The Gulag That Is Gitmo

[marmar]

from Consortium News:



The Gulag That Is Gitmo
January 16, 2012

Still under powerful neocon influence – and fearing the old “soft on terror” label – Congress has blocked President Obama’s efforts to close “the gulag at Guantánamo,” forcing Obama to retreat from his promise to Americans and an outraged world, as Marjorie Cohn notes.

By Marjorie Cohn


Travelers to Cuba and music lovers are familiar with the song “Guantanamera” — literally, the girl from Guantánamo. With lyrics by José Martí, the father of Cuban independence, “Guantanamera” is probably the most widely known Cuban song.

But Guantánamo is even more famous now for its U.S. military prison. Where “Guantanamera” is a powerful expression of the beauty of Cuba, “Gitmo” has become a powerful symbol of human rights violations — so much so that Amnesty International described it as “the gulag of our times.”

That description can be traced to January 2002, when the base received its first 20 prisoners in shackles. General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned they were “very dangerous people who would gnaw hydraulic lines in the back of a C-17 to bring it down.”

We now know that a large portion of the 750 plus men and boys held there posed no threat to the United States. In fact, only five percent were captured by the United States; most were picked up by the Northern Alliance, Pakistani intelligence officers, or tribal warlords, and many were sold for cash bounties. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/01/16/the-gulag-that-is-gitmo/

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. The Gulag Gitmopelago

I suspect a far better author than I will describe that place as it really is, and worse, what it says about the Modern USA.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Kick

.