Thursday, May 19, 2005

American Red Cross and Gitmo: Hints From The Recent Past

In searching stories and news about the conditions at Guantanamo Bay and the life of the uncharged detainees there, I ran across a few items from the "past" that may lead more to question the assertion that there were no measures such as flushing a Koran used at the detention center. I get the feeling that Newsweek may have been onto something, but they got the "finger" put on them by the (White House/Pentagon/State Department) to keep the fall-out to a minimum. The use of psychological intimidation seems more plausible the more one reads about the situation at Gitmo.

Check out this BBC story from October 10, 2003.
Also, this New York Times stoy published on an NGO website on November 30, 2004.
Lastly, this statement from the American Red Cross seemingly distancing themselves from the ICRC and the Red Crescent in their discoveries at Gitmo.

In asymmetrical conflict, it seems natural to conclude that different methods of combat will be used. This is the nature of combat in the 21st century. What cannot change is a respect for human dignity that is absent from most combat situations, most notably in the detention of prisoners of war. The rules of combat have changed, and were changing in the latter half of the 20th century. The fact that every human being, guilty or not, has certain dignities by the mere fact of their humanity can never change. We would be well to remember this.

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