Posted on 06/05/2005 5:34:44 PM PDT by Valin
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is operating an "archipelago" of prisons around the world, many of them secret camps into which people are being "literally disappeared," a top Amnesty International official said Sunday.
Amnesty International executive director William Schulz criticized the administration of U.S. President George W Bush for holding alleged battlefield combatants in "indefinite incommunicado detention" without access to lawyers in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
Schulz was pressed to substantiate Amnesty's claim in a May 25 report that the U.S. prison camp at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba naval base — where hundreds of foreign terror suspects are being held indefinitely — represents the "gulag of our times."
The gulag claim, referring to the notorious prison camp system of the Soviet Union, has drawn withering criticism from the U.S. president, who called it "absurd." Vice President Richard Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have also slammed the rights group's claim.
Russian 1970 Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described the Soviet prison camp system in his best-selling book "The Gulag Archipelago."
Schulz said the gulag reference was not "an exact or a literal analogy."
"But there are some similarities. The United States is maintaining an archipelago of prisons around the world, many of them secret prisons into which people are being literally disappeared — held in indefinite incommunicado detention without access to lawyers," Schulz told Fox.
Asked how AI could compare the detentions of millions of Soviet citizens in the gulag system to purported anti-U.S. combatants captured on the battlefield, Schulz said some of those held in Guantanamo "happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"We do know that at least some of the 200 some prisoners who have been released from Guantanamo Bay have made pretty persuasive cases that they were imprisoned there, not because they were involved in military conflict but simply because they were enemies of the Northern Alliance," he said.
Schulz called for an official probe into the alleged rights abuses at U.S. detention centers around the globe.
Amnesty refers in the May 25 report to Rumsfeld and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as alleged "torture architects."
The United States "should be the one that should investigate those who are alleged at least to be architects of torture, not just the foot soldiers who may have inflicted the torture directly, but those who authorized it or encouraged it or provided rationales for it," Schulz said.
According to Amnesty, Rumsfeld provided "the exact rules, 27 of them in fact, for interrogations, some of which do constitute torture or cruel, inhumane treatment," Schulz said.
The Guantanamo Bay camp and U.S. detention practices have been the subject of renewed debate in recent weeks, sparked by a Newsweek magazine report — since retracted — that Guantanamo interrogators flushed a Koran in a toilet to rattle Muslim prisoners.
Amnesty is not the only rights group to have called on Washington to investigate alleged abuses at the camp — Schulz pointed to released FBI documents that also raised concerns about Guantanamo interrogations.
U.S. officials insist such concerns are unfounded, and that the "war on terror" detainees are treated as humanely as possible.
U.S. soldiers have been tried and punished for abusing detainees — notably at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, where at least one captive died — but U.S. officials say those are isolated incidents.
The furor sparked by Amnesty's claims shows no signs of abating.
The New York Times said Sunday that the Guantanamo Bay prison should be closed down, saying it had become "a national shame" and a "propaganda gift to America's enemies."
"What makes Amnesty's gulag metaphor apt is that Guantanamo is merely one of a chain of shadowy detention camps that also includes Abu Ghraib in Iraq, the military prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and other, secret locations run by the intelligence agencies," the Times said.
The Washington Post, whose editorial page has been more critical of Amnesty's gulag claim, reported Sunday — citing Schulz — that Amnesty's donations have quintupled and new memberships have doubled in the past week since it released its report. (Wire reports)
You know, Wilson was correct, and if he'd gone into WWI on the correct side, he'd simply tossed different folks into prison for the duration.
"W" is gong to have to follow Wilson's example and shut these enemy mouthpieces up until it's all over.
I'd really like to read the 27 rules and decide for myself. Doubt it.
I think there should be a list of leftist organizations that are ineligible for ANY US taxpayer dollars.
That's something else Liberalism and Islam share in common. Good reason to get rid of both of them!
This business about the seriousness of the allegation being more important than the evidence is pretty elemental in the popular understanding of Sharia Law.
That's something else Liberalism and Islam share in common. Good reason to get rid of both of them!
Schulz needs to be interviewed more on the MSM.
His appearance on FOX today was a hoot. Chris Wallace made him look absolutely foolish. IMO!
"The United States is maintaining an archipelago of prisons around the world, many of them secret prisons into which people are being literally disappeared ...."
I wonder just why the ACLU is keeping these secret locations a secret ?
Sounds like it's a good idea not to drive jetliners into our office buildings.
Fine. So Mr. Schultz will make allowances for any inexactitude in my language when I call him a Quisling collaborator with Osama bin Laden.
Extremely good post, m.
Since Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn knows something about gulags, maybe we should have him review the data and see if these camps match up to the treatments at the gulags. From what I can recall from the Gulag Achipelago, there is little similarity with Gitmo, the Qatar prison or other detainment centers. Unless there is some massive amount of data we are missing. For example Gitmo has about 600 prisoners. The Soviet Gulags had 25,000,000. Comparable, huh!
Many died of exposure in the Gulags, many from disease, malnutrition, beatings, starvations. What, pray tell, is similar from that with the Gitmo operation?
Isn't Jayson Blair working for Amnesty International now? And Dan Rather? And Bill Clinton?
Herr Schulz (Wilhelm) reminds me of some other anti-American Socialist that tried to take over the world. I would not put any lie past the disciples of Evil in their attempt to destroy our country and to help the terrorist.
/sarcasm
It isn't much of a secret if Shultz knows about it. I wish he would provide us with names, dates and locations.
Asked how AI could compare the detentions of millions of Soviet citizens in the gulag system to purported anti-U.S. combatants captured on the battlefield, Schulz said some of those held in Guantanamo "happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Is there any terrorist or criminal or combatant, for that matter, that has ever been captured or killed for whom he can't make the same claim.
Schulz keeps digging and digging...
I'd really like to read the 27 rules and decide for myself
I did a quick google search and couldn't find them. If you find them please let me know. Thanks
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.