The Guantanamo Suicides

I was pretty appalled (as were the good folks at Polemica) when I heard Rear Admiral Harry Harris describe that the suicides of three Guantanamo Bay detainees as `an act of war'.

But that was before another senior US official, one Colleen Graffy, go one step further and suggest that the suicides were `a PR stunt' designed to rally support for detainees and `the jihadi cause'.

Well, for crying out loud. Let's look at this.

Firstly, America (allegedly) values the notion of `innocent until proven guilty'. That is, all allegations against a person are theoretical until they have been proven by a court of law. Perhaps the men who committed suicide were jihadis - we'll never know, because there is now no chance that they will be tried, and they should not have been held in the inhumane conditions at Guantanamo while they awaited far longer than they should have for this democratic right to trial. It is just as likely that, as with many of the people who have been released after long detentions in the facility, that they were not guilty.

One thing some people seem to find particularly difficult about human rights is that they apply to everyone. They don't get rescinded if you do something bad. Treating even a criminal inhumanely is to lower ourselves to their level. Regardless of whether these men were guilty or not, the Guantanamo Bay facility is a fundamental infraction of the right to trial, as well as an appalling way to treat people while they are awaiting the verdict on whether they are guilty or not.

The fight for democracy goes on ...