Guantanamo suicides a 'PR move'

[chica]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5069230.stm


I'm still quite shocked, not only by the news itself, but by the reaction of the officials that followed. I wonder if they realize how utterly absurd and cynical it sounds to the rest of the world - since I suppose that the Americans themselves are scared to death and would accept pretty much everything their government says... Or am I wrong? Could anyone from the US please tell me what's the general opinion on Guantanamo there?

 

[Worm]

Actually, the views of the Americans people on Guantanamo are characterized by deep concern and compassion. We are all monitoring the news closely, as we always do, and we intend to hold our elected officials accountable for their crimes-- again, as we always do. We are a nation of moral seriousness and we value freedom and the right to pursue stuff. For this reason, we strongly believe that Private Santiago should have been given clearance to leave the base at Gitmo, and that the Code Red was completely unacceptable.

 

[Math Tinder]

I suppose that the Americans themselves are scared to death and would accept pretty much everything their government says... Or am I wrong? Could anyone from the US please tell me what's the general opinion on Guantanamo there?

Believe me, we do not 'accept pretty much everything' our government says. In fact, in my circle, we disbelieve just about all of it.

I think (?) most Americans just feel helpless about the entire situation. I know I do. Protests are rapidly broken up by police, and, even worse, they are almost never reported in the mainstream media. If you sign a petition against the Iraq war, or the telephone/internet monitoring, or anything of the sort, your name ends up on a government shit-list. There have even been reports of cataloging citizens who check out certain library books (!).

We've always been taught that voting and peaceful demonstrations are our recourse as citizens. To say the least, these practices have not done shit. We don't know what to do... or I don't, anyway. But I'd hate for the rest of the world to think we blindly accept the government party line. Most assuredly, we do NOT.

The Guantanamo news, and the spin on it, is, of course, sickening. We can't even write to Guantanamo prisoners to help them pass their days, try to keep their spirits up... they can't receive any mail.

Yeah, it's awful.


love to all
math+

 

[Seasick]

Quite honestly, I don't care what they do with those guys down there. Let's not forget, these people would like to see us dead, all of us. I can't hold too much compassion for people like that.

 

[Aly Panic]

Let's not forget, these people would like to see us dead, all of us.

How do you know, did they actually tell you that?

Or do you believe what the American Government tell you?

 

[Seasick]

Well, lets see, for the last 15 years or so, they have been trying to kill as many of us as they can. In fact, they did kill 3,000 of us on 9/11. Ever heard of Jihad? I choose not to live under a rock and I'm pretty sure the Holocaust did happen. Lets face it these guys didn't get there for speeding, they were captured during the war. That means they were trying to kill our guys in uniform.

 

[Nikita]

Well, lets see, for the last 15 years or so, they have been trying to kill as many of us as they can. In fact, they did kill 3,000 of us on 9/11. Ever heard of Jihad? I choose not to live under a rock and I'm pretty sure the Holocaust did happen. Lets face it these guys didn't get there for speeding, they were captured during the war. That means they were trying to kill our guys in uniform.

These guys are not there for being in the army, whose job is to fight when a foreign country army attacks your own, but for possible being terrorists and for some of them, it would be quiet laughable if the situation was not so awful

 

[handsome devil]

Quite honestly, I don't care what they do with those guys down there. Let's not forget, these people would like to see us dead, all of us. I can't hold too much compassion for people like that.

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but if you didn't already know, America also, as those poor countries, did a lot of damage world wide! It is a two way road you know...Why wouldn't you consider turning against your government politics instead against people who are responding to it on your damage?

 

[fang_file]

Ever heard of Jihad?

gawrsh, no! ever heard of due process?

 

[2-J]

Well, lets see, for the last 15 years or so, they have been trying to kill as many of us as they can. In fact, they did kill 3,000 of us on 9/11. Ever heard of Jihad? I choose not to live under a rock and I'm pretty sure the Holocaust did happen. Lets face it these guys didn't get there for speeding, they were captured during the war. That means they were trying to kill our guys in uniform.

How do you know that? Whatever happened to FAIR TRIAL and DUE PROCESS. A society without justice for ALL is not a society worth living in.

If these men have committed crimes, if they are a danger to the United States, let is be proved in an indepedent, fair, court of law. And then, if found guilty, lock them up and throw away the key, or execute them, whatever.

But just keeping them there, that is the biggest shame to the US on the world stage. And it undermines their claim to be a nation that loves justice and freedom.

 

[dazzak]

Seasick, in the wise words of Bill Hicks: You're a f***in' retard.

