Advocates for the detainees said they believed the suicides resulted from the deep despair felt by inmates who are being held indefinitely.
"The total, intractable unwillingness of the Bush administration to provide any meaningful justice for these men is what is at the heart of these tragedies," said Bill Goodman, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the New York advocacy group that oversees lawyers representing many of the detainees. "We all had the sense that these men were getting more and more hopeless. There's been a general sense of desperation that's been growing."
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, a lawyer at Dorsey & Whitney in New York who represents one detainee who has repeatedly attempted suicide, said, "These men have been told they will be held at Guantanamo forever. They've been told that while they're held there they do not have a single right."
Foreign governments and international organizations have stepped up their criticism of detainee treatment at Guantanamo. Just last month, a United Nations treaty panel reviewing the United States' compliance with the international prohibition on torture argued that Guantánamo should be shut down. Last week, the Council of Europe issued a separate investigative report that said the United States had created a "reprehensible network" of dealing with terror suspects, highlighted by secret prisons believed to be in Eastern Europe and other nations around the world.
Responding to the growing furor over the issue in Europe, Mr. Bush said in an interview with German television in May that he would like to close the Guantanamo prison, but that his administration had to await the outcome of a Supreme Court ruling on whether the detainees should be tried by civilian courts or military commissions.
The above is from James Risen and Tim Golden's "Three Prisoners Commit Suicide At Guantanmo" in this morning's New York Times. The Defense Department spokesperson (Harry something) is trying to portray it as an attack on "us." (Yeah, Harry, it's all about you.) Meanwhile, Thom Shanker's left to attempt to explain how Iraq's puppet government isn't a puppet government even though it ignores the will of its people. (Hey, sounds like the American administration.) The illegal occupation goes on. (And you wonder why they used so much 'force' to install al-Maliki?)
Quickly, as promised, an excerpt from Margaret Kimberley's "Baby Killers at Haditha" (Freedom Rider, The Black Commentator):
The occupation of Iraq is a crime against the people of that nation. They have been killed, incarcerated, and tortured. Their resources have been stolen, their infrastructure has been destroyed. Iraqi children are more malnourished now than in the days of the evil dictator.
Opposition should always come from the perspective that the U.S. committed a terrible act in March of 2003 when the occupation began. We should be glad that the story of Haditha is now being told, yet no one should think it is an isolated incident or that it was caused merely by over stressed Marines who don’t know what there mission is.
The Marines are quite clear on their mission. Their mission is to subjugate Iraqis. Sometimes that means subjecting them to fear and humiliation. Sometimes it means busting a few heads and sometimes it means you can start shooting and ask questions later if ever.
Also remember on RadioNation with Laura Flanders Sunday:
On Sunday: The America is Purple tour turns to Oregon with:ERIK STEN, Portland City Commissioner. MARCY WESTERLING of the Rural Organizing Project. JOANN BOWMAN of The Money in Politics Research Action Project. JEFFERSON SMITH of The Bus Project.
And KATHA POLLITT, the Nation columnist on her new book, "Virginity or Death!"
On Sunday: The America is Purple tour turns to Oregon with:ERIK STEN, Portland City Commissioner. MARCY WESTERLING of the Rural Organizing Project. JOANN BOWMAN of The Money in Politics Research Action Project. JEFFERSON SMITH of The Bus Project.
And KATHA POLLITT, the Nation columnist on her new book, "Virginity or Death!"
Hurried. Because Blogger/Blogspot is down and up and down and up. We've lost most of the posts at The Third Estate Sunday Review. We'll try to post what's left some other time today. It's too "screwy" now with things placing themselves where they want regardless of where they're supposed to go. (TV review, short story and something else -- editorial is up and about the item at the top of this entry). Otherwise, we're going to sleep. It's been a long night. (As Elaine said, "We did our work. It's not our fault.) (TV review, which will go up later, is on NBC's Windfall.)
I'm trying to get Isaiah's latest up but not having much luck. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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