US acknowledges torture at Guantanamo; in Iraq, Afghanistan

H

Heist

Moderator
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/06/24/afx2110388.html

GENEVA (AFX) - Washington has, for the first time, acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said.

The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity.

'They are no longer trying to duck this and have respected their obligation to inform the UN,' the Committee member said.

'They they will have to explain themselves (to the Committee). Nothing should be kept in the dark,' he said.

UN sources said this is the first time the world body has received such a frank statement on torture from US authorities.

The Committee, which monitors respect for the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is gathering information from the US ahead of hearings in May 2006.

Signatories of the convention are expected to submit to scrutiny of their implementation of the 1984 convention and to provide information to the Committee.

The document from Washington will not be formally made public until the hearings.
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Expanded reporting:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050624/pl_afp/unustortureguantanamo

"They haven't avoided anything in their answers, whether concerning prisoners in Iraq, in Afghanistan or Guantanamo, and other accusations of mistreatment and of torture," the Committee member said.

"They said it was a question of isolated cases, that there was nothing systematic and that the guilty were in the process of being punished."

The US report said that those involved were low-ranking members of the military and that their acts were not approved by their superiors, the member added.

The US has faced criticism from UN human rights experts and international groups for mistreatment of detainees -- some of whom died in custody -- in Afghanistan and Iraq, particularly during last year's prisoner abuse scandal surrounding the Abu Ghraib facility there.

Scores of US military personnel have been investigated, and several tried and convicted, for abuse of people detained during the US-led campaign against Islamic terrorist groups.

At the Guantanamo Bay naval base, a US toehold in Cuba where around 520 suspects of some 40 nationalities are held, allegations of torture have combined with other claims of human rights breaches.

The US has faced widespread criticism for keeping the Guantanamo detainees in a "legal black hole," notably for its refusal to grant them prisoner of war status and allegedly sluggish moves to charge or try them.

Washington's report to the Committee reaffirms the US position that the Guantanamo detainees are classed as "enemy combatants," and therefore do not benefit from the POW status set out in the Geneva Conventions, the Committee member said.

Four UN human rights experts on Thursday slammed the United States for stalling on a request to allow visits to terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, and said they planned to carry out an indirect probe of conditions there.
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Bracing myself for being called a treasonous traitor. :rolleyes:
Gotta admit that the UN isn't a source I put much faith in.

I don't want the allegations of torture to be true, however if they are true, I want the torture fully exposed and I want the conditions that cause it to happen to end.
 
How exactly were they "tortured"? I just skimmed the article, maybe I missed it. I was talking to a Navy guy who runs a detention facility in Iraq...He said that the insurgents are sleep deprived.....I asked what "sleep deprived" means, and he said that they aren't allowed more than 4 hours of sleep...........I function several days a week on no more than 4 hours of sleep per night...I guess I'm sleep deprived too....I bet the committee classifies that as "torture".
 
Until we start chopping peoples heads off, executing them in the street with bombs, or hanging burning bodies from bridges -

I DON'T WANT TO HEAR TORTURE AND US (MILITARY,FBI,CIA,...) USED IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH.


Simple TRUTHS:

1) These guys want us DEAD - All of us, wifes, children, parents, ALL OF US.
2) They have information that is helpful to our objectives - If obtained early enough.
3) Air Conditioning being turned on and off IS NOT TOTURE.
4) September 11th, 2001 is not just a date, it is the day most of us realized it's either us or them.
 
Prisoners determine their own treatment

AMEN, GM-GUY!!!

Any group of "people" who incinerate living men, women and children as was done on 9-11 deserve whatever they get.

Any group of "people" who kidnap, tie up and cut the heads off of defensless people deserve whatever they get.

As for the terrorists we have in captivity, let's make absolutely certain they are Al-Queda and/or Taliban or have helped them first; then, do whatever it takes to get information out of them that will save American lives.

If the terrorist prisoners don't want to get the sh*t kicked out of them, it's really easy to avoid: TALK.

The bottom line is this: The terrorist prisoners determine their own treatment by whether or not they talk, plain and simple; not talking has consequences which they brng on themselves.
 
Believe me, I doubt we're doing 'real' torture on guantanamo or US soil. That's what the flights of prisoners to other countries are for.

I just think we're better than this sophomoric hazing type bullcrap, and I also wonder where some people went to college where anally inserted lightsticks were acceptable hazing procedure. ;)

I also greatly respect and appreciate our armed forces without worshipping them. Treating them as being incapable of doing wrong and acting like anyone who says otherwise is a commie pinko troll leftist wimp severely rankles with me, so does any blanket statement from a leftist accusing them of being village burning baby rapists. There's a fellow named 'Revdisk', his positions are basically identical to mine if you want more clarification.
 
Torture at Gitmo

Stop listening to a bunch of limp wristed knee jerks that hate the US and our Military! Those muslim scum are treated far better than the military in boot camp and probably even fed better!

