HOW ABOUT THIS FOR OBJECTIVE JOURNALISM?
Special Dispatch - Egypt
February 1, 2002
Egyptian Government Daily: America's Torture of Al-Qa'ida
Prisoners Worse Than Hitler's Treatment of Jewish and
Christian 'Rivals'
Many Arab columnists are harshly critical of the U.S. for
its treatment of Al-Qa'ida and Taliban captives at
Guantanamo. Renowned Egyptian author and columnist for the
Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, Anis Mansour, describes
the treatment of the Al-Qa'ida and Taliban prisoners as
'worse than prisoners under the Nazis.' Following are
excerpts from his article:
"The Americans transferred the prisoners from Afghanistan
to the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba. I saw this base in
1963, during the Tricontinental Conference in Havana. It's
a nice base. No one expected it to be turned into a base
for torturing Al-Qa'ida members from Afghanistan, in a way
unprecedented in history - worse than what Hitler did to
his rivals from among the Jews and Christians."
"Hitler's soldiers burned, strangled, and then killed. But
America's prisoners were transferred in planes, on [a trip]
lasting twenty hours. Under normal circumstances, the trip
would not have been exhausting. But what was done to the
prisoners is abominable!"
"They are blindfolded, their ears covered, and their noses
sealed. They can't see, can't hear, and can't smell; they
are in masks of iron. Their hands, arms, necks, and legs
are shackled in heavy choke chains."
"Twenty hours of sensory deprivation is sufficient to
damage the senses of any man. If the Americans add another
20 hours, [one doesn't know] whether he is alive or dead.
If we then remove the shackles, he will not know how - or
where - to walk!"
"In the solitary confinement cells, the darkness is
absolute. Suddenly, [the Americans] shine a brilliant light
and make aggressive [loud] noise for a few moments; then
quiet and darkness are restored. Those moments are enough
to make the prisoners blind, deaf, and brain-damaged."
"[Even] America's friends have condemned this inhuman
treatment of the prisoners of war. But U.S. Secretary of
Defense, Rumsfeld, said: 'They are not prisoners of war,
and the Geneva Convention does not apply to them.' He
claimed that they are criminals who violated the law, and
were members of bin Laden's gang."
"[He says that] the Americans blocked the prisoners' ears
out of pity, so that the noise of the plain would not
bother them. Their noses were covered so that they would
not spread their contagious diseases to the soldiers
guarding them. This pressure on their nerves makes them
easily turn over any dangerous information they have."
"These prisoners of war cannot go to American courts to
demand that the Constitution be applied, because they are
not on American soil - rather, at Camp X-Ray, which is
designed to turn them from men to beasts within hours!"(1) |
