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Three Suicides At Guantanamo

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 12:58:18 PM EST
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If Bush and Rumsfeld were hoping for a bump from al-Zarqawi's assassination, I hope this gives people a reality check. Three detainees at Guantanamo have committed suicide.

Two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found "unresponsive and not breathing in their cells" early Saturday, according to a statement from the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive the prisoners, but failed.

There will be a Pentagon briefing later this afternoon. The Navy confirms the death were suicides but says an investigation has been launched.

< AP Reports: Witness Saw Soldiers Beat Zarqawi | Military Revises Zarqawi Death Details....Again >

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    • Three Suicides At Guantanamo | 44 comments (44 topical)
    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#1)
    by scribe on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 01:36:18 PM EST
    I'm waiting to hear The Unit tell us about "justice" in this case. This is what happens when you run a concentration camp.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 01:49:09 PM EST
    b/c the men were being detained in violation of international law, the responsibility for their deaths rests on the Bush Administration's Secretary of Defense-->Donald Rumsfeld. These "suicides" are additional proof that the Secretary and his program(s) need to be retired.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#3)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 01:53:37 PM EST
    Fragged.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 01:56:38 PM EST
    Fragged.
    theres a high probability that there is a large grain of truth to that.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 02:07:10 PM EST
    suicides from people who are willing to run suicide missions. Wow, what a shocker. Up next on TL: reports on the shocking following of daylight by darkness.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#6)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 02:25:58 PM EST
    James - You're trolling and talking out your a*s again. Whats your inside info that confirms they "ran suicide missions"? Im guessing its the same source that o.k's blowing their whole family to bits because those kids'll just grow up to run suicide missions someday.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:00:06 PM EST
    What my info that "they ran suicide missions"??? Do you pay any attention to what goes on in the middle east? The deaders at Gitmo were the same kind of Islamists who preach death. Good riddance, I say.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#8)
    by desertswine on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:12:32 PM EST
    The deaders at Gitmo were the same kind of Islamists who preach death.
    In fact, we don't know who these people were. They might have only been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#9)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:13:02 PM EST
    In other words they're all the same. Even the ones that have been released. Thats called mental short-hand James. Another thing you have in common with the "God is great" crowd. Kill 'em all and let God sort em out. No time for subtle distinctions when there's a good old fashioned war on.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#10)
    by Scrutinizer on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:18:46 PM EST
    "The deaders at gitmo?" "The same kind of Islamists that preach death?" That's the level of discourse I expect from you, James, and you never, ever disappoint. It's sad to think that after over 200 years of progressive enlightenment and pursuit of freedom, we don't need to fear the terrrorists taking it away from us. We have people like you to do it for them.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#11)
    by scribe on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:19:40 PM EST
    Later reports on CNN are to the effect that the military and WH are calling the suicides "acts of war". Highly ironic, that in death they're willing to give these guys, whomever they were, the dignity of calling them soldiers, while they denied them the protections and rights under the Geneva Conventions (or civilian courts) during life. Also, the reports are saying they made nooses from sheets and clothes and managed to kill themselves under their guards' noses. You'd think that, when (1) there are readily available paper clothes and sheets designed for prison and mental institutional use, i.e. to tear when wound to be used as rope or nooses, and (2) a history of suicide attempts, and (3) every county jail does (or should) have these for issue to suicide-risk (i.e., solitary or crazy) prisoners, and (4) every county jail has an SOP for suicidal inmates, and (5) these particular prisoners were, like all the GITMO prisoners, closely watched by guards, there would be no way one would kill himself (let alone three, at the same time). Frankly, it's not credible that the vaunted military is so inept.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#12)
    by Sailor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:24:11 PM EST
    suicides from people who are willing to run suicide missions
    Since only 10 of them have ever been charged that seems a pretty dumb thing to write. You know for a fact that all the prisoners were 'suiciders?'
    The deaders at Gitmo were the same kind of Islamists who preach death. Good riddance, I say.
    Well, jr interviewed them all and has pronounced judgement ... tell me again how extremists like jr are different from other extremists!? They all delight in death, the want to see folks die for religious reasons, they all support killing innocent civilians if it's at least an attempt on an 'enemy's' life, they're all willing to kill to achieve political ends ... so how does jr differ from any other extremist?

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#13)
    by Scrutinizer on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:30:31 PM EST
    Jondee--- And you know where the "Kill 'em all thing" came from? Simon de Montfort, good Christian knight, during the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars. When asked at the seige of Beziers how the Crusaders were to distinguish Christians from Muslims and heretics, he replied, "Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." (Kill them all, and the Lord shall know his own.") By most accounts there may have been 500 Cathars in the town, but anywhere from 10000 to 20000 people were slaughtered. Sounds like the same kind of calculus our current administration uses: "As long as we get one terrorist, everything else is acceptable losses."

