United States again, but to obtain information and gather intelligence on the al-Qaeda network." But in a study released last week, two defense lawyers said Pentagon documents indicated that the military had determined that only 45 percent of the detainees had committed some hostile act against the United States or its allies and that only 8 percent were fighters for Al Qaeda. (Feb 16, 2006)
I have no doubts that sooner or later ALL the facts and horror stories of prisoner abuse and torture by the U.S. are going to come out. Eventually they will have to free the prisoners and those prisoners are going to talk. Then everyone is going to act all shocked about it because the White House said there was no abuse going on. To that I say BULLSHIT. We knew it was going on and did nothing to stop it.
If the U.S. government is not violating human rights, then why all the secrecy? Why not allow investigations and interviews with the detainees? Why does it hold secret detention facilities? What is there to hide?
Not even Human Rights Watch or the United Nations is allowed access to the detainees. The only group outside of the military and government who have access to the prisoners is the International Committee of the Red Cross, "but it reports its findings solely to U.S. authorities." (ABC News Feb 16, 2006)
Omar Deghayes, a Libyan refugee and resident of Britain was taken to Guantanamo via Afghanistan. British lawyers are fighting for his release, along with two other prisoners.
Mr Deghayes was detained in Pakistan. His name was said to be on the FBI's "most wanted" list yet the photograph in his file was of a different person, the court heard. Mr Deghayes was almost blind in one eye through the use of pepper spray and gouging during his detention, yet is still being constantly subjected to bright light." (UK Guardian, Jan 17, 2006)
We all know now that the Bush administration is hell bent on doing whatever it pleases, despite objections from the American people, the U.N., and the rest of the world. But remember this: The truth is going to come out and the evidence is going to show that America tortured prisoners, violated human rights, and International Law. And for all of you who support it, you will be the ones who carry that blood on your hands because you're as guilty as the guards and "U.S. personnel" who physically commit these abuses and the leaders who ordered them to be carried out.
In the near future, we'll all blame the Bush administration for lying to us (although they'll never admit guilt or apologize). But sadly, it will be the United States' citizens who will forever bear the scars of inhumanity and be remembered for it in history.
