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Home Front: WoT
US must shut Guantanamo: UN
2006-02-16
THE United States must shut down its detention centre at Guantanamo Bay "without further delay", a UN human rights report published today said, urging Washington to try or release more than 500 terrorism suspects held at its naval base on Cuba. In their report, five so-called independent experts who act as monitors for the UN Human Rights Commission said: "The United States Government should close the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities without further delay."

The 54-page report also said that the United States "should either expeditiously bring all Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial," because this was a requirement under international human rights accord, "or release them without further delay."

"Consideration should also be given to trying suspected terrorists before a competent international tribunal," it added.
Carla del Ponte is available.
The document, a draft version of which was leaked earlier this week, charged that US treatment of detainees violated their rights to physical and mental health and in some cases amounted to torture.

Washington rejected the draft version as making a "baseless assertion", saying its authors had never visited the prison which houses mainly detainees captured in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
It's not necessary for them to have the facts.
In the final version of the report released in Geneva, the UN also charged Washington with violating international human rights treaties to get around their ban on torture. "Attempts by the United States administration to redefine 'torture' in the framework of the struggle against terrorism in order to allow certain interrogation techniques that would not be permitted under the internationally accepted definition of torture are of utmost concern," it said. "The confusion with regard to authorised and unauthorised interrogation techniques over the last years is particularly alarming."
Posted by:tipper

#36  Force feed with ExLax in the mix...
Posted by: 3dc   2006-02-16 21:54  

#35  funny how the pictures of Abu Graib were released by the MSM's yesterday at the same time of the report.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2006-02-16 19:58  

#34  "...authors had never visited the prison..."

Just about sums it up for me.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2006-02-16 19:31  

#33  I like your plan RJ no T.
Posted by: 6   2006-02-16 17:26  

#32  yall better watch out, I heard Kofi knows Kung Fu
Posted by: Elmiting Gluger1772   2006-02-16 17:12  

#31  Stop force-feeding hunger strikers. Put three square meals in front of them every day. Let natural selection work.

Stop force-feeding the U.N. too. Pay for 1/190th of its budget and let natural selection work.

Oh, and no more diplomatic priviledges for the U.N. They can pay their parking tickets like everyone else.
Posted by: Darrell   2006-02-16 17:00  

#30  I find myself wondering if the Masterminds that we *do* have in GTMO have ben urging on the cannon fodder to be the hunger strikers...
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-02-16 16:32  

#29  Send the stupid asses to Gitmo for some real torture.
Posted by: Captain America   2006-02-16 16:30  

#28  NS is correct AoS. There have been several dumps already with those we thought weren't useful/threatening anymore. Of course, we've supposedly already "re-caught" some (not many, granted) of these dumpees fightin us in Afghanistan and Iraq, from what I remember. Also, thinking logically (not a jihadi strong suit), if YOU were truly innocent, been held for 3+ years in Cuba and were suddenly released, wouldn't you be more inclined to join the jihad? Not that I'm saying it's right (personally, I lean to the "they're not even covered by the Geneva conventions so we should shoot 'em" side of the fence), but you gotta think big picture.
Posted by: BA   2006-02-16 14:13  

#27  There have already been some dumps.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-02-16 13:07  

#26  Here's an article that says that some of these mooks, at least, are not terrorists -- they got swept up with the trash.

I suspect we know who's worth keeping and who isn't. Dumping the ones who aren't worth keeping would be useful in several ways right now.
Posted by: Steve White   2006-02-16 12:33  

#25  Lets see what they would do if the U.S. completely stopped paying its U.N. dues... oops my mistake I meant if the U.S. stops paying 90% of the U.N. budget.
Posted by: bgrebel   2006-02-16 12:28  

#24  Spotted owl strategy: shoot, shovel, and shut up.
Posted by: SR-71   2006-02-16 12:23  

#23  It's been, what, five years now and the govt still can't figure out a way to run an efficient and fair courts martial procedure?

That's because its really never been done before. The usual resolution is to shoot them. So being a kinder gentler sort of war, we decided regardless of what the Geneva Convention says, we'd 'process' them. That's when the lawyers got involved. Which should provide you the reason why its taken so long.
Posted by: Graiting Glineter6732   2006-02-16 12:20  

#22  They're terrorists. Under the Geneva convention, no court martial, nothing. They are lucky they didn't get the summary execution the law allows. Let them rot in jail for all I care.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-02-16 12:12  

#21  Personally, I think Guantanamo is becoming an embarassment.
I'm with special treatment for people not serving in uniform. I'm fine with them got getting Geneva Convention treatment. I'm fine with Guantanamo, in theory.
Where it's been botched is on the judicial level. It's been, what, five years now and the govt still can't figure out a way to run an efficient and fair courts martial procedure?
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia   2006-02-16 12:08  

#20  The first step is to remove diplomatic immunity from anyone that isn't an Ambassador. Let the UN flunkies pay for their own traffic tickets and such and make them pay the bills when their motorcades cost a ton of money.

