US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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BBC 23 June 2005

Investigators from the United Nations have accused the US of stalling over their repeated requests to visit detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

The US is holding hundreds of suspected members of the Taleban and al-Qaeda at the detention facility in Cuba.

The UN said for over a year there had been no response to its requests to check on the condition of detainees.

This suggested the US was “not willing to co-operate with the United Nations human rights machinery,” the team said.

A spokesman for the Pentagon told BBC News he had not heard of the allegations and would look into them.

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

The Red Cross has 24 hour access to Guantanamo. They have private meetings with every detainee on demand and have the right to investigate every complaint. Sounds like the UN is simply trying to duplicate the work that the Red Cross is already doing or to make some political statement. Let's all jump on the band wagon.

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

at one time the US neo-cons were foaming at the mouth with their 'the UN inspectors must be allowed to do their work in Iraq unhindered' rhetoric... and now, on another day, it's 'lets just stick two fingers up to the %*@$$@ UN'

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

No,one inspection group with unlimited access is probably enough. Iraq never fully complied, scientists were never taken out of the country and interviewed so that they could speak freely. What is it that the UN will investigate that the Red Cross has not?

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Re: US ‘stalling UN Guantanamo visit’

the evidence/reports it has that torture is taking place

nain....
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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

And the Red Cross has not investigated these allegations?

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Re: US ‘stalling UN Guantanamo visit’

yes, the RC has already said torture is taking place… the UN wants to confirm its own evidence

Red Cross: Guantanamo Tactics ‘Tantamount to Torture’

WASHINGTON - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has accused the U.S. military of using tactics “tantamount to torture” on prisoners at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

An ICRC inspection team that spent most of June at Guantanamo Bay reported the use of psychological and sometimes physical coercion on the prisoners, the newspaper said.

… The Times said the Red Cross investigators had found a system devised to break the will of prisoners through “humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of forced positions.”

“The construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture,” the Times quoted the report as saying.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1130-01.htm

nain....
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Re: US ‘stalling UN Guantanamo visit’

Sorry, you must not deal with lawyers much. Those words say, “Tantamount to Torture”. Which is designed to leave the reader with the impression that Torture is taking place. So why would they say this? The answer is that certain procedures such as having a person stand or sit in one place can be painful. But the definition of “Torture” is severe pain, ie breaking of limbs, electrical current etc. The difference is, when you sit on a chair designed to tip over, or one that leans and has a lop sided seat, you are not risking permanent harm or disability. Sleep deprivation, and extremes of hot and cold are not generally acknowledged by any international legal standard as “Torture”. So the Red Cross uses the term “Tantamount” to register their displeasure.

I just think it is odd in the extreme that half of the world has torture as an everyday occurance(Pakistan is among the worst mind you), but the US is held to a much higher standard. Why do you suppose that is? The word hipocrisy just sort of begs to be used here doesn’t it?

I’ll tell you what. I expect my country to get information from Al Qaeda suspects as best they can. I want them to go to the legal limit, with thier toes right up to the legal line. Never over, but right up to the line. That is what I believe is being done, and I persoanlly have no problem with it. Lest you think I am the only American who thinks this way, please look at a poll that came out yesterday:

**A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 20% of Americans believe prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been treated unfairly. Seven-out-of-ten adults believe the prisoners are being treated “better than they deserve” (36%) or “about right” (34%).

The survey also found that just 14% agree with people who say that prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay is similar to Nazi tactics. Sixty-nine percent disagree with that comparison. This helps explain why Illinois Senator Dick Durbin apologized for making such a comparison.

Partisan differences concerning prisoner treatment are huge. Only 7% of Republicans believe Guantanamo prisoners are treated unfairly. Thirty percent (30%) of Democrats hold that view along with 22% of those not affiliated with either major party.

Forty-five percent (45%) of Republicans say the prisoners are treated better than they deserve. That view is shared by 28% of Democrats.**

http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=2506

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

I say shut down Gitmo and move the detainees the Waldorf Astoria. I see no reason to deny them the quintessential luxury hotel experience - kitchenette, wet bar, marble bath, movie channels and a Park Avenue view. Isn't that the same treatment they'd receive in Pakistan, SA or other countries where we don't question the treatment of prisoners?

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Re: US ‘stalling UN Guantanamo visit’

then why do you b!tch about Iron not letting UN visits ?

If you won’t allow the UN to visit the Gulag in Guntanamo, then why should other countries let the UN in ? cause the Us bitches about it ?

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Re: US ‘stalling UN Guantanamo visit’

extactly !!

this Neo-cons were bitching about irak or iron not letting the UN in for inspection,

yet these same neo-con b!tches would never let the UN inspection on Israel or the Us facilities

Talk about b!tchin and hypocracy

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

Sorry, your analogies are a little twisted. The Geneva Conventions made the Red Cross the standard agency for protection of POWs and combattants for 50 years, before the UN had any inspection authority. The Red Cross has been at Guantanamo, and has the authority to visit 24/7. This is a little different than the games Saddam played with inspectors for nearly a decade. The Red Cross has had nothing but cooperation.

Other than the fact that I consider the the UN corrupt and close to worthless these days, having two separate inspections seems wasteful and stupid. If the UN has new accusations, they should give the information to the Red Cross to investigate. In the mean time, why duplicate work when there are thousands of prisons in third world countries (including Paksitan) that haven't seen an inspector in decades.

This is simply political piling on.

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Re: US ‘stalling UN Guantanamo visit’

okay, Homer, so now you want to stick two fingers up to the Red Cross as well… if you think the RC were happy with what they saw at Guantanamo then you are obviously suffering from severe comprehension difficulty

what the RC found was a form of torture…

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

if there were nothing fishy or "un-American" going on in Gitmo, why does it need to be in Cuba and not the USA?

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

we don't want those freaks running loose on our soil if they happen to escape...

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

To sidestep the legal inconvenience of constitutionally guaranteed civil rights.

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Re: US 'stalling UN Guantanamo visit'

Nothing to hide huh yeah right everyone knows whats going in guantanamo bay only right wing fools are kidding themselves with their usual lies!