In an article that can be found here, the fate of 45 detainees in the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is discussed. Like most of the prisoners in the camp, these men were wrongly imprisoned. Now that the American government has decided to free them, they have nowhere to go. And they're certainly not welcome in America.
These men face further torture and persicution upon returning to their respective countries of: Algeria, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan. For one, I am at least glad to see that the US was not discriminating in who they chose to unlawfully detain and torture.
So, it is being purposed that the EU should take the prisoners and offer them asylum. After all, (through what means I can only imagine) these men have been "cleared for release." They are innocent men suffering among the 113 at Guantanamo. I just figured that everyone in Guantanamo was guilty, and I am a little worried; because if the US starts freeing these men as arbitrarily as they imprison them, the US will run out of prisoners. And then who will we torture? Vivisection is so 1992, and monkeys don't really count anyway.
Dutch green MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg told the EUobserver on Wednesday,
"We are calling on EU governments to agree to allowing them to be resettled in EU member states," Ms Buitenweg said, adding that the Union should assess each case individually to decide which country a Guantanamo detainee should be sent to.
This is good, because what better way for the EU to encourage the US to close their super-happy-fun camp in Cuba than by cleaning up the ash of their moral subterfuge?
- Frank Lemke
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Languishing in Guantanamo Bay
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3 comments:
The whole fight against terrorism seems like a witch hunt to me. According to wikipedia.org, out of 775 detainees brought to Guantanamo, only from 60 to 80 are going to be put on trial. The rest have been or is going to be released. So most of the detainees were innocent! I think that EU should take a stronger position and make it clear that it condemns such a "war against terrorism". Of course, providing asylum to refugees, and especially the ones who have been suspected of supporting terrorist groups, does not sound attractive. However, it is something that we have to do in order to emphasize the need to respect human rights.
Although Frank's comment, "I just assumed everyone at Guantanamo was guilty" may get a few laughs, this is a serious problem in the US. People just blindly follow the US leaders and don't question what their tactics and motives are. The quote "It is the black-hole of democracy" is a fitting one. We all want to prevent another 9/11 but not at the expense of human rights.
-Kurt
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