EDITORIAL

June 25, 2005
Oman - Times of Oman - Original Article (English)    

George W. Bush in Vienna last week, reacts to a question from a
German reporter about the unpopulatrity of Bush's administration,
at the Hofburg Palace on June 21. (above)


C-SPAN VIDEO: President Bush at U.S.-E.U. Summit in Vienna,
defends himself and U.S. against critics, June 21, 00:37:44

BBC NEWS VIDEO: U.S. military lawyer says Guantanamo
military tribunals 'illigitimate,' June 13, 00:02:41
[SLIDE SHOW: Guantanamo].

Military Police Escort Detainee at Camp X-Ray. (below)






With the U.S Embassy in London behind them, protesters dressed
as a 'CIA Airline pilot and air hostesses,' enact a play called
'Closing Down Torture Airlines,' June 25. (above).


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IN a recent appearance on German TV, U.S. President George Bush expressed a desire to close down the accursed Guantanamo prison. This is no surprise, considering the spate of daily criticism coming from human rights organizations and peace activists around the world.

They have called for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, opened by the U.S. administration in 2002 to house a number of suspects in absolute isolation from the outside world. The inmates are put under unimaginably harsh conditions and under strict round-the-clock guard, and hence cannot even dream of escaping.

While calling for the accursed prison to be closed down, human rights organizations point to the clear breach of international conventions, laws, regulations and most importantly, the rights of the individual. Most of the Guantanamo inmates have never been brought before a court, having spent years without being aware of the charges against them. Even as their interrogators pressure them to admit to grave crimes, they protest their innocence.

What seems intriguing is the American administration's keenness to keep the affairs of the jail under wraps. The inmates have no contact with their relatives except through the occasional letter which, in any case, takes a long time to reach them.

Human rights organizations are banned from visiting the jail. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights requested a visit to the prison and after four years of waiting, received a response: Only three of its members would be permitted inside for a single day to meet administrators, commissioners and guards, but not prisoners.

This strict ban on human rights bodies and others reflects the attempt on the part of the American administration to hide the acute hardships suffered by the inmates. If good conditions prevailed in the jail, the U.S. administration would surely open the doors for visitors whenever it was required.

There's no smoke without fire. The widespread talk about the Guantanamo prison, the contents of the letters of detainees to their relatives and the statements of released prisoners all point to torture and other human rights abuses. This is a clear breach of human rights conventions.

The United States has always portrayed itself as a global champion of human rights, and at every opportunity calls for justice, freedom and human rights. But what is occurring at Guantanamo contravenes every international law, human rights convention, and even the U.S. administration's own claims. The American government ignores calls from abroad and even domestic calls for the closing down the prison.

With all of its inhuman conditions, the existence of such a prison is certainly a disgrace to humanity. It is absolutely wrong to keep suspects imprisoned for years on end, without bringing them to trial. None of the inmates knows for sure when he will be released or on what charges he is being imprisoned.

Human rights protester demonstrates
against Bush visit to Hungary, June 22.

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No doubt, the world community agrees on the principle that wrongdoers should receive fair and punishment. But for this, the United States must bring detainees to trial. In addition, it needs to open the jail doors to human rights groups, so that they can monitor conditions. Human rights and justice should not be mere slogans; what's important is to put these principles into practice.

Conditions at Guantanamo represent an obvious return to the age of slavery and are a disgrace to humankind. What if American citizens were shut up in a Guantanamo-like jail without trial for years? What would then be the stance of the U.S. administration?

VIDEO FROM CAIRO: MOCK TRIAL OF BUSH, BLAIR AND SHARON

Al-Jazeera TV, Qatar: Excerpts from a mock trial of U.S. President Bush, British PM Blair, and Israeli PM Sharon, staged by the Union of Arab Lawyers , Feb. 5, 00:08:49, Via MEMRI

"Their philosophy is based on the belief in superiority over the rest of mankind, on America's right to subjugate humanity, and to plunder its natural resources, and is based on America's opportunity to sit on [the throne] of the world, as an absolute dictator that has the right to annihilate whoever strives for freedom and dignity, and refuses to be a slave."

Convicted in Absentia ...