Guantanamo Bay detention camp

[Rahul 4]

Today I randomly read that three inmates committed suicide at the American detention centre of Guantanamo Bay (on the Cuban soil). Was wondering what kind of treatment resorted them to such extreme measures. Hundreds of others seem to be perpetually on some kind of hunger strike, who are then forcibly fed and kept alive.

 

Now these people as America describes them are the most abominable terrorist (who for some reasons are not worthy of a trial). Well I don’t dispute the fact that they might be the worst miscreants and should never be released in public but this kind of inhuman detention centre (concentration camp) gives me the creeps.

 

Lately I read that pentagon was trying to get a bill passed that would legalize the use of any kind of torture...yes I have heard the stories and seen the pictures of Iraqis terrorist beheading American soldiers but such retaliatory gestures place the civilized world at a ethical level similar to theirs

[HellesAngel 1,889]

The only surprising thing about Guantanamo is that some people try to justify it as an appropriate response to the threat. Everything else is simple cause and effect.

 

Edit: And just when you thought it was safe to come out of your bunker there's another Bush waiting to stock up the paranoia.

[Guest]

it was obviously a propaganda stunt designed to stir up more ill will against the USA

[cinzia 2,643]

Friday, if that wasn't a sarcastic comment, it is disgusting.

 

Your remark melds perfectly with what the commander of Guantanamo had to say about the men who killed themselves:

 

 

They are smart, they are creative, they are committed," Admiral Harris said. "They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.

Can we not take a moment to empathize with people who might be desperate, instead of dismissing out of hand the circumstances under which they have been living?

 

 

These men have been told they will be held at Guantánamo forever. They've been told that while they're held there they do not have a single right.

Quotes from today's New York Times.

[Jules Winnfield 60]

Anyone have figures on suicide rates in normal prisons?

[PES 3,977]

Guantanamo suicides 'acts of war'

 

BBC:

The suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amount to acts of war, the US military says. The camp commander said the two Saudis and a Yemeni were "committed" and had killed themselves in "an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us".

Rumsfeld could not have phrased it better. :ph34r:

[Guest]

 

Anyone have figures on suicide rates in normal prisons?

Let's normalise the situation huh JW? Nice touch. ;)

[Jules Winnfield 60]

To "normalise" would imply that I find suicides normal, which I don't. I do think that suicides in prisons need to be put into context, they certainly aren't as exceptional as what we are being led to believe.

[eurovol 125]

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/shipj.htm

 

[Bell the cat 428]

I recommend anyone with a concern for this to see the British film 'Road to Guantanamo' - Michael Winterbottom's dramatised documentary about the Tipton 4. Truly truly shocking. How Amerca can possibly claim to be the land of the free when it coordinates such an attrocity beats me.

[Bell the cat 428]

I have to say that I am utterly appalled by the cynicism of the comments from US officials

[sandpiper 0]

Interesting graph Eurovol

 

Wonder why suicide rates are so much higher in local jails than in state prisons?? Then with homicide rates the prisons have the higher rate.

[eurovol 125]

There are papers published on this that can be found at NCBI.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...earch&DB=pubmed

[Guest]

 

To "normalise" would imply that I find suicides normal, which I don't. I do think that suicides in prisons need to be put into context, they certainly aren't as exceptional as what we are being led to believe.

Well, maybe it was just a PR exercise then?

[BadBob 1,853]

[Jules Winnfield 60]

 

Well, maybe it was just a PR exercise then?

A "PR exercise" or stunt? Why are you talking about Michael Winterbottom's latest film all of a suddent? Ohhhh, wait, sorry. I get it.

 

Obviously suicides aren't something one should rejoice over and don't reflect well on the jail, however my point is that suicides do occur in prisons, as the graph that Eurovol provided clearly shows, and if anything rates are much higher in prisons which receive a lot less publicity than Guantanemo.

[Bell the cat 428]

 

Obviously suicides aren't something one should rejoice over and don't reflect well on the jail, however my point is that suicides do occur in prisons, as the graph that Eurovol provided clearly shows, and if anything rates are much higher in prisons which receive a lot less publicity than Guantanemo.

I dont think anyone is under any illusions that an institution that flouts all international treaties on the incarceration of prisoners and ignores the very basics of fair treatment could in any way be meaningfully compared with a normal prison in a country that respects human rights.

[cinzia 2,643]

I agree with BTC on that one.

[Jules Winnfield 60]

 

I dont think anyone is under any illusions that an institution that flouts all international treaties on the incarceration of prisoners and ignores the very basics of fair treatment could in any way be meaningfully compared with a normal prison in a country that respects human rights.

I'm not trying to defend Guantanamo, because the fact that some of these guys have not been put on trial yet bothers me, however...

 

1) In armed conflicts, individuals who don't fight in uniform are often shot on the spot, let alone put in jail. One does not need to be a historian to know this.

2) The statistics Eurovol posted are from the United States Department of Justice, in other words the same country as Gitmo. I don't understand your comparison.

[bbulldog 6]

 

Lately I read that pentagon was trying to get a bill passed that would legalize the use of any kind of torture...yes I have heard the stories and seen the pictures of Iraqis terrorist beheading American soldiers but such retaliatory gestures place the civilized world at a ethical level similar to theirs

Guantanamo is not a retaliation because of the beheadings. But since people are talking about human rights, what about all those that have been tortured by just those people who are in Guantanamo?

I agree with the post above normally these terrorist would have been shot, at least then there would not be so much fuss made of them.