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#14)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:30:33 PM EST
    The boys got theyselves a decider-er to do all their thankin for 'em. All they gotta do is keep 'sportin the troops.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:37:48 PM EST
    Dick Cheney and Karl Rove were seen running from the cellblock just minutes before the bodies were found.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#16)
    by Scrutinizer on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 03:38:51 PM EST
    Scribe- "Acts of war?" You gotta be sh*ttin' me. I just can't imagine the kind of twisted logic that could come up with that kind of interpretation. "You committed suicide, so you must have been guilty?" Or, "Don't you dare hang yourself! You must hate our freedom!" Well, on reflection, if I was locked in Gitmo for four years in the same condition these guys are in, I might hate everything about my captor, including the dirt under their fingernails. One thing the government is absolutely right about---releasing these guys would be a danger to US interests. Hell, if I was one of the guys, if I hadn't thought about violence against the US before I went in, I'd sure be thinking about what I'd do when I got out. Gitmo---just another terrorist manufacturing facility, courtesy of Haliburton and BushCo.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#17)
    by Sailor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 04:13:34 PM EST
    Later reports on CNN are to the effect that the military and WH are calling the suicides "acts of war".
    If only everyone would practice war by killing themselves.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#18)
    by Scrutinizer on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 04:19:38 PM EST
    From the CNN report on the suicides at Gitmo:
    Camp 1 prisoners have generally been deemed cooperative and are allowed certain amenities not available to some prisoners, such as prayer rugs, canvas sneakers, toiletries, flip-flops, cotton underwear, shorts, trousers and a shirt, the military says.
    Grok that? According to our own military, at Gitmo underwear, trousers, and a shirt are considered "amenities" not available to some prisoners. I was going to make a snarky comment, but I just can't. People who knowingly support that kind of treatment for human beings--no matter what they did or didn't do---are dead, soulless things.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#19)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 04:46:55 PM EST
    Cruelty and barbarousness are patriotic. The best way to prove how much you love your country is by showing how much you hate someone else. Kinda a wholesome old fashioned values meets a pack-of-wild-dogs sorta thing.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 05:24:50 PM EST
    An act of war? I'm hoping the DEA will adopt this strategy in the Drug War.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#21)
    by Patriot Daily on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 05:35:54 PM EST
    New poll indicates no Zarqawi bounce for Bush.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#22)
    by desertswine on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:04:55 PM EST
    One other question-as they probably didn't meet the requirements for martyrdom, does this mean they'll wind up with the Duke "rape victim" rather than 72 virgins?
    I fail to see how this even makes any sense. Take a vacation.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#23)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:15:05 PM EST
    In the great bye-and-bye they'll all meet together for a celestial revel with Dubya, his faithful side-kick "Fister" Gannon, Terri, and Dan Coulter.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#24)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:19:28 PM EST
    TL, Have you been advertising in the Racist Gazette? You have a serious troll infestation here lately. Lots of new commenters that are spoiling for some abuse. Now, will the left be upset that they committed suicide, or that they weren't able to take any marines with them? That's not an invitation to debate. It's a taunt. So if you want to let them in, I'll happily oblige the policy. Blind racists like oldpuppymax love the war on terror. They could not care any less about the troops, and they show this by sending them to a never ending meatgrinder to die to protect Oldpuppymax and his retirement account. We are a precision-guided bad ass country, so how can we possibly kill anyone other than the guilty? People like Oldpuppymax are incredibly lousy judges of character, as shown by their ability to (proudly) elect a pathological lying murderer to the most powerful position on the planet. Hold you head up dude, so they can get a clear shot! We're all just collateral damage anyway. You won't be missed!

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:22:56 PM EST
    Che, lgf and protein wisdom linked to my Zarqawi posts (in polite disagreement) but their commenters are now invading and attacking. I agree, they are ruining the discussion. I'm cleaning up comments now and those that violate the comment rules will be deleted and those posters will be banned. They'll go home soon, in the meantime, hang in there. If they overtake the threads, I'll close comments.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#26)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:34:40 PM EST
    Roger that. I wish we were both in Vegas.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#27)
    by John Mann on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:41:35 PM EST
    New poll indicates no Zarqawi bounce for Bush.
    Which goes to show what happens when Bush gets out of character and tries to sound "statesmanlike" rather than gloating like a drunken cowpoke over "Big Al's" demise.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#28)
    by weezie on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:49:21 PM EST
    Does anyone think they may have made a pact to kill themselves after hearing of Zarqawi's death?

