Inmates Attack guards (by BigBadJohnny)

Following my remarks, find a capsulized report on the Guantanamo Detention Center incident.

I just wonder how America the Beautiful, which believes that "All men are created equal" and "They are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights" can maintain a prison for untried persons, picked up in raids, accused of terrorism, and run this prison (secret) with torture, and degradation, to the extent that, although news reports indicate that the stink should soon be ending, inmates are attempting suicide at an unprecedented rate.
I repeat. If we feel that all humans have certain rights, and we are willing to die for that belief, and we feel so strongly about that belief, that we fight to impose it on others, then how can we condone vile detention centers?

inmates 'attack guards'

Thursday's incident coincides with a UN call on the US to close down the camp.

The UN Committee against Torture said the US should release detainees or give them access to a judicial process.

Paul Reynolds, BBC News website

US 'must close secret jails'
The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says this is the first time that details have emerged of such an incident involving more than one inmate, although individuals regularly resist guards.

The US military said guards responded to an apparent attempt at suicide in Camp 4, a less restrictive part of the facility where detainees are allowed move more freely as a reward.
He said 10 detainees then attacked the guards as they entered the area, whose floor had been "slickened" with excrement, urine and soap.
The facility's commanding officer, Rear Adm Harry Harris said the attempt was "a ruse to get the guards to enter the compound".

Weapons such as broken light fittings and fan blades were used and at one point, another military spokesman said, the guards "were losing the fight".

The military said it took a team of 23 guards an hour to quell the unrest, using pepper spray and non-lethal shotgun rounds. A spokesman said six detainees were treated for minor injuries and no soldiers were hurt.

Earlier, two detainees are said to have attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on prescription drugs they had been hoarding. Both were reportedly unconscious but in a stable condition.

The military says there have been 39 suicide attempts in the camp since 2002, and hunger strikes have been common as detainees protest against their continued detention without trial.

About 460 detainees are held at Guantanamo, which opened after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Most detainees are being held without charge or trial, and lawyers who have visited the facility say many of them suffer from depression.

The call by the UN torture committee to close Guantanamo was accompanied by recommendations that secret US detention facilities abroad should be closed.

It called for "immediate measures" to eradicate torture and ill-treatment of detainees by US military personnel "in any territory under its jurisdiction".

As usual, i welcome your comments. BBJ

Posted in Guantanamo BigBadJohnny | | | | 275 reads