The Anomoly

It was Dostoevsky who first said "the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons".

What degree of civilisation would you say exists in a government which behaves like this?

A top US official has described the suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a "good PR move to draw attention".

Colleen Graffy told the BBC the deaths were part of a strategy and "a tactic to further the jihadi cause", but taking their own lives was unnecessary.

Not one of the three dead men had been found guilty of any crime. I don't know if any of them genuinely were involved in terrorist activities before their capture and neither do you. Just to be clear, that's because the US government has refused to attempt to prove them guilty of anything in any sort of meaningful way.

And our great leader will no doubt be quick to again put this "anomoly" in context.

On a purely tactical level, he, like Bush is apparently completely oblivious to the fact that every day that Camp Delta exists is another good day for bin Laden. Islamist extremist groups recruit from (or self-generate out of) those who believe that Western society treats Muslims as second class citizens. Denying these Muslim detainees the right to a fair trail, actually treating them as second class citizens in other words, is the last thing we should be doing. It's about a sensible as going on a hunting trip with the Vice President.

Perhaps more frightening than that though, is the fact that we're governed by people who appear to have no understanding of the very things they claim to be defending. It is not acceptable for a civilized country to continue to imprison people indefinitely in this way. Camp Delta must be closed.

Update

It just gets worse.

Note also Graffy's bald-faced lie.

Tags: News, Politics, Guantanamo Bay