GUANTANAMO: WHO'S SORRY NOW, DONALD?

WHO'S SORRY NOW?
Dick Durbin has apologized for comments on  Guantanamo that reveal its horror and truth.  Critics are not satisfied. Donald Rumsfeld had his say.  He may have spoken too soon.  The United Nations said today it has reliable accounts of torture at Guantanamo.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an interview to air Wednesday on Fox News Radio's "The Tony Snow Show," tried to equate Durbin's comment with actress Jane Fonda calling U.S. soldiers war criminals during a visit to North Vietnam in 1972.

"Some people always in their lives say something they wish they hadn't said," Rumsfeld said. "We just watched Jane Fonda run around trying to recover from the things she did and said during the Vietnam War. ... He said some things and he's going to have to live with them, and I think that that's not a happy prospect."

Defense Department spokesman Glenn Flood said Rumsfeld stands by his statements, even in light of the apology. [ABC NEWS]

 

Rumsfeld may have played his hand a little to early.  Why the jokers in the Bush Administration don't think other trumping cards are going to come out on Guantanamo is a mystery. The reality is no mystery.  It is an abomination made more abominable by the government's sorry attempts to hold back the truth about how it holds its prisoners in subhuman conditions.

GENEVA (AP) - U.N. human rights experts said Thursday they have reliable accounts of detainees being tortured at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The experts also said Washington had not responded to their latest request to check on the conditions of terror suspects at the facility in eastern Cuba. That request was made in April.
--snip--
The U.N. human rights investigators have been trying to visit since 2002.
--snip--
The U.N. experts would be expected to make a public report.
--snip--

``Many of these allegations have come to light through declassified (U.S.) government documents,'' they said.

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, said his team needed full access to Guantanamo's facilities and prison population, but the United States refused to guarantee him the right to speak to detainees in private. [Guardian UK]

 

If the United States has nothing to hide, why will it not let these prisoners be seen?

Brooks Robinson, spokeswoman for the U.S. mission to U.N. offices in Geneva, said the response had been delayed because the U.S. review process is ``thorough and independent'' and involves the Bush administration, Congress and the U.S. judicial system.

``It is true there is no answer yet to their request, but the main point is that their request is being addressed and discussed and reviewed in the United States,'' Robinson told The Associated Press.

``That process is underway in response to this request.''

She noted that U.S. officials consistently have denied violating the principle of humane treatment of detainees in the war on terrorism. [Guardian UK]

 

More sorry excuses for sorry treatment of human beings. Durbin made his apology for saying what was true. When will we hear an apology from those who have done wrong and hide their shame in yet more lies?

SEE ALSO: [DANCE OF THE DAMNED] [HIS HIGHNESS DOG AT KEW]

Comments

[Agitprop]

We live in a back asswards world. The individuals who organize, order and commit the offenses go unpunished. Meanwhile the individuals who criticize and expose the offenses are considered treacherous evildoers.

[pissed off patricia]

Mr. Rumsfluid finds talk to be cheap and actions to be cheaper.
It's much easier to attack a Senator than to win a fucked up war.

[eRobin]

When will we hear an apology from those who have done wrong and hide their shame in yet more lies?

I know that's probably rhetorical but it is painful to know that we will never hear an apology from any of the monsters who are working every day to destroy what America stands for, if not actually works for. They've always been working to destroy the fact of the country, now they're blithely destroying the myth, which is all we had left. Everytime these psychos get in power, we lose more of our soul.

[denisdekat]

I saw him on TV the other day, and he started with "blame america first" type speech. They are desparate, the whole thing is falling appart and they are trying to save face. I am for hoepfull somehow, as I see the house of cards collapsing...

[Night Bird]

I sure hope that you are right denisdekat! However, I fear that too many people are still drinking the koolaide.

I was driving home from the dentist, my little one just getting her braces on and I nearly crashed when I saw the banner "Billy Graham Crusade" - Flushing Meadows -Corona Park

A crusade, he says. Not I.