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#29)
    by squeaky on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 06:57:12 PM EST
    Does anyone think they may have made a pact to kill themselves after hearing of Zarqawi's death?
    Hard to imagine that any one there has a NYT subscription. According to the reports on the conditions at gitmo there is not much to live for. A purgatory or living hell. Even those on a hunger strike are tied up and force fed like geese being farmed for their hepatic livers.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 08:36:39 PM EST
    See my new post with an e-mail I just got from a law professor who just returned from visiting a hunger-striking detainee at Guantanamo.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jun 10, 2006 at 11:53:31 PM EST
    From personal experience, I know that one has to be a very dark and aggonizingly painful place mentally to even seriously consider suicide. Unless you've been severely depressed, you can't possibly understand. Whoever these men were, I shudder thinking about what their last moments must have been like.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#32)
    by Edger on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 01:29:07 AM EST
    Unless you've been severely depressed, you can't possibly understand. Here is a .pdf of the suicide note written by Jumah Abdel Latif Al Dossari in Gitmo last October 14, 2005. Whoever these men were, I shudder thinking about what their last moments must have been like. Here are some images (photographs, cell layouts, allowed prisoner possessions,etc.) of Gitmo... Link1 Link2

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#33)
    by roger on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 04:49:16 AM EST
    Poppy, So, how were your good friends treated? Why weren't you with them?

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#34)
    by weezie on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 06:59:36 AM EST
    Squeakster, is it too far fetched to imagine a guard needling an inmate with,"Hey, your boy Zarqawi is dead" and the word spreading around the camp?

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#35)
    by Che's Lounge on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 08:53:36 AM EST
    So are Nazi comparisons kosher again? If so I have a few comparisons to make also, dear Poppy. "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." From a transgender right wing she pundit Is this your position also Poppy?

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 12:50:55 PM EST
    I think it's worth restating this: WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THESE MEN WERE. In a democratic state with the rule of law, you're supposed to get a trial, and you're supposed to be presumed innocent until it's proven that you are guilty. If we don't extend these principles to the detainees in Guantanamo, we don't actually believe in them, they're just temporary formalities in our own country.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#37)
    by squeaky on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 01:03:27 PM EST
    weezie-
    Squeakster, is it too far fetched to imagine a guard needling an inmate with,"Hey, your boy Zarqawi is dead" and the word spreading around the camp?
    Yes it is implausible. The gitmo prisoners have not ever heard of Zarqawi. He was made for a US TV audience, aka domestic psy/ops. Obviously the propaganda has worked quite well given your comment.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 01:53:54 PM EST
    i agree james these people are weird these are people who bomb innocent women and children and we are supposed to be sad that they hung themselv es

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#39)
    by soccerdad on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 02:05:01 PM EST
    these are people who bomb innocent women and children and we are supposed to be sad that they hung themselv es
    more racism from the right. All Muslims are bad, all muslims are bombers and baby killers racist scum

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#40)
    by weezie on Sun Jun 11, 2006 at 03:50:46 PM EST
    OK, Squeaker, if you say so. But I think the families of the soldiers that were killed on Zarqawi's orders might disagree that he was a product of domestic psy-ops. Maybe a few thousand innocent Iraqi bystanders, too.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#41)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 04:05:45 PM EST
    The terrorists being held at Gitmo are the worst of the worst. They are in custody to protect the citizens of this country, whether at home or on the battlefield. And they are no more entitled to a "day in court" than were prisoners captured during WWII. It's sad that people who represent themselves as Americans should support our enemies in war. I'm ashamed of them and for them. And when they are among our elected representatives in Washington, traitors like Jack Murtha have to answer to the people who put them in office. Although it is tough to watch treason on display, at least it makes clear the reason Democrats can not be permitted power over the nations security and well-being.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#42)
    by squeaky on Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 04:43:33 PM EST
    weezie-yes and millions of children are thankful when the tooth fairy puts money under their pillow in exchange for their baby tooth. Does that prove that the tooth fairy exists?

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#43)
    by kdog on Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 05:21:51 PM EST
    The faith some people put in people boggles the mind. No government can be given carte blanche over the fate of human beings. The concept and practice of a Guantanamo is evil...any way you slice it. Always has been, always will be. There is no justification. I'm amazed they lasted as long as they did. Put me in a zero-hope situation of torturous confinement and I would have found a way to off myself long ago.

    Re: Three Suicides At Guantanamo (none / 0) (#44)
    by jondee on Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 06:36:36 PM EST
    OLDPUPPY - You get around to googling crusaders + pogroms yet?

    Three Suicides At Guantanamo | 44 comments (44 topical)