UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the US to close its "Camp Delta" terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Thursday, following the release of a UN Human Rights Commision panel's report on the condition of detainees, calling it a "torture camp where prisoners have no access to justice."
The commission, which includes such human rights stalwarts as China, Cuba, and the Sudan, "found" that the US was guilty of "religious intolerance" and of acts that "amount to torture"--the latter being defined by such horrors as a lack of round-the-clock air conditioning in the Cuban tropical climate, lights being left on while detainees were trying to sleep, and the "force-feeding" of detainees who were attempting to starve themselves to death.
It would appear that working the definition of "torture" has become a bit broader than it was in the days of Japanese hellships and the Bataan death march, when the word actually meant harming somebody physically, instead of just hurting their feelings.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan rejected the call to close Gitmo, saying that the "military treats detainees humanely," and reminding the world that "these are dangerous terrorists that we're talking about." He also pointed out that the "U.N. team that was looking into this issue did not even visit Guantanamo Bay," and said that the report was merely a "rehash of allegations that have been made by lawyers representing some of these detainees." McClellan called the entire affair a "discredit to the U.N.," as the panel "rushed to report something when they haven't even looked into the facts"...they just "[looked] at the allegations."
1 comment:
Post a Comment