A Good Read (continued)

This is simply an update and addendum to my previous post. In it I was to recommend three great articles I've recently come across. Unfortunately, I only got around to posting about two of them. In any case, here's the third.

"Some people have said we ought to close Guantanamo. My view is we ought to double Guantanamo."

-Mitt Romney (Republican Candidate for President)


The problem with this asinine statement is that there is no current process to reliably, legitimately (in my opinion) filter out the innocent prisoners in Gitmo. The Bush Administration knew this and simply wanted to hold them all indefinitely. Fortunately the US Supreme Court found this a wee bit unconstitutional and allowed the prisoners to challenge their incarceration. Next, the Bush Administration created special military tribunals to (haphazardly) try the prisoners. The US Supreme Court found these tribunals unconstitutional because they lacked protections required by the Geneva Conventions and the US Uniform Code of Military Justice. So Bush urged Congress to basically bypass the Supreme Court and get the tribunals back. Which happened with the passing of the MCA. The passing of the MCA illustrates the Bush Admin's intent to strip away the few legal rights the Gitmo prisoners have. The fundamental problem with this is that legal rights (i.e. some semblance of a fair trial) are the only way to reliably filter out the innocent from the guilty.

And for those, like Romney, who think there are no innocents in Gitmo, a brief investigation into who is being held at Gitmo and how they got there will change your mind. Now, I'm not saying that every prisoner in Gitmo is innocent. Yet, from what I've read, I am pretty confident that many are innocent. One reason is because many of the Gitmo prisoners were simply kidnapped by tribes people in Afghanistan for the bounty the US supplied. Afghanistan is filled with ethnic tribes (Pashtun, Tajik, Turkmen, etc) who aren't the best of friends. Prior to Taliban rule, Afghanistan was in the midst of a power grab between these ethnic tribes. That these tribes would simply kidnap and turn in their enemies in order to gain US bounties is clearly not far fetched. Another reason it is fair to say some (perhaps many) Gitmo prisoners are innocent is because they have been able to tell their stories of innocence, with collaboration (thanks to legal counsel, something the Bush Admin wants to restrict). Take for instance the story of Adel Hamad. Project Hamad, the deeply informative website dedicated to Hamad's release, details how weak the case against Hamad is. Hamad was a teacher and hospital worker who was arrested in the middle of night by the ISI (Pakistan's Intelligence Agency). For those not familiar with the ISI, it is a suspicious, notorious agency which knowingly supported the Taliban in the past (and still has some ties). The ISI really needs its own post, but the point I want to make is the ISI is hardly a trustworthy agency. Anyway, take a good look through Project Hamad. It is a great resource, like this page full of US government quotes acknowledging that many Gitmo prisoners are likely innocent.

And even the Bush Admin knows that Gitmo is holding many innocents. Therefore they have, quietly, released around 300 to 400 prisoners (I do not know the peak number of prisoners, but it might be around 700 to 800 according to wikipedia and/or Slate).

Unfortunately, even after release the hellish nightmare does not end for innocent Gitmo prisoners. Take for example the heartbreaking, kafkaesque story of Chinese Uighurs who were imprisoned in Gitmo. The Uighurs, who are muslim, are an ethnic minority in China who, not surprisingly, have had their fair share of oppression from China's Communist government. Before they found themselves in Gitmo, the Uighurs traveled to Afghanistan to find work and escape Chinese government harassment. When we (the US) bombed Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the Uighur village was simply collateral damage and the Uighurs fled to Pakistan. The Pakistani villagers initially fed and sheltered them, but then turned them over to US Military (in exchange for a bounty no doubt). After their ordeal in Gitmo, they were released to Albania. The Chinese government considers them terrorists due to a Uighur separatist movement, therefore sending them back to China would end very badly for the Uighurs. The crackerjack solution seems to be to hand them over to Albania, a staunch US ally. Unfortunately this is only the start of the Uighurs kafkaesque episode: they're unable to find work, or even leave their refugee center. Most of these men have families; families they are desperate to return to. It is truly a sad and grave episode that illustrates the tragic symbol Gitmo has become in the eyes of the international community.

PS - I'd just like to add that I have not mentioned anything about the alleged torture and humiliation many Gitmo prisoners endured. It is a post in its own right. For more information, wikipedia isn't a bad place to start here and here.

The NY Times article on the tragic plight of the Uighurs is a solid, sobering read. Please also swing by Project Hamad which is a deeply informative website. And check out this excellent Slate piece by the outstanding Dahlia Lithwick, a great article on Gitmo that I've linked to earlier in the post.

And, for those wondering what others have to say about Romney's quote, check out this the Onion "American Voices" piece.