The second step is to lobby for a new UN headquarters in Asia. Perhaps Japan would offer to build a really nice setup for them in exchange for favorable consideration of a General Assembly seat. Perhaps China, or India. Get the US as the good guy helping some other nation get the pride of UN location rather than be seen as booting them out.

Third step is, reclaim the buildings after the UN has moved and build a parking lot. Manhattan needs more parking and after all the traffic hassles the UN has caused it seems just. We can call name the lot sections after UN leaders or something and the dark corner where the pimps and drug dealers hang out, and where the drunks go to piss can be named after Kofi and his son.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2006-02-16 11:48  

#19  ""How many tanks has the UN?""

15 fewer than they used to have, LOL. Some third world clown stole them. The UN is truly a joke. A bad one.
Posted by: Slising Unasing7106   2006-02-16 11:25  

#18  So let me get this straight. One of the accusations of torture is how we are force feeding these guys that are on a hunger strike. Does that mean that we might have to start "torturing" Saddam and his ilk if they continue on a hunger strike?
Perfesser, I agree with you, having an air conditioner set on high so to speak, shouldn't be compared to what could be done if the shoe was on the other foot. In some ways it seems that we are being too good to these detainee's. Going back to them having more rights than the soldiers. Too PC for me.
Posted by: Jan   2006-02-16 10:55  

#17  Ok, We'll shoot them all, and dump the corpses in the bay.

Hey, sharks gotta eat too...
Posted by: mojo   2006-02-16 10:44  

#16  The UN soooo needs booted out of this country. Send 'em to Franceistan or some other dhimmi country. (GET OUT NOW JFM!)
Posted by: mmurray821   2006-02-16 10:20  

#15  Where was this 'Human Rights' body while Saddam had his people-shreadders, rape rooms and rape squads? Odd we dont hear anything about the Gulags of North Korea, prisons of China, etc....

CF, the same place they are on Sudan, Zimbobwe, etc. Too worried about having summits in hot resort areas to worry about 3rd world countries. Heck, there's no escargot in Sudan, I'd bet!
Posted by: BA   2006-02-16 10:13  

#14  The 54-page report also said..

I suspect that some, if not all, of the money used in the preparation of this "report" came out of our pockets...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2006-02-16 09:52  

#13  Strongly worded demarche will be forthcoming...
Posted by: Independent Expert   2006-02-16 09:51  

#12  One of the smartest men I ever met -- perhaps the smartest -- once observed that it is remarkable how many arguments involve matters of terminology. In some quarters, this is known as the use of "moral equivalence," but I think that this phrase is inexact, misleading, and worse, fails to identify the tool being used. As far as this report goes, why don't we ask whether they would prefer to watch their wife being gang raped, strangled to death, and children shot or spend a night with the air conditioner left on too high?
Posted by: Perfesser   2006-02-16 09:11  

#11  Have Bolton tell the UN we'll shut it down only after we get done shooting every single detainee.

That ought to be good for a laugh.
Posted by: JerseyMike   2006-02-16 08:59  

#10  I love how Guantanamo is the one prison in Cuba that concerns them.
Posted by: ryuge   2006-02-16 08:58  

#9  Crazy Fool, that would be culturally insensitive to criticize them, since they are only upholding indigenous traditions that they wish to preserve in the facing of crushing, soulless globalization.

(Ok, it's because they know the countries you mentioned would just tell them to Eff-Off, and there's no good five star resorts or restaurants in those countries for their "fact-finding missions" anyway.)
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2006-02-16 08:39  

#8  We got to quit the UN and kick those useless turds out of the US.

Where was this 'Human Rights' body while Saddam had his people-shreadders, rape rooms and rape squads? Odd we dont hear anything about the Gulags of North Korea, prisons of China, etc....
Posted by: CrazyFool   2006-02-16 08:16  

#7  No.
Posted by: Ptah   2006-02-16 08:06  

#6  Bolten has a new target, all the asshats that signed this report. Go get um!
Posted by: 49 Pan   2006-02-16 07:57  

#5  "How many tanks has the UN?"
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-02-16 07:57  

#4  US must shut Guantanamo

From the Rantburg Standing Headline Dept...
Posted by: Raj   2006-02-16 07:52  

#3  We better do what they say. Otherwise, we will get a strongly worded letter in about two months.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2006-02-16 07:28  

#2  US should shut UN: Guantanamo
Posted by: JFM   2006-02-16 07:27  

#1  UN must shut Turtle Bay: US
Posted by: .com   2006-02-16 07:23  

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