 

[Seasick]

Wow, I don't think I've been called a retard since the 8th grade. Well thought out. I'm impressed. Your insults display your lack of depth.

If we grant them Due Process, where do we put them on trial? A whole new can of worms.

They are members of Al Quaeda. They are terrorists. We didn't pick them up while they were out retrieving the morning paper. They were captured during battle. They are committed to killing Americans or anyone else they deem infidels. They are being detained as enemy combatants. Just like any other war, you detain the enemy, so they aren't able to wage war against us. We aren't rounding up innocent people and cutting their heads off and posting the gruesome video of it on the internet. That would be what they do to us.

If we let them go, it's likely they will continue to either get back in the fight with our troops (some have been let go and ended right back in there) or they will find their way into the U.S. where they can carry out another 9/11. I'm for whatever keeps the people of the U.S. safe. And right now that means holding onto them. And I do believe they ar being treated fairly.

I'm sorry, but that is my opinion. I love my country and just for your information I served my country in the United States Marine Corps and I support our troops that are putting lives on the line so we can continue to live in freedom.

 

[dazzak]

Wow, I don't think I've been called a retard since the 8th grade. Well thought out. I'm impressed. Your insults display your lack of depth.

If we grant them Due Process, where do we put them on trial? A whole new can of worms.

They are members of Al Quaeda. They are terrorists. We didn't pick them up while they were out retrieving the morning paper. They were captured during battle. They are committed to killing Americans or anyone else they deem infidels. They are being detained as enemy combatants. Just like any other war, you detain the enemy, so they aren't able to wage war against us. We aren't rounding up innocent people and cutting their heads off and posting the gruesome video of it on the internet. That would be what they do to us.

If we let them go, it's likely they will continue to either get back in the fight with our troops (some have been let go and ended right back in there) or they will find their way into the U.S. where they can carry out another 9/11. I'm for whatever keeps the people of the U.S. safe. And right now that means holding onto them. And I do believe they ar being treated fairly.

I'm sorry, but that is my opinion. I love my country and just for your information I served my country in the United States Marine Corps and I support our troops that are putting lives on the line so we can continue to live in freedom.

I'm sorry, but do you work at Guantanamo? You say that they are members of Al Quaeda intent on killing innocent Americans. How do you know this? Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul weren't terrorists. Or infidels. Or members of Al Quaeda. And they weren't captured in battle. However, they spent nearly three years in Guantanamo and whilst there were repeatedly punched, kicked, slapped, forcibly injected with drugs, deprived of sleep, hooded, photographed naked and subjected to body cavity searches and sexual and religious humiliation.

According to Donald Rumsfeld, Guantanamo Bay has the purpose of detaining the "worst of the worst". These men were alleged foot-soldiers of the Taliban (which cannot be proved as it's most likely untrue). Please tell me how these men can be conceived as the "worst of the worst"?

And I fully support any member of the armed forces. It takes a level of courage that I would never muster. But to say that the US army is putting their lives on the line "so we can continue to live in freedom" is propagandist bullshit. Your blind faith in your country stuns and appalls me.

 

[Pervomartovtsi]

Seasick,well I don't think you are a retard ,because your words and actions make sense in a old way of thinking,but that old way of thinking is mostly SHIT...it's called etnocentrism(sorry I'm not native english speaker), it's old fashioned, selfish, violent , I can't believe that people like you still live...but you have just prooved again that many people keep their beliefs as their fathers and grandfathers teached em

 

[Seasick]

You say they were "punched, kicked, slapped, forcibly injected with drugs, deprived of sleep, hooded, photographed naked and subjected to body cavity searches and sexual and religious humiliation."

How do you know?

Maybe I should be killed for having an old way of thinking. I'm trying to figure what the new way of thinking is?

Liberals love to espouse tolerance, but in reality, they only want you to tolerate them. If your opinions differs from theirs, then they lay on insults.

I'm done with this discussion. I see no reason to continue for two reasons, neither of us will change our minds. You can't stand it if anyone disagrees with you. Thank goodness we still have the ability to express our own opinions here in the U.S.

 

[Dave]

It's not right to hold people without trial for years and it seems strange and ironic that they are being held in Cuba by the US government. If they are known to be guilty of crimes and evidence exists then trials should be held. The problem of where to hold the trial should not be an excuse.

When someone can be labeled an enemy combatant and locked up for years without any contact with the outside world it places all of us in danger of losing our constitutional rights faster than we already are under this administration.

 

[fang_file]

Wow, I don't think I've been called a retard since the 8th grade.

is that when they put you in the "special" classes