Papillon
Gitmo's now officially passe. Witness the new, as-yet-unnamed delinquent housing facility: 178 cells, tantalizingly overlooking open spaces that were meant to be shared areas, but which will now be verboten, reports Forbes. Instead, the detainees will be confined to their cells, in a state that sounds much like solitary confinement, but which too, has yet to be renamed. This because solitary confinement is outlawed by the rules of war, as defined by the Geneva Convention (GC).
Described as a "prison perched on a plateau overlooking the Caribbean Sea," I was for some reason brought to mind of Napoleon on St. Helena. Though perhaps not so remote, still I wonder about the chances for the held men's release.
Jim suggested the title "Papillon," as he was reminded of Devil's Island. For me, it was a double entendre, referring back to a previous posting where we half-jokingly referred to the Butterfly Phenomenon. In truth, if you give a tinker's damn about such things, the misery we are perpetrating is spiralling outward logarithmically, to mix our metaphors.
It is like one of psychiatrist David Laing's knots: We are angry, because they are angry, because we are angry, ad infinitum. And of course, each groups has its own special knots, too, forming a giant web of interconnecting knots. As Don Rumsfeld once so sagely said, in the form of a Zen Koan, "There are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know" (2/12/02, Department of Defense news briefing.) Ah, there's the rub. And probably the reason why there is no tidy resolution to the Iraq undertaking.
The cost of the new facility is $37 million, which amounts to $207,865 per unit--cheap by Broward County standards, but then again, in Broward County they do allow you to walk in the common areas...provided you abide by certain strictures, of course. What a deal.
The article reminds us that, of the 430 people held at Gitmo on suspicion of links to Al Quaida and the Taliban, fewer than a dozen have actually been charged with crimes. So suspicion'll get you 4 1/2 years worth of detention. Kind of like reform school, but not. And you thought all that ended with spitballs and that nasty Frau Blucher detention dominatrix. Nope. Detention has now been institutionalized at all levels as the punishment of choice, when nothing else will do.
Gitmo officials said the inability of the detainees to communicate with one another will improve safety for the guards. Though I'm sure this is true, it is still against the G.C. to isolate prisoners of war. If they are not charged with crimes, then they must be POW's. They must be either terrorists (i.e., criminals) or POW's, or it is a violation of U.S. Code to imprison people without a court conviction.
America must resume adherence to the rules of law, and stop this inhumanity. Gleeming new facilities aside, illegal detention by any other name...
Jim and Lisa
Described as a "prison perched on a plateau overlooking the Caribbean Sea," I was for some reason brought to mind of Napoleon on St. Helena. Though perhaps not so remote, still I wonder about the chances for the held men's release.
Jim suggested the title "Papillon," as he was reminded of Devil's Island. For me, it was a double entendre, referring back to a previous posting where we half-jokingly referred to the Butterfly Phenomenon. In truth, if you give a tinker's damn about such things, the misery we are perpetrating is spiralling outward logarithmically, to mix our metaphors.
It is like one of psychiatrist David Laing's knots: We are angry, because they are angry, because we are angry, ad infinitum. And of course, each groups has its own special knots, too, forming a giant web of interconnecting knots. As Don Rumsfeld once so sagely said, in the form of a Zen Koan, "There are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know" (2/12/02, Department of Defense news briefing.) Ah, there's the rub. And probably the reason why there is no tidy resolution to the Iraq undertaking.
The cost of the new facility is $37 million, which amounts to $207,865 per unit--cheap by Broward County standards, but then again, in Broward County they do allow you to walk in the common areas...provided you abide by certain strictures, of course. What a deal.
The article reminds us that, of the 430 people held at Gitmo on suspicion of links to Al Quaida and the Taliban, fewer than a dozen have actually been charged with crimes. So suspicion'll get you 4 1/2 years worth of detention. Kind of like reform school, but not. And you thought all that ended with spitballs and that nasty Frau Blucher detention dominatrix. Nope. Detention has now been institutionalized at all levels as the punishment of choice, when nothing else will do.
Gitmo officials said the inability of the detainees to communicate with one another will improve safety for the guards. Though I'm sure this is true, it is still against the G.C. to isolate prisoners of war. If they are not charged with crimes, then they must be POW's. They must be either terrorists (i.e., criminals) or POW's, or it is a violation of U.S. Code to imprison people without a court conviction.
America must resume adherence to the rules of law, and stop this inhumanity. Gleeming new facilities aside, illegal detention by any other name...
Jim and Lisa
posted by rangeragainstwar at 11:14 PM
2 Comments:
I still cant believe that youve (the US as an entity) legalized toture and scrapped the Geneva conventions. My grandfather fought the nazis, was a member of Linge Company based in Scotland, and the lessons he learned after the Nurenberg-trials was that it is actually every military persons responsibility to become a whistleblower. He was very hard on that.
This brutality and lust for violence that your leaders are showing is, I think, bad for your "war effort", it does not function and enrages many more people than it pacifies. You should give the Gitmo-prisoners honourable trials, and be done with it. And close the f&%$ing gulags. Its a disgrace, sending people to b tortured in Azerbadsjan. Argh.
Martin,
We are in total agreement with you. Your grandfather was correct; each of us--not only in the military--must be vigilant, and protest in the face of injustice.
My father (Jim) also fought the Nazis. He was in the task force that captured the U505 5Jun44.
We, and other thoughtful Americans, are at a loss as to what is happening at the highest echelons of our government.
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