amnesty releases new gitmo torture testimony

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0601/S00097.htm

Below are highlights from testimony of Jumah al-Dossari, which he wrote in July 2005 in the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay naval base, Cuba. The hand written testimony was given to Amnesty International by Jumah al-Dossari's civilian lawyer. At the date of publication Jumah al-Dossari remains detained in Guantánamo Bay. This testimony is Jumah al-Dossari's personal account of his experiences in Pakistani and US custody, and the views expressed in it are his own.

From here, from the depths of the degradation that debase a person's dignity, attack his religion, his person, his honour, his dignity and his humanity, all in the name of fighting terror. I am writing for those who will read my words. I am writing the story of what I have suffered from the day I was kidnapped on the Pakistani border and sold to American troops until now and my being in Guantánamo, Cuba. What I will write here is not a flight of fancy or a moment of madness; what I will write here are the established facts and events agreed upon by detainees who were eye witnesses to them, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as soldiers, investigators and interpreters.

-snip-

[NoLongerRepresented]

1. Had me going for a while unitl...

I have no doubt that there is torture going on. I detest it without exception and believe that not only the solders doing it, but the entire command chain should be held accountable.
I oppose, (and have been quite vocal about it to my "representatives") the entire "detainee" status. Either they are criminals due trials OR they are POW's that enjoy the Geneiva Convention protection. For better of worse, the Senate ratified this treaty, and in doing so made it the supreme law of the land. Any military member who violates it is in violation of their oath to uphold the Constitution. This includes the Commander in Chief. However, the following quote from the "testimony" is hogwash (In my humble opinion) That puts the whole article in question to me.

He said a lot of things to me, such as, "this is a holy war between the star of David and the cross against the crescent" and "the whole world will submit to us and if any one doesn't submit to us.

[DELUSIONAL]

2. bushie and his gang are the worst group of crooks and criminals

but some of the guards at Gitmo remember that they are still humans and that what is happening is wrong.

The story of torture and abuse ends with this note of hope:

"• I would thus like to point out that NOT all of the soldiers in Guantánamo tortured and oppressed us. There were some soldiers who treated us humanely, some of them would cry because of what was happening to us and were embarrassed by the style of management at the camp and even by the American government, their lack of justice and oppression of us. To give an example, when I was in Camp India in Camp Delta and I was being tortured, an Afro-American came to me. He said sorry to me and gave me a cup of hot chocolate and some sweet biscuits. When I thanked him, he said, "I don't want your thanks. I want you to know that we are not all bad and we think differently". When I was talking to a soldier and I told him what happened to me, he cried and had tears in his eyes. He was clearly moved. He said sorry to me about what had happened to me and he also offered me some food. These are examples to show the reader that there are some soldiers who have humanity, irrespective of their race, gender or faith. "