06/06/05

No person of conscience, whatever his or her views on the war in Iraq, the war on terror, and US foreign policy in general, should remain untroubled by reports of prisoner abuse by American forces. These reports, including one from the FBI, indicate a systemic problem. It is appalling that in a war conducted in our name, detainees have been beaten, left naked and chained in cold cells, and in some cases killed. It is disturbing that suspects are held without legal recourse. It is sad, to say the least, that some war supporters have shrugged off these abuses. Unfortunately, a recent Amnesty International broadside against US detention of terror suspects goes so far in the other direction that it can only harm the effort to end prisoner abuse and hold the culprits accountable. Notoriously, the organization's annual report described the Guantanamo Bay detention center as 'the gulag of our times...

http://tinyurl.com/7njmh

from Boston Globe, by Cathy Young


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp