'Gulag' or Not, Camp X-Ray Must Go (MMN)

[Up2Late]

(Parvez Ahmed, Ph.D. is the Chairman of Board for the Florida Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). He contributed this article to Media Monitors Network (MMN).)

'Gulag' or Not, Camp X-Ray Must Go

by Parvez Ahmed
(Friday June 10 2005)

"...we must begin a national debate to come up with a better and smarter way to fight the war on terror. Regaining our lost credibility is a matter of national security."

Amnesty International recently took a hit on the talk show circuit for calling Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray detention center "the gulag of our time." President Bush called the label "absurd," as did the usual gaggle of conservative commentators.

But gulag or not, the seemingly unending stream of embarrassing revelations coming out of Camp X-Ray, and the negative impact they are having on our nation's international image, are enough to consider closing the facility entirely.

We all saw the protests, both violent and non-violent, around the world in response to the now retracted Newsweek allegation that a Quran had been flushed down a toilet by a Camp X-Ray guard. After attacking Newsweek for this allegation, the administration later revealed five incidents of Quran "mishandling" by guards, including splashing urine on the holy text.

In response to the controversy, the administration officials and their supporters sought to shoot the media messenger instead of dealing with the real impact of the desecration allegations. But media-bashing is not going to "spin" us out of this one.

(more at link above)

[DavidDvorkin]

1. But if the Guantanamo Bay prison camp goes

Will that be the end of the issue, as far as the public is concerned or knows? Will that just make it easier for the press to continue to ignore the chain of illegitimate prisons we're running around the world?

Eliminating this one camp would be a good thing in itself, of course, but getting rid of it presents this dilemma.

[knowbody0]

2. they are planning a new prison

to hold 20,000 in Iraq. We are the press