Guantanamo guards "get their kicks" before closing

By Jacob Freeze, Section Diaries
Posted on Thu Feb 26, 2009 at 02:21:10 PM EST
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From Reuters...

Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees.
Abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected, human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters. He cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike.
The Pentagon said on Monday that it had received renewed reports of prisoner abuse during a recent review of conditions at Guantanamo, but had concluded that all prisoners were being kept in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
Ghappour said he had spoken to army guards who, unsolicited, had described the pleasure they took in abusing prisoners, whether interrupting prayer or physical mistreatment. He said they appeared unconcerned about potential repercussions.

Unconcerned about potential repercussions!

This is part of the downside of President Obama's attitude about prosecution of crimes against humanity committed by Bush/Cheney and their agents.

"We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth. And obviously we're going to look at past practices. And I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."

And now the guards at Guantanamo are "unconcerned about potential repercussions."

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Guantanamo guards "get their kicks" before closing | 3 comments (3 topical)

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I agree (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by lilburro on Sat Feb 28, 2009 at 03:57:15 AM EST

we have to connect Obama's stance on trying Bush to the current abuse at Guantanamo. What fear can these guys have of serious punishment? Why are these same guards still even at Guantanamo? I would think the campaigner Obama would realize that to change policy, you can't do it from the top - an executive order - but you must (re)organize from the ground up. They have not apparently applied this logic to Guantanamo. And so reports come in that abuse continues...that little has changed. What a surprise.

Obama now, at least, has the top-down authority to investigate and crack down on abuse. Will he? Holder just came back from Gitmo and said "the facilities are good ones."

Yeesh. A great political set up for stopping the abuse, huh? Not...

: Obama about prosecutions (none / 0) (#3)
by Jacob Freeze on Sat Feb 28, 2009 at 09:08:49 AM EST

In the background of Obama's wiggly pronouncements about prosecutions, the bottom line is probably something like this:
"Whatever looks good in the polls if I ever have to make any kind of decision about it, unless it looks like the polls are only responding to a temporary buzz in the media, and might turn around and bite me after prosecutions actually got started."
Proponents of prosecuting Bush/Cheney et al. keep talking about 62% public support for prosecutions, but as soon as the idea of jailing the same "Connecticutt cowboy" that the public elected twice actually soaked into the public consciousness, I think public approval would probably crash.
Imagine that older, frailer little cowboy-monkey sitting in court week after week, explaining how Nancy Pelosi was so enthusiastic about waterboading prisoners, during briefings of Congressional leadership in 2002!
So Obama may wiggle one way or another for a while, but my guess is that his bottom-line will be against prosecuting, and the guards at Guantanamo are probably safe from prosecution anyway, because crimes by prison guards are notoriously difficult to prosecute, even outside the context of a minmal-access offshore facility like Guantanamo.
But if Obama had taken a really strong stand about accountability, I still believe it would have had a moral effect on the guards, however much or little it may have affected the possibility that any of them will ever serve time in the brig.
My bottom line is that enforcing the law isn't supposed to be a choice between "looking forward" or "looking back."
Look any which way you want to look, Mr. President, but enforce the law!

Meanwhile, at the CIA... (none / 0) (#1)
by Jacob Freeze on Thu Feb 26, 2009 at 06:48:09 PM EST

Leon Panetta held a press conference at the CIA yesterday.

QUESTION: Could you talk to us a little bit about the Obama rendition program?
DIR. PANETTA: Please, thank you. (Chuckles.) First of all, on the rendition issue: Obviously, the executive order that was issued by the President sets, you know, the ground rules for dealing with that issue. Number one, we are obligated to follow the Army Field Manual, and we will do that. Secondly, we are closing black sites, and we are doing that. And thirdly, rendition is still permitted, but obviously - and it's been used in the past to obviously send people to countries where there are jurisdictional issues for purposes of trying individuals. If we render someone, we are obviously going to seek assurances from that country that their human rights are protected and that they are not mistreated.

I guess it all depends on how much assurance you have about "assurances" from Egypt, for example, about protecting human rights.

Personally, I wouldn't want to rely on those assurances for myself, and if all that stood between Leon Panetta and torture was assurances from the Egyptian government, he might not have chuckled quite so much when he answered that question.