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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (226329)	4/6/2007 9:26:48 PM
From: Kip518	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Guantanamo conditions 'worsening' Conditions for detainees at the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay are deteriorating, with the majority held in solitary confinement, a report says. Amnesty International said the often harsh and inhumane conditions at the camp were "pushing people to the edge". It called for the facility to be closed and for plans for "unfair" military commission trials to be abandoned. Many of the 385 inmates have been held for five years or more, unable to mount a legal challenge to their detention. "While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens... that does not relieve the United States from its responsibilities to comply with human rights," the report said. Some [inmates] are dangerously close to full-blown mental and physical breakdown UK director Kate Allen Amnesty International "Statements by the Bush administration that these men are 'enemy combatants,' 'terrorists' or 'very bad people' do not justify the complete lack of due process rights," the group said. Amnesty reiterated its call for detainees at the prison camp in Cuba - many of whom are suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters - to be released or charged and sent to trial. 'Already in despair' The report, published on Thursday, said about 300 detainees are now being held at a new facility - known as Camp 5, Camp 6 and Camp Echo - comparable to "super-max" high security units in the US. The group said the facility had "created even harsher and apparently more permanent conditions of extreme isolation and sensory deprivation". It said the detainees were reportedly confined to windowless cells for 22 hours a day, only allowed to exercise at night and could go for days without seeing daylight. The organisation's UK director, Kate Allen, described the process at Guantanamo as "a travesty of justice". "With many prisoners already in despair at being held in indefinite detention... some are dangerously close to full-blown mental and physical breakdown. "The US authorities should immediately stop pushing people to the edge with extreme isolation techniques and allow proper access for independent medical experts and human rights groups." 'Serving justice' The provision that stripped detainees of their right to mount a legal challenge to their confinement was upheld by a US federal appeals court in Washington in February. Pushing the anti-terror legislation through Congress last year, Mr Bush said he needed the new law to bring terror suspects to justice. It allows for the indefinite detention of people as "enemy combatants". The US has said it plans to use the military tribunal system to prosecute about 80 of 385 prisoners remaining at the camp. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk

To: stockman_scott who wrote (226329)	4/6/2007 9:29:05 PM
From: Kip518	Respond to of 281500

Levin Releases Newly Declassified Pentagon Inspector General Report on Intelligence Assessment Activities of the Office of Under Secretary of Defense Doug Feith fas.org WASHINGTON -- Sen. Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today released the newly declassified report [PDF] of the Department of Defense Inspector General on its "Review of the Pre-Iraqi War Activities of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy." The report was declassified at Levin's request. In releasing the report, Levin said: "It is important for the public to see why the Pentagon's Inspector General concluded that Secretary Feith's office 'developed, produced and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaeda relationship,' which included 'conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community,' and why the Inspector General concluded that these actions were 'inappropriate.' Until today, those details were classified and outside the public's view." The Feith office alternative intelligence assessments concluded that Iraq and al Qaeda were cooperating and had a "mature, symbiotic" relationship, a view that was not supported by the available intelligence, and was contrary to the consensus view of the Intelligence Community. These alternative assessments were used by the Administration to support its public arguments in its case for war. As the DOD IG report confirms, the Intelligence Community never found an operational relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda; the report specifically states that,"the CIA and DIA disavowed any 'mature, symbiotic' relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida." Senator Levin also released today the declassified briefing slides [PDF] used by Secretary Feith's office in its presentation to senior White House officials, "Assessing the Relationship Between Iraq and al Qaida," which concluded incorrectly that "Intelligence indicates cooperation in all categories; mature, symbiotic relationship," and also asserted incorrectly that an alleged meeting in April 2001 in Prague between an Iraqi intelligence officer and lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta was a "known" contact. "The very title of the Feith briefing slides contradicts his claim on February 16 that "we didn't do intelligence assessments," as well as his claim on February 14 that the briefing was simply "a critique of the CIA's work on the Iraq-al-Qaeda relationship" and no more than an effort to "raise questions about CIA work," said Levin. The briefing slides were an important element in the Inspector General's inquiry and its conclusions. The declassified Inspector General report can be found here. [PDF] fas.org The declassified briefing slides can be found here. [PDF] fas.org