June 23, 2005

Chutzpah: Torturers at U.N. Accuse U.S. of Torture?

This is an outrage. Media reports say that four special representatives of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights have condemned the United States for alleged torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Need I remind you that the Chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights is Makarim Wibisono, of Indonesia. A guy from Indonesia is questioning our human rights record?

Other member countries of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights include (WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS IN LINKS):
Sudan
China
Congo
Cuba
Saudi Arabia
Zimbabwe

And these guys have the gall to call anything done at Guantanmo torture?

The actual report, found here, does not at any point actually formally accuse the U.S. of torture. Instead, the report says that the four requested a visit to Guantanamo Bay, and that:

Such requests were based on information, from reliable sources, of serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, arbitrary detention, violations of their right to health and their due process rights. Many of these allegations have come to light through declassified Government documents.

However, here is the AP headline via Charles Johnson: U.N. Uncovers Torture at Guantanamo Bay

The AP then reports:

The failure of the United States to respond is leading the experts to conclude that Washington has something to hide, said the specialist on torture, Manfred Nowak, a professor of international law in Vienna, Austria.

"At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government," he said, though he also noted: "We are not making a judgment if torture or treatment under degrading conditions has taken place."

That's logic for you.

And where are these allegations coming from? As far as I have been able to conclude, all of the allegations of 'torture' have come from freed prisoners from Gitmo. However, according to an al Qaeda training manual:

If captured, the manual states, "At the beginning of the trial ... the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by state security before the judge. Complain of mistreatment while in prison."

The specific allegations:
-detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor
-detainees who had defecated/urinated on themselves
-no air conditioning
-too much air conditioning
-loud music

Torture. Right. These are the allegations of torture that these clowns from the U.N. are taking seriously? While many of their own countries are engaged in genocidal pograms ans systematically torture prisoners??

Give me a break!