Saturday, April 29, 2006

Suddenly Bush is Concerned About Torture?

Suddenly, Bush is concerned about torture? Not the torture his cronies perpetuate, obviously, but the torture committed by other countries to which Gitmo detainees may be subjected if they are sent back to their home countries after having been incarcerated without regard to basic human rights by the US for years.

In an infuriating and utterly hypocritical front page Sunday New York Times article, the Bush administration is now stating that it is having difficulty negotiating humane treatment for these detainees from countries such as Saudi Arabia (Bush's best friend) and Yemen. The United States is the same country that kidnaps innocent victims all over the world and sends them to 'friendly' countries with known torture policies and secret prisons to do their dirty work without public scrutiny.

After years of refusing to allow these Gitmo detainees proper access to legal counsel and humanitarian oversight, resulting in one of the most secretive atmospheres ever encountered in the so-called 'civilized' world, such complaints about the human rights records of other countries which the US consider allies in the war on terror are nothing short of incredible and, frankly, are just appalling.

The Bush administration instituted the Gitmo camp without proper planning or methods for dealing with those it would incarcerate. And, following years of flaunting international laws regarding how such prisoners ought to be treated which are meant to protect basic human rights, it now finds itself in this impossible position. The US cannot now pontificate that it has claimed the moral high ground after it has violated treaty after treaty, convention after convention. As a result, it has left these detainees in a nightmare state of limbo with no possible good outcome and yet it now asserts that its hands are tied because of the supposed actions of the countries these people need to be repatriated to?

In May, US government officials will have to face a UN panel investigating torture and other inhumane treatment of detainees which includes 'one of the longest lists [of violations] I have ever seen', according to one UN official. How the UN panel will deal with these atrocities is not yet known, but what is known is that the Bush administration is guilty of crimes against humanity - just as guilty as any of the countries it now seems to be so concerned about.

This is hypocrisy at its absolute worst. What's left for the Gitmo detainees? Unfortunately, the best they can hope for is to be accepted by third countries which will take them in. Meanwhile, they will most likely be permanently separated from their families in their countries of origin due to the suspicion heaped upon them by the US's actions of imprisoning them without adequate legal proceedings - leaving many to be perceived as terrorist pariahs no matter where they end up.

There is no justice.

Sidebar: As I write this, the movie 'Judgment at Nuremburg' is on television. Will there ever be a judgment day for the Bush administration?

Update: Sunday's Washington Post has a must-read story detailing the personal experiences of a Pashtun-American law student's visits to Gitmo with attorneys who represent the detainees.

At 80, Haji Nusrat -- detainee No. 1009 -- is Guantanamo Bay's oldest prisoner. A stroke 15 years ago left him partly paralyzed. He cannot stand up without assistance and hobbles to the bathroom behind a walker. Despite his paralysis, his swollen legs and feet are tightly cuffed and shackled to the floor. He says that his shoes are too tight and that he needs new ones. He has asked for medical attention for the inflammation in his legs, but has not been taken to a hospital.

"They wait until you are almost dead," he says.

He has a long white beard and grayish-brown eyes that drift from Peter's face to mine as we explain his legal issues to him. In the middle of our meeting, he says to me: " Bachay ." My child. "Look at my white beard. They have brought me here with a white beard. I have done nothing at all. I have not said a single word against the Americans."

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