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Cuba Attacks Guantanamo Use for Prisoners
Associated Press ^
| Dec 26, 2003
| ANITA SNOW
Posted on 12/26/2003 7:28:00 PM PST by optimistically_conservative
HAVANA - Cuba charged Friday that the U.S. base on the east end of the communist island had become a "concentration camp," deriding its use as a holding center for terrorism suspects.
"In the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo Naval Base, hundreds of foreign prisoners are subjected to indescribable humiliations," said a statement released Friday by Cuba's National Assembly.
Cuba has long opposed the presence of the American base, which operates in the eastern part of the island under a treaty signed long before the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro (news - web sites) to power.
But until Friday, Cuba had withheld criticism and even offered the first prisoners medical assistance when they arrived two years ago.
The statement said the prisoners are "totally isolated, without the possibility of communicating with their families or access to appropriate legal defense." It added that "some of the very few who have been freed have narrated the horrors of that concentration camp."
However, U.S. officials have repeatedly argued that the prisoners were being well treated.
"Should our servicemen and women be in the same position, I would hope they would be treated in the same humane manner," Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of the detention mission at Guantanamo, told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this year.
The U.S. government currently holds more than 600 men on the base, detained in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Pakistan and elsewhere on suspicion of terrorism.
Because they are being held on foreign land, the Bush administration has maintained the men have no rights to the American legal system.
Miller says that the prisoners are treated humanely under many of the principles of the Geneva Conventions. Because the U.S. government has classified the men as "enemy combatants" rather than prisoners of war, they are not entitled to the same protections under the conventions.
TOPICS: Cuba; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: gitmo
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To: optimistically_conservative
Cuba has been using Cuba as a consentration camp for years, why are they upset now??
2
posted on
12/26/2003 7:29:20 PM PST
by
U S Army EOD
(When the EOD technician screws up, he is always the first to notice.)
To: optimistically_conservative
Come kick us out, Fidel.
3
posted on
12/26/2003 7:30:58 PM PST
by
Spruce
(RTFM)
To: optimistically_conservative
Cuba's just jealous that the food's better at Camp X-Ray.
To: optimistically_conservative
Contrary to the claims of the Cuban government and their Useful Idiots, Cuba ain't even close to being a bastion of freedom.
They are in no position to point out the mote in our use of Guantanamo Bay until they tend to the beam in their own nation.
In short, shove it up your anal orifice sideways, Mr. Castro.
5
posted on
12/26/2003 7:32:32 PM PST
by
Prime Choice
(Americans are a spiritual people. We're happy to help members of al Qaeda meet God.)
To: optimistically_conservative
Hey, Fidel!
The one time you were "at war", when the people you were fighting during "la Revelucion" surrendered, or were captured, they simply got summarily executed in the hills above Havana...so butt out, you commie puke!
To: optimistically_conservative
.
...as the Cold Dead Eyes of Little ELIAN now sit in a corner of Communist Dictator FIDEL CASTRO's Cuba..?
.
7
posted on
12/26/2003 7:41:22 PM PST
by
ALOHA RONNIE
(Vet-Battle of IA DRANG-1965 www.LZXRAY.com)
To: optimistically_conservative
No headline should ever start with "Cuba Attacks" unless they mean it.
8
posted on
12/26/2003 7:43:52 PM PST
by
Semper911
(For some people, bread and circus are not enough. Hence, FreeRepublic.com)
To: optimistically_conservative
I'll bet it's heartbreaking for the prisoners to see the Cubans hanging around outside the wire, begging to be let in.
9
posted on
12/26/2003 8:17:55 PM PST
by
IronJack
To: optimistically_conservative
I have a few military links. Most of these prisoners are getting better treatment than they ever had in their lives. Clean beds, medical care, good food, the regular prayer times. Many of them, upon arrival, behaved worse than most animals do. Someone very close to me was tasked to clean up a C-17 after it returned from transporting a group of these "people". (No, you won't hear about this in any news report) There was human excrement all over the inside of the airplane. It had been flung all over... ceiling, walls, EVERYWHERE. They were actually trying to CHEW wires and cables in an attempt to sabotage the aircraft. The captain had to partially depressurize to put them out long enough to land safely and get them to their destination. These people are animals. And CUBA has the unmitigated GAUL to say they are being mistreated? Maybe Cuba wants these "prisoners" for their own police force!
To: Spanaway Lori
Yeah, I'm not too worried about their care.
"totally isolated, without the possibility of communicating with their families or access to appropriate legal defense."
Anyone heard from the folks Castro rounded up lately?
11
posted on
12/26/2003 8:28:43 PM PST
by
optimistically_conservative
(Nothing is as expensive as a free government service or subsidized benefit.)
To: Spanaway Lori
You know damn well what Cuba would do if these characters were in his general populattion.
To: optimistically_conservative
It really does my heart good to hear that Cuba is now concerned about human rights.</sarcasm>
13
posted on
12/26/2003 9:12:49 PM PST
by
Marauder
(If God lived on earth, liberals would sue Him.)
To: optimistically_conservative
Fidel should demand the opportunity to see Gitmo for himself so he can check the conditions.
14
posted on
12/26/2003 9:19:45 PM PST
by
Chu Gary
(USN Intel guy 1967 - 1970)
To: Spruce
Come kick us out, Fidel.
-----
Yeah. And give us a reason to kick you out. It'll be a great day when he assumes room temperature. Why to jerks like Fidel live so long? People never get the punisments they deserve fast enough for me.
To: optimistically_conservative
Attack! Go ahead El Comandante, make our day.
16
posted on
12/26/2003 9:44:16 PM PST
by
alameda
("Socialism is communism sold by the drink." PJ O'Rourke)
To: optimistically_conservative
As I have posted before..it is time for castro to go..if President Bush is re-elected comfortably.. he should blockade Cuba..demand that castro go back to spain and a new cuba be reborn..one can always hope..
To: Semper911
Quite right. I almost wish Cuba would attack. Then we'd have an excuse.
18
posted on
12/26/2003 9:49:28 PM PST
by
squidly
(Although prepared for martyrdom, I prefer that it be postponed.)
To: optimistically_conservative
19
posted on
12/26/2003 9:58:13 PM PST
by
Luis Gonzalez
(The Gift Is To See The Trout.)
To: optimistically_conservative
20
posted on
12/26/2003 11:01:59 PM PST
by
NMFXSTC
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