Did anyone else hear that the Red Cross is making rounds at GITMO?

[originalpckelly]

It starts Monday next week, and you know what that means: we may see how these people were treated soon. We should start a pool to see if there was waterboarding (now that I think of it, that sounds wrong, doesn't it?)

[Waya]

1. Yea.....it's on MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14921157/

[originalpckelly]

2. Here it is at the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901430.html

[originalpckelly]

3. I bet John. Turley is right on this...

well we shall see soon.

[ComerPerro]

4. I don't trust things like Senator's visits and Red Cross visits

and no one should.

Of course things are going to be dressed up when the Red Cross gets there.

And its not like they are going to beat or torture anyone in front of a Senator.


They'll probably set it up to reflect Rush's "Club Gitmo" lies, serve the detainees world-class meals, have swimming and recreation and spas and massages...



Relief agencies and people who want to see truth should never go on planned, scheduled visits.

It should be suprise visits only.

[katinmn]

5. I wouldn't count on it. They only report abuses to the offending party.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040524&s=ackerman052404
HOW THE RED CROSS FAILED.
Cross to Bear
by Spencer Ackerman
But, if the icrc had its way, no one outside the Bush administration would ever have known what it had found. "We would not ever have let this report come into the public domain," says Amanda Williamson, a Washington-based icrc official. Williamson's disapproval of the leak has been echoed up the icrc hierarchy, all the way to Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the group's director of operations. That's because the icrc--the only international body that monitors detention facilities to ensure their operators comply with the Geneva Conventions--monitors prison conditions confidentially and only reports abuses to the offending parties.

[eleny]

8. Then leaks are our only hope if detainees assert they were water boarded

(No pun intended)

[Lerkfish]

6. this presumes they'll have clear access to waterboarded detainees

Does anyone remember the Hanoi Hilton? They were tortured, then cleaned up for visits and warned if they said anything wrong, they'd kill other POWs.
We KNOW that massive attempted suicides and self-imposed starvations have occurred at Gitmo. That doesn't happen unless detainees are being systemically tortured.
Just like you can't count on them to give accurate information under torture, you can't necessarily accept it if they say they're NOT tortured for fear of reprisals

[katinmn]

9. I'm reading an article in the Sept-Oct Mother Jones

Several former Gitmo detainees are interviewed. Like the Canadian citizen who has been in the news this week, they were cleared of any wrongdoing. Zilch.

But the point I wanted to make is that they were tortured for speaking to other prisoners. Some prisoners do not speak a word for months or years.

I don't think the Red Cross will be getting any good interviews. If they do, they'll just tell Rummy, the torture enforcer. What good is that?

[rodeodance]

7. Condi called the IRC prior to Bush speech to advice them that the

prisoners would be moved to Gitmo.

[leftchick]

10. they are supposed to be interviewing the 14 just flown into GITMO

from their various torture locals around the world.

[katinmn]

11. Probably all are innocent, too.

:(

[leftchick]

12. hey, They are "crown jewels"!!

:puke:

The protections apply to all prisoners now being held by the CIA, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept.11 attacks, Abu Zubaydah, and senior al Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh. While the detainees may not be household names, they were top aides to Osama bin Laden, and the veritable "crown jewels" of the military operations that have been conducted in Afghanistan.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=2400470