A Disgrace
May 29th, 2005 at 12:44 pm by Susie
Editorial in today’s WashPo on the latest Gitmo revelations:
For the fact remains that although one has been promised, no independent military, Pentagon or other body has yet published an extensive investigation into the multiple accounts of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay. There have been verbal descriptions of investigations and summaries of investigations, but no documents. One consequence is that much of the world believes the misbehavior has been worse, and more extensive, than what has been documented, and people know little or nothing of the corrective action that has been taken. In the case of the Koran, for example, most or all of the offenses appear to have occurred before January 2003, when the Pentagon responded to prisoner protests by issuing strict guidelines for handling the Koran.
If the administration really wanted to prevent the spread of unfounded rumors, and to convince people in this country and abroad that abuses no longer take place, then a public, written report should have been published months ago. The American public has a right to know what mistakes are being made in its name, as well as what improved procedures have been instituted in response.
Does anybody doubt that behind those prison walls some pretty sadistic shit is going on?
“If the administration really wanted to prevent the spread of unfounded rumors, and to convince people in this country and abroad that abuses no longer take place, then a public, written report should have been published months ago. ” Well, of course what the Administration wants to prevent is the spread of well founded rumors to the effect that abuses have taken place, and continue to take place. The is an odd disconnect between the assertion that whatever problems might have surfaced early in the internment program, they have been corrected, and the report that we are preparing to build facilities to execute prisoners at Gitmo.
The Best Defense is Good Offense
Cheney should be glad he is not in court under oath when he tells his lies. Then he would go to jail, a jail he should hope is not so dark as Guantanamo.