Guantanamo: President Admits Problems; Journalists Ousted; Rumsfeld Again Under Cloud
Published June 14, 2006
The U.S. terrorist prison at Guantanamo continues to be the central character in an absurd play.
Discerning U.S. policy is made no easier by news released today from a variety of sources. President George Bush, in a news conference this afternoon acknowledged that controversies at the prison had damaged U.S. reputation abroad and should be shut down.
Also today, The Guardian reported that journalists were expelled from Gitmo after an article in The Charlotte Observer reported on military conversations the brass would have just as soon not seen in print.
As if that were not enough, this afternoon Salon ran an extensive article: “Interviews with high-ranking military officials shed new light on the role Rumsfeld played in the harsh treatment of a Guantánamo detainee.”
Bush Admits Problems
Reuters reported that the president admitted that Gitmo makes it difficult for the U.S. to claim the high ground on human rights issues. He said, "No question, Guantanamo sends, you know, a signal to some of our friends — provides an excuse, for example, to say, 'The United States is not upholding the values that they're trying encourage other countries to adhere to’.” But he also said that there was no plan for relocating prisoners. Some are considered dangerous and need be dealt with by the courts, and there’s a fear that if others are sent back to their countries, they could be arrested and tortured.
There was no information about the obvious implication that many detainees are not dangerous although they’ve been held for years without charge.
Another problem Bush cited is an upcoming Supreme Court ruling about the proper forum for hearing these cases. The Court is expected to rule within the next few weeks on whether prisoners charged of war crimes can be tried before special military tribunals. Of the 460 prisoners still held there, 10 are scheduled to be tried before these tribunals. “According to the Pentagon, 287 detainees have left Guantanamo. That includes 192 who have been released and 95 who were transferred to the custody of other governments,” Reuters reported.
Journalists ordered out of Guantanamo
While the president was expressing concern about America’s image abroad, The Guardian reported that the military ordered all journalists to leave Gitmo “amid unprecedented criticism of the camp and follows yesterday's publication of one of the most frank media reports, by the Charlotte Observer, yet to have emerged from the tightly controlled base.”
It has always been difficult for journalists to get access to the prison camp, needing permission from the US military's joint task force and office of military commissions. The situation took a turn for the worse after the Observer article reported on “scenes of officials discussing harsh treatment of detainees, including a planned operation to forcibly strip British detainee Ahmed Errachidi and put him in a new uniform.”
In trying to explain the expulsion of reporters, the Pentagon admitted that they were having problems coordinating the various military groups who could approve media visits. It also blamed reporters for demanding access to the camp since the three suicides last Saturday.
- Guantanamo: President Admits Problems; Journalists Ousted; Rumsfeld Again Under Cloud
- Published: June 14, 2006
- Type: News
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Culture: Media, Politics: International, Politics: Law and Rights, Politics: Policy, Politics: U.S., Politics: War and Terrorism
- Writer: Mark Schannon
- Mark Schannon's BC Writer page
- Mark Schannon's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Good piece. I'm working on a piece now about G. Bay and a new documentary. I'll link to here if you do likewise when it's posted.
Consider the nature of the current administration, which blatantly operates outside the law without hindrance or apology, and is anyone here surprised? And they want transparency from BushCo & Rummy?
Actually, considering that Junior has up til this point in his life absolutely refused to admit failings or mistakes of any kind, I wonder what he's up to & how Rove convinced him he had to say he erred, even indirectly.
Scott--let's link to each other's blogs. I just posted this on mine.
Nancy, I have no idea what compelled Bush to make that statement, especially considering there was absolutely no substance behind it. Weird, all weird.
In Jameson Veritas
Viva La Bush!
Long Live Rummy!
Oh come now, don't you think Rummy has lived long enough. Shouldn't we just take him out and shoot him like a mad dog?
Dave
Boil it down to numbers:
Fewer than 5% of detainees have been charged or face pending charges.
56% have been released or are pending release - after being held for years without charges.
40% remain in Kafkaesque limbo - neither charges nor release are in their immediate prospects.
These figures are troubling to anyone with a heart and a mind.
Guys wake up ...wake up....
Rummy aint goin any where your were just dreamin...
jom... sometimes i can't believe you... all you can do is yawn and pledge allegiance to your king... defend them if you want. bush admitted the place makes us out to be hypocrites. what do you have to say? rumsfield may have been involved in illegal goings-on... defend him. most of the prisoners are just going to be let go because we can't try them. after having been locked up without trial for years! defend that.
you're just a waste of space unless you can contribute something... and you spelled exactly one word right in your last sentence.
Uh, Dave, if you're going to write stuff that gets me hauled in front of a secret committee, I want you to know right now I'll spill my guts if they so much as wave a chocolate chip cookie in front of me.
But while we're at it, why not make it a two-some and drag Chaney along as well. It really does make you wonder about Bush...those guys have to have pictures or something.
In Jameson Veritas
So handy, by what you're saying about the numbers GITMO is going well' what with almost 2/3 of the detainees charged or released.
Lumpy, you gotta be kidding, right? Held for years without right of counsel, without the ability to see their family, with no recourse in the courts? When Bush admits its a blot on our ethical stature as a nation, the rest of the world sees it as as an oil spill the size of Canada--with apologies to my Canadian friends.
In Jameson Veritas
I put a link to your piece within my piece.
I think you'll like it.
RingDing...you sound a little paranoid...
Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't of pulled the Caine out of action....
"Why don't you get a toupee with some brains it!?!"
- Moe to Curly
What the numbers say to me is that we rounded up a lot of suspects, and were willing to make big mistakes and detain innocent people...casting a wide net as insurance against missing a genuinely dangerous terrorist. Or possibly arresting people not for what they had done, but for what we feared they might do in the future [sort of like the movie Minority Report].
This is the behavior of a paranoid, militarist government, not a democracy. And releasing more than half of them, while never admitting having made any mistakes, carries the whiff of incompetence as well.
Ok, here is my piece on Guantanamo Bay and the new movie.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/49247)
YYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWNNNN......