"Security Detainees" in Iraq =
"Illegal Combatants" in Guantanamo =
UnPersons, who are not criminals and not POWs,
not protected by any treaties or laws,
whose interests are not championed by any government.
The U.S. can hold them forever,
do anything we want to them,
acting with impunity and in secret.
It's a situation guaranteed to lead to widespread human rights abuses,
and further disbelief of our claim to champion civilization, freedom, and rights.
"They didn't fit into any category," said Brigadier General Janis Karpinski of the 3,800 extra people who have now been classified as "security detainees." abc.net.au
US forces are now holding some 4,400 people as "security detainees," including several hundred third country nationals...Rumsfeld was unable to explain the legal status of the prisoners who have been classified as "security detainees."...Only about 300 prisoners of the 10,000 prisoners in the custody of US forces are currently classified as "prisoners of war."
"Then there are others that have a value in terms of interrogation and they are people that you suspect or know to be involved with the Baathists or involved with the foreigners coming in as terrorists," Rumsfeld said. "And what you want from them is not to punish them for doing that but, rather, to extract from them the information they have that can help you track down, find out who's paying them, find out where their headquarters are, find out how they're operating and learn so that you can prevent other attacks," he said.
quickstart.clari.net
Having hired Saddam's torturers to work for us, we have just the right people, with the rights skills to do the "extracting of information" that Rumsfeld is talking about.
Article 17 of the Geneva Conventions states that: "No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatsoever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantagous treatment of any kind."
Almost all the articles that came up on a Google search were from May or earlier. By June, the Free World had lost interest, although the Iraqi "security detainees" were still being held. Same story as Guantanamo, Bagram, Diego Garcia. There is a collective decision to accept the building of an American Gulag, and just not think about it. |
