Guantanamo+is+Bad

Bryan 11/25/2008  __** Guantanamo **__**__ is Bad __**  Colin Powell:"Essentially, we have shaken the belief the world had in America's justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it"

In the War on Terror, prisoners are classified as PUCs and are not given the rights granted to prisoners of war by the Geneva Convention. PUCs are held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, at Abu Graib in Iraq, and at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. PUC = “Person Under Control” Only 7% of detainees in Guantanamo were picked up by the US or coalition forces. Only 8% are accused of being members of al-Qaeda 93% of detainees in GTMO detained by Pakistan or Afghanistan military for bounty $ Dilawar was a taxi driver in Afghanistan who picked up 3 passengers. They were arrested by Afghan militiamen and handed to US forces saying they had launched rockets at a US military base. Later the Afghan military commander was imprisoned by US forces for rocket attacking the military base, and then turning in innocent civilians to US in exchange for bounty money. Dilawar died five days after he arrived due to blood clots from repeated kicking in the legs and forced standing. He was 122lbs at death. The military itself classified his death as a homicide on the death certificate for his family. On Sept 11th 2006 we had 83,000 enemy combatants detained and NONE brought to trial Geneva Convention Article 3 forbids “outrages upon human dignity” US approved interrogation Techniques: waterboarding, forced standing (up to 40 hours), sleep deprivation, intimidating use of military dogs, sensory deprivation, forced nudity. Abu Graib in Iraq: 105 PUC deaths, 35 are even classified as homicides by US military John McCain said torture was inefficient, inhumane, and breeds contempt for the US Al-Libi (al-Libby) was a high profile PUC in Guantanamo. He was the suspected emir of an al-Qaeda training camp. CIA subjected to 2 weeks of “advanced interrogation techniques” including waterboarding and sleep deprivation. Al-Libi told CIA that “Saddam Hussein had trained al-Qaeda in chemical and biological warfare.” This was basis of Colin Powell’s case to the UN for the war in Iraq. Torture does not produce accurate information. Better to gain confidence of detainee, offer to give schooling to his children, give him hope for his families’ future. John McCain: “We sent them to fight for us in Afghanistan and Iraq, we placed extraordinary pressure on them to extract intelligence from detainees, but then we threw out the rules that our soldiers had trained on, and replaced them with a confusing and constantly changing array of standards, and when things went wrong we blamed then and we punished them. I believe we have to do better than that…. Give them clear standards of conduct that reflect the ideals they risked their lives for.” Several privates charged with assault + dereliction of duty in Dilawar case No officer convicted in Dilawar case, Capt. Caroline Wood (woman giving “thumbs up” in Abu Graib photos) was given a staff position at an army interrogation school. Pres Bush introduced bill that gave trials to a few detainees but denied the rest the right to challenge their detention (habeaus corpus) A provision in the bill exonerates Bush and his cabinet from prosecution for any possible crimes related to the torture and imprisonment of detainees. Bush pardoned //himself//.
 * __ Innocents Detained without Trial __**
 * __ Outrages Upon Human Dignity __**
 * __ Torture Doesn’t Work __**
 * __ Failed Leadership __**