Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 18:59:27 -0700 (MST)
From: snail 
Subject: [azpeace] commie cuban cameras photographing the al-Qaida prisoners for world to
To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com, Mr G., icca@law.com
Reply-To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com




when i first heard the prisoners would
be taken to cuba i thought it was to
keep u.s. citizens from seeing what was
going on. i was probably right.

normally when i send stuff out like this
i like to cite the source and date
but this is just from a letter from the
libertarian party in idaho. i think the
guy got it off a news group.

parts of it jive with stuff i read in
the arizona republic today and sent out
to this list server.

i sure wish the american newspapers and
tv stations would publish these fotos.

mike



From: Frank Reichert 
Newsgroups: used_kharma.politics
To: libnw@usa.net 
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 8:23 AM
Subject: [libnw] Fascist agenda right on track...


By FRANK M. REICHERT
Chair, Region I
Libertarian Party of Idaho

According to the latest BBC World News report, America's key
Administration officials remain intent to revoke most of the core
moral justification for launching the "War on Terror", by using many
of the same brutal tactics, and subsequent justification, in the
handling of al-Qaida operatives and Taliban soldiers captured in
Afghanistan.

It is no longer even remotely plausible for the US Secretary of
Defence, Commandant Donald Rumsfeld, to invoke the rouse that the
al-Qaida operatives under US control at the US Naval Station,
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are "unlawful combatants" and thereby are not
subject to detention requirements and standards as ratified in the
Geneva Conventions.

Tonight's revelations show that Commandant Rumsfeld is non-repentent,
even after British Foreign Minister Snow made harsh criticism of US
conduct with both of the handling, and treatment of these prisoners in
inhumane conditions. British Prime Minister Tony Blar has also called
for humane and internationally agreed upon treaties to govern the
scope of the treatment of the prisoners.  British front-page newspaper
headlines banner "barbarism", "atrocious" and other such adjectives to
describe these "fascist-oriented" US actions. 

According to Rumsfeld, (a paraphrase) "Hell, we're treating 'em better
than they treated others!"

World attention wouldn't be as heightened if the Bush administration
had its' way.  It was US intention to bring these prisoners to
Guantanamo Bay primarily because the world's media attention would be
extremely limited in coverage.  It hasn't worked out that way.  Cuban
cameras in observation towers across the fence are photographing the
prisoners and the conditions at Camp X-Ray.  These video clips are
being picked up on by BBC, and various other foreign media outlets and
exposing the horrific nature of the open-air "facilities".

To deflect from this, one very young (probably early 20s) US Marine
lady was on BBC news saying the prisoners were no worse off than she
was. They, after all had a place to shower, eat, take a leak, and
change clothes.  According to this Marine (apparently one of America's
finest), the only difference is that she could take her shower in the
base gym!  She said, all things considered these prisoners are being
treated no more lowly than her own conditions.

I wonder if her barracks consisted of an open air, wire cage replete
with handcuffs, kneeling in a crouched position on a concrete slab for
hours on end?

The videos reveal conditions that I doubt the US government wanted the
US media to present to the viewing public back home.  I have to wonder
if FOX, CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC really are showing some of the same
footage now being revealed by foreign news organizations?  Tonight's
BBC reporter admitted that undoubtedly the US had not wanted such
conditions to become public, but only due to Cuban video surveillance
it was possible to obtain actual footage of live conditions. Cuba's
observations are outside of US jurisdction.

Several news organizations today observed that the primary reason for
selecting this remote US facility on Cuba, was the fact that it is
extremely isolated and cut off from observation, due to the nature of
Cuban resistance to the existence of the US base on Cuban soil. 
Civilians visiting the facility do not have ready access to it without
first obtaining area Commander permission to even visit the base. 
Even US military personnel, assigned elsewhere, must request and
obtain prior permission to visit the base.

Let's go back a few mere months, even prior to September 11th. The
Taliban government in Afghanistan was seen as one of the most
repressive governments on earth in the eyes of the US and most
civilized nations.  The detention of foreign religious aid workers for
the detestable "crime" of teaching Christianity, and the possible
death sentence for Afghan Christian aid workers caught in the act of
teaching Christianity were seen as barbaric, inhumane, and without
question, a crime against humanity.

It was well noted that the Taliban were arresting and detaining in
secret and secure locations, individuals accused of various crimes
under the harsh and inhumane conditions.  The US government and the
rest of the world were outraged, not only over the charges, but also
over how the detentions were being carried out.  There was no
transparency, no accountability, and thereby questionable justice.

In the eyes of Commandant Rumsfeld, the US is therefore somehow
justified in treating al-Qaida and Taliban detainees in much the same
fashion. After all, he says, they did worse. The rest of the civilized
world isn't buying into any of that.  Should the US reduce itself to
the same immoral standards, and use such arguments to justify inhumane
detentions, secret military war tribunals, and gross violations of
civilization in the treatment of prisoners as ratified in the Geneva
Conventions?

Even the atrocities of September 11, 2001 do not justify the United
States of America reducing itself to the standards of barbarism. We
speak of justice, and yet we deny the same standards of justice that
we preach by the actions that we are now taking. This is not only
hypocritical, it is a giant reduction in terms of moral behaviour that
we have condemned during the entire scope of the last century!

As in the US war in Vietnam, over three decades ago, we are again
isolating ourselves in pure arrogance and stupidity.  The world is
watching, and the world disapproves not only of our arrogance and
hypocrisy, but our willingness to use the same premise that the end
justifies the means.  The end is continued US imperialism, and
interference in the affairs of sovereign and established governments. 
And it seems increasingly clear that morality has nothing to do with
it.  In maintaining that objective of US imperialism, superiority and
dominance, we will use the same barbaric and immoral tactics that we
originally used as an excuse for creating such hostilities in the
first place.

In this case at least, and thanks to the Cuban government, we can't
hide the atrocities taking place at Camp X-Ray at the Guantanamo Bay
naval facility on Cuba.  I'm wondering if the US news media is picking
up on some of the footage being shown to the rest of the world?

If this is NOT the case, then things must change, and they must change
now.  We simply cannot allow the atrocities of this adinistration to
continue without livid protest.

Hopefully, the ACLU and the Libertarian Party of the US will be out in
the forefront of condemning this ongoing scourge against basic human
rights and civil liberties.  We can't hide our heads in the sand and
ignore what is going on. This is the real thing, and it is also a
product of US policy to hide it as much as possible from public view. 
It needs to be exposed for the hypocritical sham for what it is.

It is my hope that as many of you as possible will pass this message
on to a much wider audience.

Thank you.

--
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; 
when the government fears the people, there is liberty "
                             Thomas Jefferson

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