Thursday, February 22, 2007

Guantanamo detainees

Take a look at an article entitled "Bring America Back from the 'Dark Side'". It's about Guantanamo Bay.

Did you know how its inmates were rounded up?

Little-publicized information about how the detainees were rounded up, let alone their abusive treatment, should raise significant questions. An analysis by Seton Hall University School of Law found that of 517 cases, only 5 percent had been captured by U.S. forces. Nearly 90 percent had been captured by Pakistani or Afghan Northern Alliance forces or tribal warlords and turned over to U.S. custody, often sold for rewards as high as $20,000. Leaflets dropped by the U.S. military appealed to what they could do with that money — “wealth and power beyond your dreams …. enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life.” It is not surprising that random and arbitrary arrest and detention would result.

In response to concerns that detainees were held wrongly, the administration set up military tribunals. These tribunals, overseen by panels of three military officers, were allowed to rely on coerced evidence, and detainees had no access to lawyers or secret evidence. Not surprisingly, this appalling process determined that 520 of the 558 detainees who had their status review from August 2004 to March 2005 were “enemy combatants.”

Despite these findings, not a single Guantanamo detainee has yet been convicted or even tried. Only 10 have been charged.

You KNOW that place is just full of completely innocent people. The existence of that detention center is beyond a disgrace. It's an abomination.

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