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June 26, 2005

Thoughts on Gitmo...

So I read this morning about how a Congressional delegation has visited Gitmo, saying that "we've made progress."

Last week President Bush went so far as to invite journalists to go visit Gitmo so that they could see that the allegations of torture are untrue.

Okay... maybe we have made progress. Maybe every allegation of torture was false. But, let's be honest with ourselves for just a minute. Has there never been an example of a government deliberately sanitizing a prison facility with the express purpose of purpetrating a deception?

C'mon, we all know better.

So, what this comes down to is whether we trust the Bush administration to not rig the entire thing just for show. Which of course begs the question: Would they deliberately rig the system so as to give a false impression about how a prison is being run?

Well, we know from a variety of sources that the infamous Abu Ghraib contained ghost prisoners who were prisoners that were deliberately hidden from International Committee of the Red Cross officials. Indeed, it is a matter of public record that the IROC complained about this very issue of "ghost prisoners" the previous year.

We also know that members of the Bush administration, such as one Vice President Dick "Fuck Off" Cheney, have indicated their contempt for accountability by giving absurd rhetorical versions of sanitized show prison by suggesting that Gitmo is some sort of Club Med resort for Islamists.

So, no... I don't think an honest and objective assessment of the situation grants the Bush administration the kind of credibility to take their assertions at face value, including the implied assertion that Gitmo hasn't been artifically sanitized in order to evade accountability.

How do we the people regain some control over what is being done in our name?

A St. Petersburg Times editorial from this last Thursday suggested that Congress do their job and use their constitutional authority to "define appropriate treatments for captured foreign suspects."

"The administration has wanted Congress to butt out and give the executive branch and the military a free hand to make up the rules as they go along. So far it has gotten its wish. But the administration has also bungled the task of treating detainees in a manner consistent with American principles. Instead of relentless speechifying, members of Congress should act to rein in the unfettered authority claimed by the president. Specter appears ready to lead the way. Will the Democrats follow him?"

Posted by Kevin at June 26, 2005 01:24 PM