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Guantanamo: An American Gulag

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 09:11:32 AM EST
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The Seattle Times blasts the newly reported plan to hold Guantanamo detainees indefinitely in secret locations, perhaps for life. It calls the plan "a horrifying development."

Torturing prisoners, denying them legal safeguards and essentially refuting their existence is what rogue regimes and lawless nations do. Reading about it in China's Xinhua News Agency is especially disconcerting. The Bush administration is not only doing all this now, but making systematic plans to create an American gulag of prisons and prisoners without names and cells without numbers. From the old Soviet Union to Communist China to the banana republics of Latin America and Castro's Cuba, that's what others do.

Update: Don't miss Harvey Silverglate's essay at Reason on civil liberties and enemy combatants. He explains why the Supreme Court’s rulings, although favorably touted in the media, are bad for America. [link via How Appealing.]

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    Guantanamo: An American Gulag | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#1)
    by soccerdad on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 09:22:49 AM EST
    From the old Soviet Union to Communist China to the banana republics of Latin America and Castro's Cuba, that's what others do. And this is the depth to which we have sunk. Add to this the blatent war crimes commited in Fallujah and you have the world view of this Admin. I don't see any reason to expect this admin to treat its "enemies" at home any different then they treat their "enemies" abroad. And that, to me, is the scariest point of all.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 09:38:05 AM EST
    Inconceivable.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 10:17:56 AM EST
    i just have to say that it is pretty rare for the seattle times to step so far outside the republican talking points. i commend them for publiching this article.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 12:35:41 PM EST
    I would rather lose my family in another "terror attack" than lose the bill of rights. Where has my county gone?

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#5)
    by jondee on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 04:01:50 PM EST
    The American right - the "values" people - has supported,advised,and applauded regimes,particularly in Latin America,that have been putting this kind of thing to practice for years. The only legitimate questions are how will this effect the market and whens Jesus gonna get here? Values.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#6)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 07:09:55 PM EST
    I predict that the Disney Corporation will be moving their factories out of Chinese prisons as soon as Halliburton finishes building the new prison/factories at Guantanamo Bay.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#7)
    by Richard Aubrey on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 07:04:33 AM EST
    Now you lefties complain about the Gulag. Took Gitmo to make it happen, but better late than never. You know, I hope, that this means you admit the Gulag was a Very Bad Thing, run by commies. Welcome to this little part of the real world, at least. Still, you managed to avoid the subject until it was ancient history.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#8)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 10:23:15 AM EST
    Still, you managed to avoid the subject until it was ancient history. So tell us how many decades will it be before you right wingnuts see the light about the Neocons?

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#9)
    by David on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 10:29:46 AM EST
    Let me add, according to our rule of law, that foreign terrorists are not entitled to the civil liberties enjoyed by American citizens, nor are they entitled to the Geneva Accords' (Article 4) guarantee to prisoners of war. The Red Cross' own standards for POW status concur. Nevertheless, the outcry over the deprivation of rights these animals do not even have continues to spew forth like so much venom. Which leads me to ask, what's more important -- preventing another attack that may dwarf the scale of 9/11, likely employing chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons against a U.S. urban center? Or avoiding being accused of acts "tantamount to torture" by the likes of the formerly reputable Red Cross?

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#10)
    by kdog on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 01:54:53 PM EST
    David, you assume torture is an effective interagation tool, I don't think it is. Regardless, to answer your question, I would rather our country perish than our rights be further eroded. I say "our rights" because how are we to know for certain that American citizens are not being detained and denied their rights at Guantanamo or anywhere else. The gov't won't tell us who's there. The pres. could wake up tomorrow and declare you or I an enemy combatant and jail us for life, no trial, no nuthin'. Scary stuff if you love freedom. If we have to shred the constitution and Bill of Rights to be safe, keep your safety, I'll take the risks of terrorism in stride and stay free, thanks anyway.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 05:56:52 PM EST
    "And this is the depth to which we have sunk." No, Soc, it isn't. You just don't know right from wrong. Stalin deliberately starved millions to death in his gulag. TL is baiting and you bit. There is no comparison between the greatness of America, the greatest organization in recorded history, which has freed millions of people around the world, and the Soviet Union, the most spectacular failure in recorded history, which murdered millions of innocent men, women, and children.

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#12)
    by soccerdad on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 06:11:29 PM EST
    Dr Ace You are pathetic. Now we left with saying we're better than Stalin. I thought we were a great country. great countries don't torture people and then reward those who helped it occur. With amoral idiots like you running around going "WE're better than Stalin" things will only get worse. How much lower can we lower the bar, next you'll be saying we're better than Pol Pot. Truly sad and pathetic

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 08, 2005 at 08:37:30 AM EST
    Totalitarian government at either end of the political spectrum functions the same. Both ends are oligarchies with different wall paper. You may be able to discern that you are moving into the totalitarian zone when your country starts "disappearing" folks. It's very sad to see this country lose its moorings in the civil liberties of the Bill of Rights and the due process developed over the past 200 years. But there it goes. Would it matter to you if you were disappeared under the auspices of Alberto Gonzales, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Pinochet, or Goering?

    Re: Guantanamo: An American Gulag (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 08, 2005 at 12:25:34 PM EST
    Soc, your response above is just plain stupid. You prove my point. You are so absorbed in shucking and jiving to your dogma, you don't even hear the debate. You don't know right from wrong (or worse, you refuse to acknowledge it). [Dr. Ace, you're over limit for today. Feel free to come back tomorrow.]

    Guantanamo: An American Gulag | 14 comments (14 topical)