Actually as far as the scumbag prisoners are concerned, I have to steal a line from Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind. "Frankly My Damn, I don't give a dear"!

Semper Fi
 
if the torture saves our people then I hope they get the battery charger hooked up right. my sympathy went south some time ago
 
Anyone who slings around the word "torture" is doing it for political rather than humanitarian reasons. Who's to say that repeated, prolonged interrogation isn't more torturous to a prisoner than being made to stand on a crate and told that falling off will result in electrocution? Or even being hit hard enough to bruise but light enough not to cause permanent harm?

Just because something isn't torture doesn't mean it's okay... but it depends on the circumstances. And the courts need to be performing oversight.
 
I consider it torture to go to my in-laws. I guess its a question of perspective. As far as the 'detainee's' are concerned...'f^ck 'em and feed 'em beans'.
 
Says right in the article that the torture was isolated to low-level troops who were not acting under the direction of their superiors. Troops who have been tried and punished.

So they are just 'admitting' to the UN what everyone already knows.
 
Any group of "people" who kidnap, tie up and cut the heads off of defensless people deserve whatever they get.
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Which "people" are we talking about? Iraqi people? Arab people? "Enemy" people? Brown people?


It's very nice to talk about torturing the 9/11 bombers - but they are dead. Who qualifies as being in their category? Their family members? Their nationality? Whoever the government says is a "terrorist"? Someone recently posted that the mafia is a terrorist organization. Are all criminals terrorists?


Don't be so quick to support attrocities against people you know nothing about. Your name might end up on the same list. We are Americans because we stand for rights and justice, not vengence and expedience. Some of your posts sound like they come out of a KGB field manual.


I am deeply embarrassed to hear Americans call for the commission of crimes against humanity with such bloodthirsty zeal. Where did you learn that?
 
We came out of a bar one night and came upon a hysterical girl crying. Seems her Pit bull went nuts on her and wouldn't let her into her truck. This Canuck we knew backed off about 15 ft. and dropped to his knees. He yelled for her to open the door. The dog lunged for him and he proceeded to beat the livin h*** out of that Pit. She loaded the dog up and took him to a vet. He wanted to know what kind of vehicle had hit him. We asked the Canuck what was he thinking of fighting the dog on his knees. He said his Dad had always taught him to fight man or beast eye to eye.
We are in a war unlike any war that has ever been fought on this planet. Until we face up to it and fight them eye to eye, we are doomed to lose.
JMHO YMMV
 
Ah, so we should have adopted the the policies of Nazis and Japanese during WWII, and the Soviets during the cold war. Otherwise we would have lost. :barf:
 
The US doesn't honor it restrictions in the Bor, Constitution, congressional standards of war, so why should they go along with the geneva convention rules? I'm not saying I agree or disagree with their actions, just that it doesn't suprise me. We all know that for anything they admit, theres always even more to it.

Everyone act suprised when sometime in the future similar stories about American citizens are circulated. But don't worry, they'll have a real nasty cover story of why its the good thing to do to us too. If they'll go up in choppers and put indirect fire through the roof of citizens homes where children are, why would this be suprising?

Loyalty enforcement facilitators anyone?
 
I would like to see the definitions of torture. Going without AC (like all our solderis do?) Mutilating Korans (which we gave to the prisoners in the first place?)

Please....

I find it impossible to believe we are torturing people the way the Nazis tortured Jews, or Japanese tortured their captives in WWII.

No bamboo slivers under the fingernails, or cattle prods to the genitals, etc.

If I'm wrong, I'll be glad to revise my opinions. But I think this is all political BS.
 
Handy,

Your touchy feely assertions aside, no one has advocated that we should torture/kill all Arabs, brown people, etc. I believe that the comment that you inferred that from was meant to indicate that the people who want us DEAD deserve exactly what the get. What better way to find out who those folks are than to pry it out of their accomplices. They have NO LEGAL STATUS and are fortunate that we don't string them up. As it stands, there are no credible reports of bona fide torture.

Also, no one has advocated that we behave as the Nazi's, Japanese or the Soviets did re. prisoners. What was advocated was the need to be willing to FIGHT them (Islamofascists) on their level, which requires a COMMITMENT to eradcate them as a threat to our way of life. Again, using their captured combatants to mine information on the who, what, why and where can be and is an effective tool in fighting these murderers.

Try the decaf.
 
Well, they did put out a poll awhile back asking if torture would be acceptable to the American public. Now they admit doing it.

Awhile back they put out the poll to service personell asking if it'd be ok to fire on American citizens.

A few media twists have got most people in their corner on this, even you gunnies. We gotta be careful what we support them on because they'll use the same twists & logic back home on us too.

I'm not saying the people responsible for 9-11 shouldn't be dealt a harsh hand. I'm saying there's a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. If we support them on questionable activities overseas, don't be suprised if they use the same tactics back home. (those people down in Waco really did deserve it didn't they?), Media bias. Handy's correct in being hesitant in throwing in his full support. Independant thinker.
 
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