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Terror Networks
Red Cross Criticizes Indefinite Detention in Guantánamo Bay
2003-10-10
EFL/FU; Hat Tip to Drudge
This is the original of the story the Beebs wrote up...
A senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday that the holding of more than 600 detainees here was unacceptable because they were being held for open-ended terms without proper legal process.
Boo Fricking Hoo!
Christophe Girod, the senior Red Cross official in Washington, said on Thursday in an interview at the United States Naval Base here, "One cannot keep these detainees in this pattern, this situation, indefinitely."
oh, really? fine, execute them
Mr. Girod spoke as he and a team of officials from the international organization were completing their latest inspection tour of the detention camp. Although he did not criticize any physical conditions at the camp, which houses 660 detainees, most of them captured in the Afghan conflict, he said that it was intolerable that the complex was used as "an investigation center, not a detention center." He said the International Red Cross was making the unusual statements because of a lack of action.
Note that the Israeli’s Red Cross (Magen David Adom)is not granted full membership in the International due to objections from European and Islamic Red Crescent Societies. They demand the Star of David be removed from their emblem and name....i.e.: No Jooooos
United States officials have said they have begun moving to sort the detainees, choosing which to release and which to take before military tribunals on criminal charges. Some officials, notably Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, have said the detainees may be held until the effort against terrorism ends.
as in ..."when we’re ready, now STFU!"
Mr. Girod said, "The open-endedness of the situation and its impact on the mental health of the population has become a major problem."
Interning enemy aliens seems to make sense to me. The RC's problem is that they're thinking of them as POW's or as crooks, where the Bad Guys have managed to invent a third category for themselves. One day, if the rest of the world manages to take terrorism seriously, some sort of rules will be worked out to cover them, but right now they've taken themselves out of the rulebook...
In 18 months, 21 detainees have made 32 suicide attempts, and human rights groups have said the high incidence of such events, as well as the number of detainees being treated for clinical depression, was a direct result of the uncertainties of their situations.
cry me a river
Since mental instability is a job requirement for jihadis, I'm not surprised in the least. Nor [tap! tap!] do I have the least bit of sympathy...
Mr. Girod said that in meetings with members of his inspection teams, detainees regularly asked about what was going to happen to them. "It’s always the No. 1 question," he said. "They don’t know about the future."
Perhaps they should dwell on their glory days, waving guns, rolling their eyes, and beating other men's wives...
Camp officials have said most of the detainees’ mental health problems existed before they arrived.
I said that...
Mr. Girod’s comments departed from the usual reluctance of the International Red Cross to issue public criticism. The International Committee of the Red Cross, based in Geneva, is the sole group outside the government allowed to inspect the main detention center and meet the detainees. Under longstanding procedures, the committee agrees that in exchange for access it will not generally publicize its findings but rather take complaints or criticisms to the government in charge in the hope that they can be addressed. Only when the Red Cross decides that its views are not being heeded does it publicize its concerns. Mr. Girod said the views he was expressing had recently been placed on the Red Cross Web site, www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf /html/5QRC5V?OpenDocument.
Now available for Fisking...
He said the International Red Cross had been urging the Bush administration for months to make significant changes in operations here if it intended to keep using the site as an investigation center. The administration, Mr. Girod added, should consider establishing a policy under which most, if not all, of the detainees have some idea of when they can learn whether they will be charged or released. The military has released 68 detainees to their home countries. Most of those sent to Afghanistan were freed. Those sent to Saudi Arabia were imprisoned there.
That sounds like a good thing to me...
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller of the Army, commander of the task force that runs the detention center and oversees the questioning of the detainees, said in an interview, "We don’t want the enemy combatants here to stay one day longer than is necessary." General Miller said the inmates had been kept in custody because they had valuable information to impart.
We ain’t done squeezing them. A little problem with translators
Posted by:Frank G

#9  I see... I see...

Boredom...interrogations...more boredom... more interrogations...a cute little kitty...no, scratch that...more interrogations...lots more boredom...
Posted by: mojo   2003-10-10 4:12:07 PM  

#8  Followed a link on Belmont club to Parpundit which links to Atlantic Monthly interview of Mark Borden(Blackhawk Down)concerning torture.
Posted by: Super Hose   2003-10-10 4:10:04 PM  

#7  "It’s always the No. 1 question," he said. "They don’t know about the future."

If you turn out to be a terrorist, then you don't have a future.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2003-10-10 11:32:51 AM  

#6  Cheney said they'd be released when the War on Terror is over. That's about as good as any prisoners got during World War 2 so what's the beaf?
Posted by: Yank   2003-10-10 11:10:43 AM  

#5  OK, Mr. Girod, we've seen the light! We'll turn over, say, 5 of the detainees to you personally. You can house/feed/etc. them any way you want. You, personally, will be responsible for their behavior, including all the people they kill. Maybe they'll start with your family.

Or we can just keep them in Gitmo and save your sorry ass.

As for "they don't know the future" - how about kill them (or allow them to commit suicide), wrap them in pigskins, and bury them with a Star of David on their headstones? Does their present "future" look better now?

It's too bad we're such nice people.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2003-10-10 10:47:53 AM  

#4  Shut your cakehole.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-10-10 9:42:36 AM  

#3  "he said that it was intolerable that the complex was used as "an investigation center, not a detention center."

-Quit yer bitchin' - these jackholes get 5 times a day to pray plus the special Islamic diet tray; 3,000 Americans murdered on 9/11 - the thumb screws are going to be turning in Gitmo for a while yet. What's the old Arab saying - "Revenge takes 40 years" - see you in 2041.

"In 18 months, 21 detainees have made 32 suicide attempts"

-They're just not trying hard enough. On a serious note, he fails to mention the great job our folks are doing down there preventing these morons from completing the deed. Although I'd be tempted to turn a blind eye if Mustafa & Mohammad wanted to hang themselves with their own beard, or beat themselves silly w/their U.S. issued Qu'ran.

"It’s always the No. 1 question," he said. "They don’t know about the future."

-That's an easy one. You're staying guests of the U.S. Military until we say otherwise because you're a bunch of brainwashed loonies & a danger to innocent people everywhere. Plus, we're still pissed about that little thing you pulled called 9/11, so know your role & shut your mouth or we're gonna start using hog fat to cook your rice in. See, uncertainty solved.




Posted by: Jarhead   2003-10-10 9:03:51 AM  

#2  I'd care if these guys were POWs. They're not, so I don't.

Hell, I'm all for barring the Red Cross from getting near them, given the ICRC's anti-Israeli antics.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2003-10-10 8:53:30 AM  

#1  The suicide 32 attempts intrigue me, if they wanted to kill themselves they could do it. Maybe the Red Cross is mad because we don't allow them to kill themselves in say a crowded market?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter)   2003-10-10 8:16:20 AM  

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