Posted on 05/26/2003 12:16:13 AM PDT by BlackVeil
THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber.
Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal, The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday.
The plans were revealed by Major-General Geoffrey Miller, who is in charge of 680 suspects from 43 countries, including two Australians.
The suspects have been held at Camp Delta on Cuba without charge for 18 months.
General Miller said building a death row was one plan. Another was to have a permanent jail, with possibly an execution chamber.
The Mail on Sunday reported the move is seen as logical by the US, which has been attacked worldwide for breaching the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war since it established the camp at a naval base to hold alleged terrorists from Afghanistan.
But it has horrified human rights groups and lawyers representing detainees.
They see it as the clearest indication America has no intention of falling in line with internationally recognised justice.
The US has already said detainees would be tried by tribunals, without juries or appeals to a higher court. Detainees will be allowed only US lawyers.
British activist Stephen Jakobi, of Fair Trials Abroad, said: "The US is kicking and screaming against any pressure to conform with British or any other kind of international justice."
American law professor Jonathan Turley, who has led US civil rights group protests against the military tribunals planned to hear cases at Guantanamo Bay, said: "It is not surprising the authorities are building a death row because they have said they plan to try capital cases before these tribunals.
"This camp was created to execute people. The administration has no interest in long-term prison sentences for people it regards as hard-core terrorists."
Britain admitted it had been kept in the dark about the plans.
A Downing St spokesman said: "The US Government is well aware of the British Government's position on the death penalty."
Herald Sun
The Geneva Convention is crafted to give nations at war incentives to limit the barbarity of their behavior. The US has used the rhetoric of "war" internally, but in fact al Qaeda is the very parody of the nation at war subject to sanctions and protections of the Geneva Convention. There is no such thing as an al Qaeda symbol or armband, let alone a uniform; al Qaeda does not even claim an address, so far as I know.So the notion that al Qaeda operatives deserve consideration and sanction against a country which summarily punishes them, is itself an attack on the Geneva Convention.
We are of course quite accustomed to facing enemies who are contemptuous of the Geneva Convention; Germany and Japan had extremely limited adherence to it and the behaviors of North Korea and North Vietnam were similar. And the former regime in Iraq reportedly used most of mosques, schools, and hospitals in the country as military centers--and misused faux or captured US military uniforms to trick its own soldiers into revealing an intention of surrendering against its orders. And of course who could forget the siting of military installations in residential areas?
Such tactics are violations of the Geneva Convention, specifically designed to increase the brutality of war--and, as often as not, to besmirch the reputation of a nation which systematically plans to meet the Geneva Convention's strictures.
The truth is, of course, that for a nation like Iraq to militarily oppose the US is essentially a violation of the Convention from the ground up, since opposition has no prospect of affecting the result in any sense other than the extent of the destruction and mayhem which the conflict imposed almost exclusively on Iraqis.
The Taliban used a non-descript uniform that was only identified by a blue head dress. Hard to tell military personel from civilian.
Regardless of what the military wore or looked like, criminals are tried under a completely different set of laws according to Islam.
Hanging, stoning, beheading are all appropriate sentences as the religious ramification, no entrance into Paradise, is the goal.
After the executions, the corpse should be wrapped in pigskin and buried.
Whose plan was revealed? Does it have a name? Who wrote it? From which department did it come? Why not give us some more information on this "plan"?
General Miller said building a death row was one plan. Another was to have a permanent jail. . .
Oh...I get it. A reporter asked a ton of questions and General Miller finally said, "well we could do this or we could do that". That what happened? Seeing as we have no real information about this "plan" somebody or other wrote or maybe did not write, a reasonable person might conclude the reporter is trying to get attention with a incindary headline about a "Death Camp"
The Mail on Sunday reported the move is seen as logical by the US . . .
I'm familiar with the "Talking White House" as in "The White House said today..." do we now have an entire country which talks with one voice? Or more likely, did the writer simply express his own opinion of what he thinks "the US" sees as "logical"?
True only of the regular troops on both sides.
In the South Carolina back country the war was fought mostly by Tory and Patriot irregulars, neither of whom wore uniforms.
In a few battles this lack of uniforms worked to Patriot advantage as they were able to infiltrate Tory lines and use surprise to win victory.
Terrorists, and bad dudes in general are usually forgoten about in prison, executed terrorists aren't, in a way they live forever.
do you know who Niyow Ayad and Akhman Ajjaj are? (no Google, that is cheating)
Do you know who Timothy McVeigh is?
Has anyone ever asked themselves the question why Israel doesn't execute imprisoned terrorists?
Neither does the American public.
These animals are learning the hard way.........................they f**ked with the wrong country at the wrong time, and they are learning that we when we finally fight back, may God have mercy on your soul, because your a** belongs to us.
Never seen one but it looks one could cook up a helluva pot of Gumbo in it!
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.