Sept. 11 detainees abused by officers, US report says

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18145541.htm

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Foreigners held at a federal prison in Brooklyn after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks suffered verbal and physical abuse, with officers slamming them against the wall and twisting their arms and hands, the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general said on Thursday.

Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a 47-page report that officers also stepped on the leg-restraint chains of the detainees and punished them by keeping them restrained for long periods of time.

Videotapes showed that prison staff members slammed and pressed detainees against the wall by their heads or necks. The officers denied that it ever occurred, the report said.

Videotapes also confirmed that officers placed detainees against an American flag T-shirt with the phrase "These colors don't run" on it, which was taped to the wall in the area where detainees first arrived, according to the report.

more

[NNN0LHI]

1. We are the fucking Nazi's. May as well just admit it. Ain't kidding nobody

I am so proud to be an American.

Don

[LiberalVoice]

2. I wish you were wrong...

but, I know your not.

[jonoboy]

3. these prison officers are the traitors who produce terrorists that

hate the US. These unthinking dumb, dangerous idiots are responsible for any citizen who is killed by a terrorist.

[saigon68]

4. THEY ARE ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS

"All right you vermin get those clothes off ----we have a nice shower waiting for you"

Disgusting!!!

[beawr]

5. Brooklyn, eh?

I am assuming you are not from New York. I am assuming you did not smell the burning flesh and breathe in the soot of human bodies.

While what the officers did was wrong, it does not make them Nazis, it does not make them stormtroopers. They were New Yorkers and they were incredibly stressed.

I was there. Frankly, I am suprised at the restraint shown in the days following 9/11....

Nazis would not have published an Inspector General's report, although they probably would have shown the videos..

[JailBush]

8. I'm assuming you've not from Afghanistan...

and I'm NOT assuming that everyone detained in Guantanamo is guilty as charged (or not charged).

[AliceWonderland]

15. "I was there"

So were a bunch of other people. So what? I find the "I was there" card loathesome. I was on my way to Federal freaking Plaza for my green card interview, so what? The crackdown I saw around me was repugnant to me, because I admire the Bill of Rights and the American system of government immensely. Anyone who condones the treatment and detention of these individuals either doesn't get his own form of government, or doesn't like it. "They were stressed." Jesus. I didn't know stress overrode, say, the principle of habeas corpus. I'll remember that the next time I'm really stressed.

[DulceDecorum]

16. Since profanity is currently frowned upon

I will attempt to refrain from using it in describing those who practise sadism on defenceless people.
You speak of burning flesh.
Let us turn our attention to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It is an interesting and relevant fact that this controversy was initiated in 1945 by conservatives such as Time magazine publisher Henry Luce, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, New York Times military correspondent Hanson Baldwin and David Lawrence, editor of U.S. News, who wrote in October 1945: "Competent testimony exists to prove that Japan was seeking to surrender many weeks before the atomic bomb came."
This is a view that historical research has confirmed. The discovery of President Truman's handwritten private diary, for example, revealed that on July 18, 1945, he had read a "telegram from Jap Emperor asking for peace…. Believe Japs will fold up before Russia comes in. I am sure they will when Manhattan appears over their homeland." And again, on Aug. 3, 1945, Walter Brown, an aide to Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, noted in his diary that Truman and his aides "agreed Japs looking for peace…. "
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bird17dec17,1,2302127.story

There is MUCH MUCH more that I wish to say but I do not want this post to be deleted and I am EXCEPTIONALLY annoyed by what you have said. And that is about all I can say to you directly here and now.

[yolatengo]

6. calm down

I'm not condoning their actions, but I can't even imagine how those officers
felt having lost so many of their comrades in the two towers. It was an intensely
emotional time for all of them, much moreso than for, say, me, 250 miles
away with no NYC connections.

However, they should all be officially reprimanded; that's what you DO
when this happens. The worst offenders should be suspended or fired.
Reasonable, measured, official response to people who lost their cool
in very trying circumstances. They shouldn't be considered Nazis for
this behavior. They didn't kill anyone; they didn't even pull a 'Volpe'.
There is no excuse for this behavior but training plus official
consequences for people who f*ck up is the right response. I'd
recommend firing for those who denied it or non coms who engaged
in a willful coverup.

Bigby

[beawr]

7. Thank You

Exactly!!!!

[bspence]

10. I can't believe you guys

This is the same type of mentality that caused Rodney King, Louima (sp?), and the fat guy from Cincinnati to get beat on by the cops.

Yes, it was an emotional time for the cops. That doesn't excuse them from taking INNOCENT people and physically and mentally abusing them.

We're not animals, and the police are trained NOT to behave this way, ever. They're supposed to leave the fate of those in custody for the judge. They have NO right to harm anyone, especially if they're already in custody.

I can't wait to see the video.

[bspence]

11. I don't think they're Nazis either, btw n/t

[DulceDecorum]

17. They are

miserable failures
at being Nazis.

That makes them MF Nazis.
May they rot in hell.

[atreides1]

9. ??????

You can't say you don't condone their actions in one breath, and then
give them a pass with the other.

What they did was WRONG period, they have no justification for conducting themselves in a totally unprofessional manner, no matter what the reason.

By your reasoning it would be just fine with you if a police officer
did the same things to you, because of something that might have happened, and you were the same race as the people that did it.

So just because they didn't kill anyone it makes it okay, and you're right they're not Nazis, their actions were more like that of the KKK.

And for your information one detainee did die in custody, but it was reported that he died of a "heart attack".

[DulceDecorum]

18. NO

a reprimand is INSUFFICENT.

Let us hand these bestial corrections officers over to
the Black Rose S&M club or
the School of Assassins
for the "weapons inspectors" and "interrogation trainees"
to practise on.

Let the punishment fit the crime.

[tlcandie]

12. Okay, the law now has exceptions ....

If you are overly stressed for any reason then you are not guilty of any offense just reprimanded or let go because you were out of line.

We are quickly loosing the line between madness and morality here. If police officers have the ability to get only a swat on the hand for these type of actions then it filters down and up.

Something sick, dark, and VERY foul this way comes and I'm afraid to see the end result if we don't stop the tidal wave that is threatening us.

EDIT: typo

[MasonJar]

13. They have some nerve coming down on Miss. with their record.

[Voltaire99]

14. Please, people, please -- a little sympathy for the devil here, OK?

Before you criticize, try to understand how good it feels for angry simpletons to inflict pain on their captives!

Before you doubt the sincerity of these torturers, try to remember that in a cell every Arab detainee looks guilty!

Before you insult these victimizers, bear in mind that they may have lost someone, which entitles them to commit violence on unarmed and innocent people!

...Those rationalizing the guards' abuse with sentimental appeals to images of "burning flesh" are cordially invited to rethink their position. Our future as a people just might depend upon it.