A Prison of Shame, and It’s Ours

[cal04]

NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

My Times colleague Barry Bearak was imprisoned by the brutal regime in Zimbabwe last month. Barry was not beaten, but he was infected with scabies while in a bug-infested jail. He was finally brought before a court after four nights in jail and then released.

Alas, we don’t treat our own inmates in Guantánamo with even that much respect for law. On Thursday, America released Sami al-Hajj, a cameraman for Al Jazeera who had been held without charges for more than six years. Mr. Hajj has credibly alleged that he was beaten, and that he was punished for a hunger strike by having feeding tubes forcibly inserted in his nose and throat without lubricant, so as to rub tissue raw.

“Conditions in Guantánamo are very, very bad,” Mr. Hajj said in a televised interview from his hospital bed in Sudan, adding, “In Guantánamo, you have animals that are called iguanas ... that are treated with more humanity.”

(snip)
Granted, it can be hard to figure out what version to believe. When I started writing about Guantánamo several years ago, I thought the inmates might be lying and the Pentagon telling the truth. No doubt some inmates lie, and some surely are terrorists. But over time — and it’s painful to write this — I’ve found the inmates to be more credible than American officials.

Both Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates have pushed to shut down Guantánamo because it undermines America’s standing and influence. They have been overruled by Dick Cheney and other hard-liners. In reality, it would take an exceptional enemy to damage America’s image and interests as much as President Bush and Mr. Cheney already have with Guantánamo.

[defendandprotect]

1. Of course, the polymagists stole the spotlight from the torture scandal . . .

most recently, however why do we never hear anyone say that officials who invested themselves in TORTURE and those legal minds which argued for it --- are not only legally and morally wrong but that they also obviously have a defect of mind and/or spririt.


???

[flashl]

2. This is ours on the mainland ...

Inmates exposed to 'superbug,' lawsuits say

Flesh-eating bacteria an increasing threat for prisoners -- and maybe the rest of us

Lonnie Napier says he was infected with the flesh-eating bacteria at the Laurel County Detention Center, and that his wound grew so gangrenous that a portion of his scrotum had to be removed.
Advertisement

Martel Chapman said she was infected in the Hardin County jail after being forced to share a cell with women who had draining sores and boils.

Scott Wooler said he caught it in the Hickman County Detention Center when he helped another inmate change his leaking bandages.

All three claim in lawsuits that they were infected with the painful, disfiguring and potentially fatal penicillin-resistant staph infection known as MRSA -- or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- while incarcerated.

Courier Journal