ACLU Calls For Investigation of Gitmo Suicides

Posted on June 12, 2006

Cross posted from Gribbit’s Word

Today the ACLU has posted on their website a press release calling for an “Immediate Independent Investigation into “Reported Suicides at Guantánamo Detention Facility” insinuating that our troops either neglected the detainees who died or actively participated in their deaths. Anything to make the United States look bad huh?

The American Civil Liberties Union today called for an immediate and independent investigation into the deaths of two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen in the U.S.-controlled detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. According to the ACLU, the government has regularly down played the severity of suicide attempts, calling them “incidents of self harm” or “hanging gestures.”

In what appears to be a related development, the military commissions that were to have resumed today have been indefinitely suspended. No reason for the suspension was given. The ACLU said it is greatly concerned with the deepening secrecy surrounding Guantánamo Bay.

I resent the fact that no matter what our country does, the ACLU has to find fault with it. I am reminded of all the lawsuits filed against the Clinton Administration, no where near the number filed against the Bush Administration but non-the-less substantial in number. And it is abundantly obvious that no matter who is controlling our government, the ACLU will never see this nation as being sufficiently liberal enough for their tastes. Because if they got everything on their wish list today, they’d have to find a whole new set of crap to complain about tomorrow. Because if they didn’t, they would no longer be relevant.

Here’s what Anthony Romero had to say:

“The U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantánamo Bay has undercut America’s moral authority. Reports of three detainee suicides further weaken our standing at home and abroad. We must undertake an immediate and independent investigation into the circumstances of the deaths of those in custody.

“The shroud of secrecy surrounding Guantánamo Bay must be lifted, with independent access to and monitoring of the facilities on an ongoing basis. This monitoring should include the medical treatment of detainees, especially those who have chosen to engage in hunger striking as a way to draw attention to their conditions of confinement.

“The military commissions set up by President Bush have been a sham from their inception. They are not legal, not fair and not representative of the American system of justice. All detainees charged with crimes deserve an open and fair hearing, and those not charged should be immediately released.

“The core underlying injustices of the Guantánamo Bay facility need to be remedied before other lives are lost. The conditions are the antithesis of the America we hold in our hearts and our minds.” SOURCE

Bill O’Reilly was at Guantanamo Bay a few hours before the suicide and was granted unprecedented access to the detention areas of the facility. He told Julie Banderas via telephone on Saturday evening that he had asked why the windows to the detention cells were blacked out. He was told by the commander of the detention facility that it was requested by the International Red Cross so that the detainees would have more privacy.

I am expecting that he will have a more in depth explanation on The O’Reilly Factor this evening at 8:00 pm Eastern (5 pm Pacific) on Fox News Channel.

UPDATE:

Bill restated the reasons for the covering of the windows in his “Talking Points Memo” and in the body of the report. And during his interview with the Commanding officer of the detention center, it was stated by the Admiral that the suicides are being investigated by the Navy’s version of CID. But the investigation isn’t centered around a criminal event rather because of the deaths themselves.

Bill sat down with two actual interrogators at the facility who discussed the process of interrogation with him. The first interrogator stated when asked by Bill if he ever yelled at the detainees, “If I raise my voice, I’ve lost.” The process of extracting information involves in tripping up the lies in the stories told by the detainees. Then exploiting the situation when they catch them in in 1 lie by unraveling the rest of their story.

Detainees have told interrogators and guards that when they get out they are going to kill them. But yet human rights attorneys like his first guest continue to insist that there is mistreatment at the facility without proof of accuracy. Bill stated that the International Red Cross has a small building on the Naval Base and he had called them asking if they have any complaints of mistreatment filed by detainees. He said that they told them none.

There is no abuse on the base. As a matter of fact the average detainee has gained 18 pounds since being sent to Gitmo. Have you ever seen returning POWs held by Japan during WWII or the North Vietnamese during Vietnam? Those guys were severely malnourished. That’s torture.

Bill asked one of the interrogators if he ever uses bribery as an incentive. Like if the detainee cooperated, he would get them moved to a better bed or “things like that”. The interrogator said the only bribery that he has used in offering an ice cream in exchange for cooperation. And seeings how they are in Cuba, ice cream would be a treat in that heat.

The report from Gitmo stated that most of the cells are air conditioned. They showed the outside of a door to a cell in which a detainee was yelling in Arabic. The window of that door was covered with paper. This is what Bill referred to as “blacked out.”

All during this discussion of inferred neglect by the guards, I’ve remembered an incident from a few weeks ago when a detainee was faking a suicide attempt to lure guards into a dorm style area where they were attacked by detainees using fan blades and broken class. During that altercation, 8 detainees were injured while being subdued. They have all been returned to the maximum security area.

The New York Times have criticized the Guantanamo guards by saying that they should permit the hunger striking detainees to go on with their hunger strikes, but yet criticized the guards for not catching these guys hanging themselves with their sheets.

Speaking of hunger strikes, the guards at Gitmo told Bill O’Reilly that they do that when their lawyers are there. And as soon as the lawyers leave, they start eating again. A few however have carried out real hunger strikes and have had to be force fed.

So the bottom line is that Gitmo is full of people who have a real desire to kill Americans and non-Muslims. American guards are not mistreating the detainees. The United States spends more money on feeding the detainees than we do feeding our own troops. The interrogators don’t even shout at the detainees much less cause physical harm. So where is the torture? It doesn’t exist.

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Jay’s note: While I don’t agree with my good friend Rick Moran on this one, the ACLU should be careful what they ask for. In all likelihood, these suicides were made possible by some of the insistent “comforts” that international human rights groups, and the ACLU insisted these prisoners have access to. Obviously they were afforded entirely too much privacy for their own good.

Also see Michelle Malkin discuss this on O’Reilly and her vent.
Expose The Left has a video of O’Reilly’s interview with Gitmo Commander.

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One Response to “ACLU Calls For Investigation of Gitmo Suicides”

kerwin_brown on June 12th, 2006 5:31 pm

Why? We have more suicides in the jails in the U.S. and I don’t see the ACLU investigating them. I wonder if that is because non Muslim whites are a multiple of times more likely to commit suicide.