US 'neglects mental health of Guantanamo inmates'
I did miss blogging when I was away from home over the past few days. There were times when things would happen that simply had my mouth agape and I was dying to write about it.
Like the suicide of three Guantanamo inmates being referred to as "an act of war" against the United States. Or describing their deaths as nothing more than a "good PR stunt". When Americans get it wrong, they get it jaw-droppingly wrong.
And now today we hear that the US have been "deliberately ignoring mounting evidence of psychological and mental health problems among prisoners at Guantanamo Bay despite more than 40 previous suicide attempts."
Given the attitude to the three suicides it would seem that there is a lot the Americans are deliberately ignoring.
They certainly seem to be intent on ignoring world opinion where Guantanamo Bay continues to define the US as a nation that lives outside of international law and norms of behaviour.
When one considers that it was the US who insisted - over British objections - that the trials at Nuremberg were the only proper way to deal with the Nazis after World War Two, one can see how far this great nation has fallen from it's own previously high standards.
Indeed, when the news that Zarqawi has been killed with two 500lb bombs is greeted with applause (rather than the legitimate question of why wasn't he arrested and brought to trial if the US knew his whereabouts) one has to wonder whether we aren't all losing a little of our humanity during Bush's Long War.
We certainly appear to be becoming very similar to the people we say we despise where instant "justice" is delivered through firepower rather than through our courts.
Nowhere is that instant "justice" more evident than on Guantanamo Bay, where the Bush administration act as judge and jury condemning people to perpetual incarceration with a system that is overseen by no court.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that someone held under such conditions would consider life no longer worth living.
In 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the only independent organisation granted access to the prisoners, warned of the severe mental health issues facing many and said the nature of their incarceration and interrogation - including humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of forced positions - was "a form of torture".
Another CCR lawyer, Gitanjali Gutierrez, said: "The deaths come as absolutely no surprise to the attorneys who have been involved in this litigation."
"Indeed, they do not even come as a surprise to the military, which has acknowledged they were aware some of the men at Guantanamo may try to kill themselves."
The Bush administration, rather than feel any sense of responsibility, chose to see this as an attack on themselves by an evil enemy.
They have obviously lost any sense of humanity that they ever possessed. However, we should be careful when applauding the death of Zarqawi to ensure that we don't also lose ours.
Whenever possible, the place where justice should be dispensed is in our courts. We stray from that path at our peril.
6 comments:
The fact that US officials have ignored the mental health of inmates at Gitmo is hardly surprising. The US military has been ignoring the mental health of its own soldiers of late. And recruiting people with known mental instabilities; they've even signed up autistic high school kids.
But did you ever think that mental health would be much of a priority from this administration. If not clinically psychotic, the Bush administration are at least highly coordinated sociopaths.
Amen, Bhc.
I had read about them recruiting the autistic kid. Fucked up beyond belief.
I only wish more would hang themselves.
One was an al-Qaeda recruiter, one was a mid- to high-level al-Qaeda member, and the last was a frontline Taliban fighter.
Good riddance.
Tommy, until a court of law confirms any of that I would be reluctant to believe anything the US government tells us.
They have wrongly labelled many people during this conflict.
And if these men have committed a crime, they should be tried in a court of law. What's happening at Guanatanamo - the total suspension of Habeus Corpus - is simply a stain on your country's reputation.
Oh, you are so absurd Kel. If we left fighting terrorism to people like you, we would all be doomed.
As for the one that was captured on the battlefield - he should have been executed immediately.
I notice that you rarely actually engage in serious debate Tommy.
The entire international community rejects Guantanamo Bay as illegal under international law. I notice that you have no counter argument.
If these men are as dangerous and guilty as you claim they are then the US should try them before a court of law. They should have no difficulty in proving their guilt. So why is the administration so reluctant to do this?
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