Bahrain formally demands probe into Gitmo torture

[struggle4progress]

The Bahraini Embassy in Washington has formally asked the U.S. government to launch an immediate investigation into torture, abuse and other brutal tactics used against a Bahraini prisoner held at its detention center in Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba, Bahraini foreign ministry source has revealed.

A Bahraini detainee held at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay has written a letter protesting his innocence and detailing appalling interrogation methods the U.S. guards use to break the detainees held there.

Juma Mohammed Abdul Latif Al Dossary sent his letter to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights that reported his torture complaints. <snip>

Like most of Guantanamo detainees, Al Dossary is being held without charges. <snip>

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=9929


Bahrain Asks US to Investigate Torture at Guantanamo

<snip> The US alleges Al Dossary was in Afghanistan in November 2001, is a member of Al Qaeda, and was present at Tora Bora, where the US thought Osama bin Laden may have been hiding. The military says that Al Dossary crossed the border into Pakistan illegally in December 2001 and surrendered to Pakistani authorities.

Al Dossary maintains he is innocent, that he was on his way to the Bahraini Embassy in Pakistan after leaving Afghanistan in late 2001 and was tricked by the Pakistani military who told him he could go to his country’s embassy and instead moved him from prison to prison, beat him and, with promises to meet with a human rights organization instead put him on a plane to Kandahar where he was delivered, “sold” he says, to the US military. <snip>

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B39C49129-869B-4651-AE49-1310B1D62822%7D)&language=EN

[Roland99]

1. An exercise in futility. Perhaps Bahrain will have to kick out U.S. envoys

[struggle4progress]

2. It's an alarm bell about political realities in the Middle East. Whether

the Lazy W Gang pays attention isn't really in question: since the likes of Elliott Abrams, John Negroponte, John Bolton, and Karen Hughes provide the "expertise," the response from 1600 Pennsylvania is known in advance -- and that response will be exactly as you suggest.

But, although the Presidency is a power center, it is not the only one, and there are others who really ought to be pricking up their ears, taking notice, and doing some hard intellectual work around this problem ...

[tinymontgomery]

3. this is pretty important

Bahrain is where 5th fleet is out of and the one of the only decent liberty ports for the sailors attached to 5th fleet which is any ship in the persian gulf. If they stop supporting us the navy is could be in trouble in support areas.

[JerseygirlCT]

4. Bahrain is also nearly unique in the area in terms

of its willingness and welcome toward the US, period. Business gets done there because westerners can be far more comfortable there than in Kuwait or Saudi for instance.

They've made some moves toward democratization as well. Slow ones, yes, but far more than the SAs have.

[Shipwack]

5. I'll confirm that...

I'm there right now, and while it's not home, it is a friendly place. No worse than living in Norfolk. Maybe better; I doubt businesses here have ever put out signs saying "No dogs or sailors allowed"...

Losing the Bahrain base would complicate matters, and we are dealing with a king here, who can basically do whatever he wants when it comes to foreigners. While I doubt we would lose the base, lesser cooperation is well within the realm of reason. Base expansion, liberty policy for sailors, etc.

[JerseygirlCT]

6. I was a little less than really comfortable there, being

female. But the guys certainly felt quite comfortable. And, hey, alcohol could be had for westerners -- what more did they need! Just kidding, of course, but there was a pretty sizable ex-pat population from Europe, US and Australia.

Have they finally started making pizza anywhere there? I really missed that 20 years or so ago.

[Shipwack]

7. Pizza is available, of varying quantity...

Frozen pizza in the supermarkets.

The local Mega Mart's bakery sells pizza, which looks and tastes as if it were made based on a description someone overheard in conversation (their bread and other baked goods are excellent, though).

There's a local pizzeria, with "REAL ITALIAN FOOD!!!" that delivers. It's ok.

There's a local Domino's, which I haven't sampled yet.

On base there's a food court that has a vendor that sells pizza. It's adequate. Not up to North East or Chicago standards, but good enough.

If you haven't been here in a while, there are now 3 decent sized shopping malls (all within a mile of each other). They have food courts and restaurants there also, but I haven't sampled them yet.

Cell phones are abundant, stores selling computer items fairly common, and there's decent internet access.

All in all, it is fairly westernized, though I don't know how it compares to other middle eastern countries. There's no law forbidding women to walk around without a habib or abaya, but modest dress is encouraged (and some clothing, such as sheer or mesh is prohibited for military members off-base). Woman are allowed to drive, a condition that the Saudi woman take advantage of on the weekends.

While I wouldn't want to live here, everyday I'm thankful I'm here as opposed to some checkpoint in Baghdad or even Saudi Arabia.