Bagram, the other Guantanamo, Needs Closing Too
Not only does Obama have the closing of Guantanamo on his plate which he now says might not occur during his first 100 days in office, but he has another vile facility 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan.
Prisoners were not only abused at Gitmo, but also at Bagram.
It's not a pretty picture reported by the International Red Cross and yet another horrible legacy of the criminal Bush regime.
From William Fisher at IPS News comes this: "That dilemma is what to do with what has become known as "the other GITMO" -- the U.S.-controlled military prison at Bagram Air Base near Kabul in Afghanistan -- and the estimated 600-700 detainees now held there.
"The "other GITMO" was set up by the U.S. military as a temporary screening site after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan overthrew the Taliban. It currently houses more than three times as many prisoners as are still held at Guantanamo.
"In 2005, following well-documented accounts of detainee deaths, torture and "disappeared" prisoners, the U.S. undertook efforts to turn the facility over to the Afghan government. But due to a series of legal, bureaucratic and administrative missteps, the prison is still under U.S. military control. And a recent confidential report from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reportedly complained about the continued mistreatment of prisoners.
"The ICRC report is said to cite massive overcrowding, "harsh" conditions, lack of clarity about the legal basis for detention, prisoners held "incommunicado" in "a previously undisclosed warren of isolation cells" and "sometimes subjected to cruel treatment in violation of the Geneva Conventions". Some prisoners have been held without charges or lawyers for more than five years. The Red Cross said that dozens of prisoners have been held incommunicado for weeks or even months, hidden from prison inspectors. According to Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 'Bagram appears to be just as bad as, if not worse than, Guantanamo. When a prisoner is in American custody and under American control, our values are at stake and our commitment to the rule of law is tested.'
"She told IPS, 'The abuses cited by the Red Cross give us cause for concern that we may be failing the test. The Bush administration is not content to limit its regime of illegal detention to Guantanamo, and has tried to foist it on Afghanistan.'
"She added: 'Both Congress and the executive branch need to investigate what's happening at Bagram if we are to avoid a tragic repetition of history.'
"But most observers believe the solution is more likely to come in the courts and to be inextricably linked to recent judicial decisions affecting prisoners at Guantanamo."
Prisoners were not only abused at Gitmo, but also at Bagram.
It's not a pretty picture reported by the International Red Cross and yet another horrible legacy of the criminal Bush regime.
From William Fisher at IPS News comes this: "That dilemma is what to do with what has become known as "the other GITMO" -- the U.S.-controlled military prison at Bagram Air Base near Kabul in Afghanistan -- and the estimated 600-700 detainees now held there.
"The "other GITMO" was set up by the U.S. military as a temporary screening site after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan overthrew the Taliban. It currently houses more than three times as many prisoners as are still held at Guantanamo.
"In 2005, following well-documented accounts of detainee deaths, torture and "disappeared" prisoners, the U.S. undertook efforts to turn the facility over to the Afghan government. But due to a series of legal, bureaucratic and administrative missteps, the prison is still under U.S. military control. And a recent confidential report from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reportedly complained about the continued mistreatment of prisoners.
"The ICRC report is said to cite massive overcrowding, "harsh" conditions, lack of clarity about the legal basis for detention, prisoners held "incommunicado" in "a previously undisclosed warren of isolation cells" and "sometimes subjected to cruel treatment in violation of the Geneva Conventions". Some prisoners have been held without charges or lawyers for more than five years. The Red Cross said that dozens of prisoners have been held incommunicado for weeks or even months, hidden from prison inspectors. According to Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 'Bagram appears to be just as bad as, if not worse than, Guantanamo. When a prisoner is in American custody and under American control, our values are at stake and our commitment to the rule of law is tested.'
"She told IPS, 'The abuses cited by the Red Cross give us cause for concern that we may be failing the test. The Bush administration is not content to limit its regime of illegal detention to Guantanamo, and has tried to foist it on Afghanistan.'
"She added: 'Both Congress and the executive branch need to investigate what's happening at Bagram if we are to avoid a tragic repetition of history.'
"But most observers believe the solution is more likely to come in the courts and to be inextricably linked to recent judicial decisions affecting prisoners at Guantanamo."
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