This situation in Guantanamo Bay is so unbelievably messed up.
"Amanda Williamson, spokeswoman in the Washington office of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross[,said]:
'After more than 18 months of captivity, the internees have no idea about their fate, no means of recourse through any legal mechanism. They have been placed in a legal vacuum, a legal black hole. This, for the ICRC, is unacceptable...Clearly when you look at Guantanamo today, that crucial element -- the lack of a legal framework -- remains unresolved.'
The United States says the detainees are 'enemy combatants' but not prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. It reserves the right to try them before military tribunals but has not yet brought any to trial (emphasis added).
White House spokesman Scott McClellan on Friday repeated the U.S. position that it treats the detainees consistently with the requirements of the conventions. "They are enemy combatants. We are at war on terrorism.'"
Aaah yes, we are at war on terrorism. A term under which fear, insanity and gross injustice have reigned free. If terrorist is just another word for "one who arbitrarily murders the innocent," then what the hell is George Bush? Yet somehow, we still have not identified who those terrorists are (cough *Saudi Arabians* ahem), but we are just rounding up "suspects" and tossing them like dogs into a prison which lies beyond the scope of any known legal recourse, to wait, maybe forever, to be tried for their alleged crimes. The problem is, the United States government can do this to anyone they choose and there never has to be a case; just a nameless, faceless, prisoner without a chance in hell.
You know that out of the 600 "enemy combatants" shacked up in Guantanamo, a large number of them are probably 100 percent innocent of any crime. Does it matter? No. Will they have a chance to prove their innocence? Probably not. Is this okay with the U.S. government and the people who preach democracy, freedom, and the right of each individual to a fair trial, the right to face their accusers, the right to an attorney...? I guess so. I guess it's okay. Because our government is refusing to address the issue and refusing to practice anything that they preach is the foundation of this country (freedom and humane treatment of human beings and the entitlement to use the legal system to exonerate yourself from any crimes that you are accused of). Oh wait, but they are "enemy combatants," "accused terrorists," they're not human beings. What was I thinking? Sorry, continue with the torture and degradation.
Posted by Maria at October 10, 2003 01:48 PM | TrackBack