The treatment of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba goes beyond inhumane. The 680 prisoners from 42 countries being held by the U.S. military live in conditions so desperate that suicide – specifically forbidden by the Koran – is increasingly common. They live in tiny cells unprotected from the scorching heat and are allowed to exercise only 30 minutes a week. Three of the prisoners are under the age of 16.
The prisoners, who are suspected of having ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban, have been held for a year and a half without being charged and without access to legal representation. They have no contact with the outside world.
An untold number of the detainees are guilty of nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The U.S. has released a mere 41 men – surely not all of the innocent – who are dumped back onto the dusty streets of their home countries frightened, depressed and telling tales of horror.
The Bush administration claims that the captives are not prisoners of war but rather “unlawful combatants”, and that because of this status America does not have to abide by the rules of the Geneva Convention to which it is a signatory. Last March the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the Guantanamo prisoners do not have rights under U.S. federal law and do not have access to American courts. In May, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.
If the captives have no rights under either American or international law, imagine the utter hell they have fallen into.
Bush’s actions in Cuba make a mockery of the goodness that he claims America stands for. A country that violates international law and treats prisoners who have not been tried or found guilty with such injustice is no better than the terrorists who violently take the lives of the innocent. This is not how a modern, democratic society is supposed to function. We are no longer victims, but perpetrators as well.
