Released by the ACLU? The same ACLU that attempted to make part of the pledge unconstitutional, for whatever reason?
Yep. That ACLU. The same ACLU, BTW, that defended the bastard Falwell... And the same ACLU that has repeatedly defended the rights of students to pray in extracurricular settings...
I am amused, but I somehow doubt that the ACLU is above falsifying a document or twisting its meaning.
Quite a claim. Perchance you could procure some - you know - evidence that the ACLU has done so in the past? Or are you just pissed with them because they wiped their ass with Behe in Dover?
Your article uses the ACLU as a source, and the ACLU is quite biased.
Biased. You use that word quite a lot. Please, do tell, in which way is the ACLU biased? And - perhaps more importantly - in which way does that affect the validity of their case?
If you don't like the messenger, go to the primary source.
(BTW, Why the hell does the ACLU need so many damn websites? I find it funny that republicans need only one,
Uh-huh (
http://redstaterabble.blogspot.com/2006/02/just-released-campaign-finance-reports.html)
Only one website indeed...
Regardless of whether [the Guantanamo Bay Prison Camp is] right or wrong, I think Amnesty Intl. and the rest are wasting their time on 300 [prisoners of war] when they could be leveling criticism on China for jailing innocent bloggers.
I quote the Amnesty International 2006 Yearly Report (
http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/chn-summary-eng) [emphasis mine]:
The authorities became increasingly intolerant of reporting which covered sensitive issues or questioned government policies. There was a renewed crackdown on journalists and the media. Those reporting on sensitive issues or who challenged the status quo were at risk of dismissal, arbitrary detention or imprisonment. Broadly defined “state secrets” offences continued to be used to prosecute journalists and reporters. Restrictions on Internet use were tightened and dozens of people remained behind bars for accessing or circulating politically sensitive information on-line.
* Journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April for leaking “state secrets”. He had posted to an overseas website Communist Party instructions on how journalists should handle the 15th anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement.
Hardly a positive review. But perhaps you'll claim that the Amnesty is responsible for the relative paucity of media coverage of their own reports?
Or how about North Korea's real gulags?
Same report (
http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/prk-summary-eng) :
Hundreds of North Koreans forcibly returned from China faced detention, torture or ill-treatment, and up to three years’ imprisonment in appalling conditions.
Prisoners reportedly died from malnutrition in labour camps for political prisoners and in detention centres, which were severely overcrowded. Prisoners charged with breaking prison rules had their food cut even further.
Nope, no criticism of the PRK at all. No, sir.
How about Belarus?
Still the same report (
http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/blr-summary-eng) [and still my emphasis]:
Opposition groups were harassed and threatened. Protests at the failure of investigations into the “disappearances” of four people, widely believed to have been killed by state agents, were among those that law enforcement officers suppressed with excessive force.
* The youth opposition movement Zubr recorded 417 incidents of harassment, including detention, of their members by the authorities between January and December. Three members were expelled from educational establishments for their political activities.
* In April police Special Forces (OMON) beat and detained peaceful demonstrators who had gathered on the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. A 14-year-old boy was allegedly pulled into a police van, so forcefully that ligaments in his hand were torn, and threatened for wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Free Marinich”.
* On 7 July police dispersed a demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of the “disappearance” of television camera operator Dmitry Zavadsky in 2000. His wife, Svetlana Zavadskaya, was reportedly punched in the face by riot police officers.
* On 16 September police attempted to disrupt a demonstration to observe the anniversary of the “disappearance” of opposition leaders Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky in 1999, and reportedly beat five Zubr protesters. One of them, Mikita Sasim, was treated in hospital for head injuries.
But no, sirree, the Amnesty only criticises peaceloving democratic countries.
You want to hear something funny? These reports were only a single Google search away. Wanna make a pool on how long it took to find them?
Furthermore, people in Gitmo were captured on a battlefield known as Afganistan. When someone is taken into custody during a war by a Geneva Convention signatory they are awarded rights only if:
1. They have papers proving that they are a soldier with a Geneva signatory.
2. They are wearing a uniform.
Funny that... Which Geneva Convention do you refer to? I happen to have found the text of the Geneva Convention (
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm) that the rest of us refer to... (and that wasn't too hard either). I quote:
A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
[...]
6. Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.
And:
Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy, belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4, such persons shall enjoy the protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal.
Please, do comment on this turn of the evidence. I would really like to see you [s]try to weasel your way out of ignore outright appropriately consider this very much unbiased and primary evidence.
And yes, for the record, I will hold you to this. In every single friggin' thread, and every single friggin' response I make to one of your posts, until you have satisfied either my request that you comment on what's actually written in the Geneva Convention and its consequence for the legality of the Guantanamo Bay Holding Facility (and the similiar internment camps around the world). Or until Hell freezes over. Or until I become convinced that you're just another troll like rccar. Whichever comes first.
I'm tired of seing dishonest reich-wing shills dodge and weave and obfusticate whenever somebody pins them to the wall with solid evidence.
Combatants on the battlefield that are caught without their papers or uniform are considered spies at best.
This means that they can be lined up and shot immediately after there capture. This also means that the victor can torcher, degrade and basically do what ever they wish with the captured soldier.
Even if your classification were correct, which it manifestly is not, torture and degrading treatment of human being is still illegal (
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_cat39.htm). (Link courtesy of the Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (
http://www.rct.dk/?sc_lang=en).)
Instead, we put them up in Gitmo. They live in conditions that would be heaven compared to how the homeless in this country live
Which is either patently false or telling as to the nature of American society. Considering that much of America is really a developing country, I'm inclined towards the latter interpretation...
Detainees in Gitmo are LUCKY to be there. They are LUCKY that they are torchered with sound, sleep deprivation..etc instead of electrodes on their crotch.
Oh, quite... They're lucky they're not in Abu Ghraib... Because there people are being tortured with electrodes on their privates.
Furthermore many detainees at Gitmo have vowed to continue their Jihad.
Hard numbers, bitte. And credible sources.
I know that I'm going to get a wave of criticism for this piece, feel free too... I'll be happy to respond.
I certainly do hope that you will... In particular the part about the real Geneva Conventions - as opposed to the FuxNewts-inspired faux ones you cited...
But I would prefer if you'd ditch the attempt to invoke the feeling that you're part of some unfairly-persecuted-and-besieged-minority. I've had enough of that kind of crap from people like you over the years, and I'm quite fed up with it, thank you very much.
The issue isn't keeping them in prison, it's treating them humanely in prison. And I'm all for that.
Excuse me? The issue is very much that they are being kept in prison without a friggin' trial. That's against the Geneva Convention, it's against the International Charter of Human rights, it flies in the face of your own friggin' Declaration of Independence (which, I know, is not a legal document - then again, considering the breathtaking arrogance displayed by certain players on the international stage, I sometimes wonder if the UN Charter is a legal document, or just something Bush and Blair (and Fogh) wipe their asses with...).