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Afghanistan
Taliban captives should go home, says rights group
2003-03-08
The US has no legal basis for holding members of the Taliban at Guantanamo Bay, the organisation Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the American defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. The intervention comes amid growing calls for access to prisoners held by the US following September 11 and the war in Afghanistan. The group, which with Amnesty International has been monitoring the situation of prisoners, said yesterday that there were three types of prisoners at the US camp in Cuba, who should be released.
And a couple types who need to stay.
They were "Taliban soldiers who were detained in the now-concluded war between the US and the government of Afghanistan, unless they are being prosecuted for war crimes; civilians who have no meaningful connection to al-Qaida or the Taliban and probably should never have been sent to Guantanamo in the first place; and suspected terrorists whose detention had nothing to do with the war in Afghanistan, unless they are charged with a crime and prosecuted".
I actually have no problem with the low-level Taliban grunts being sent home, preferably to the north and the tender mercies of the Uzbek or Tadjik warlords. And the civvies? Sure, no sweat. But the "suspected terrorists"? Nah, we keep those.
The small fry weren't the ones who were sent for a Caribbean vacation. Anybody who was sent by mistake should be released, but they all say it was just a big mistake, don't they? How do you tell which ones really were?
"There are people being held at Guantanamo who shouldn't be there,"said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "The US cannot simply hold the detainees for as long as it wants." Attempts to provide legal representation for those held at Guantanamo Bay have so far been unsuccessful.
That's because it's not a cops and robbers situation. If you get caught being a terrorist, your mouthpiece shouldn't be able to get you off...
Human Rights Watch claims the Taliban soldiers captured during the war should have been repatriated following the formation of the government of Hamid Karzai.
Send the soldiers to Kabul and put them on trial there. Could be entertaining.
Mr Roth suggested that, under the Geneva convention, the US should release those soldiers unless they are being charged with war crimes or other criminal offences. The US has released some prisoners from Guantanamo Bay but says that others are providing useful intelligence. The Red Cross has been allowed to visit them.
Something neither the Taliban nor Sammy have ever bothered with for their prisoners.
Under the Geneva Conventions, POWs are released when hostilities are over, on conclusion of a peace treaty. Anybody heard of one lately? The war on terror isn't over yet, and terrorists should be detained until it is.
Posted by:Steve White

#9  Great ideas,can't add much to that.
Posted by: raptor   2003-03-09 07:15:02  

#8  Paul,

A follow-up to your idea: after we go through all the paperwork, we need to have some war crimes trials. We point-blank refuse to let the UN or the International Criminal Court have any role whatsoever. But we bring in the best, brightest, most experienced American, British, Aussie, Spanish, etc. jurists and prosecutors, run proper trials that we televise (Arab subtitles), buy time on al-Jeezera to advertise the trials to the Arab people, and publicize the results throughout the world. Allow the Iraqi people to attend the trials (proper decorum as for any legal proceeding). Let them see what the brutalizers did. Journalists accredited from any legitimate news organization can attend. In short, Nuremburg ca 2003.

Imagine what it will do to Muslim people throughout the world when they see the graphic evidence of the tortures, the rapes, the setting people on fire, all the brutality. Most Muslims are reasonable people; they're going to be horrified when they see what Saddam has done. And those who might be tempted by Wahabbist or Salafist philosophy will get to see what's in store for them.

Imagine how it will yank the chains of the Weasels. The French, Germans, Belgians, all get to see just what their governments were supporting. Buy a channel on Eurosat and broadcast the trials over the entire continent. Buy advertising space in Le Monde. Subtitle the trials in French and German. Make sure that the Iraqi officials who bought WMD goodies from European companies get put on trial. Issue subpoenas for the officers of those European companies. The Euro governments won't honor them, of course, but let the European people see the subpoenas.
Posted by: Steve White   2003-03-08 15:41:56  

#7  The concept of "fuck off" doesn't need all that elaboration, Paul.

Short and sweet, so the morons get the idea.
Posted by: mojo   2003-03-08 15:07:21  

#6  When we get done with Iraq, we need to sift through the mountains of govt paperwork there, make SERIOUS and detailed interviews with victims, and shove the documented violations of human rights in the face of every one of these "human rights" outfits, and Germany, and France, and Belgium, and every other grandstanding self-righteous s.o.b. including a forum in the UN and say "here is what 12 years of appeasement and dithering has done to real people." Then challenge the UN reform itself, and if they do not (WHICH IS A FOREGONE CONCLUSION), then take those courageous countries that signed letters of support recently and all the others that stood by us in this WOT and get together and do some real good for people in this world. Leave the rotting carcass of the UN behind and let the buzzards clean it up. We're moving on.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-03-08 11:18:58  

#5  The small fry weren't the ones who were sent for a Caribbean vacation.

Good point, and I forgot to make it last night. Not just anyone gets a Caribbean vacation at Uncle Sam's expense!
Posted by: Steve White   2003-03-08 10:48:53  

#4  Why protest to someone who won't even pretend to listen?

Under the Geneva convention, unless they were captured in uniform, they were unlawful belligerants. And thus not protected by the Geneva convention. By all accounts, they should be put up side a wall and shot. Whatever treatment they are getting, is better than they deserve, and far better than they are legally entitled to.
Posted by: Ben   2003-03-08 07:11:36  

#3  Wonder if Amnesty International has ever sent Saddam Hussein a letter.
Posted by: Ralph   2003-03-08 06:47:02  

#2  Mojo---Re: "Foxtrot Oscar".....Thanks for the elequent summary of the first three quarters of my comments. But, hey! Its Rantburg, and I was ranting.

Steve White---I really like your idea. All sarcasm and bitter ranting aside, we (the US and those with us) must take these years of horror and human degredation and make something good come out of it. The people under the islamofascists must see what their world has become. The media is extremely powerful. They use it, weasels use it, all to their advantage, so why not us? These trials and documentaries, proceedings, what have you could be the most powerful way to make positive change in the Middle East. An old contractor told me of a lesson he learned after experiencing the Alaska Earthquake of 1964. He said that every disaster is a new opportunity. Well, most of the time....
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-03-08 22:44:47  

#1  Great idea, Steve! I've been wanting to see Nuremburg-style trials after the invasion myself, but you're spot on with shutting out the UN and the ICC, televising the trials, and showing the world the evidence as graphically as possible.

Oh, that it will only come to be!
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg   2003-03-08 18:09:00  

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