Gitmo: The Silent Scandal

With Jan. 11 marking the sixth anniversary of America's prison for terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Amnesty International plans a signal protest in front of the White House, the campaign boldly dubbed: Gitmo: Shut It Down! "Gitmo," short for Guantanamo, located on the balmy isle of Cuba, could be a little bit of paradise. "They're living in the tropics," declared VP Dick Cheney. "They've got everything they could possibly want."Nevertheless, as many as 200 detainees on this tropical paradise have gone on hunger strikes. (Moazzam Begg, author of Enemy Combatant, which tells all -- thought the food "disgusting.") Fact is, the camp has logged more than fortyii suicide attempts -- some successful. Most notably, this tropical paradise for enemy combatants (from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Yemen and dozens of other countries) is a haven for creative abuse which, until last month's visit by a UN envoy, failed to rate much ink in the American press. Almost entirely ignored by US media, the indefinite detention of hundreds of terrorist suspects at our Naval Base in Cuba threatens to erupt into an imbroglio "worse than an embarrassment," what with disclosures, early last month, of "disappeared" videotapes recording torture techniques used on that paradisiacal island. "Waterboarding," among the most notorious, involves the traumatic near-drowning of a prisoner. Other methods to break down resistance and extract (false) confessions include: bright lights on 24/7, sleep deprivation, beatings, cold-hot shock rooms, sexual and religious humiliations, near-starvation, torture with cigarettes and broken glass, prolonged hooding, stripping and shackling to floors, walls, ceilings, threats with dogs, guards passing urine through air vents… One detainee started laughing when a soldier held a gun to his head and threatened to shoot. "All other detainees started laughing, too. Because… if they killed me, they would be doing me a favor." It may be possible to trace this extraordinary level of cynicism to the hopelessness felt by detainees, 25% of whom, having undergone tribunal review, have already been cleared of "enemy combatant" status. Yet they still have not been released. Why? Would these men then turn to the media with their tales of torture? Is the same fear of grisly disclosures also behind the failure to bring these long-held prisoners to trial? "The risk of issues of torture being raised [at such trials] is too high," explains the UN Special Rapporteur, who adds that such defendants "have in their possession information concerning the interrogation techniques used upon them, which must not come into daylight." To what lengths will the powers-that-be go to deny these sadistic methods which observers are beginning to call "a conspiracy at the top"? The cauldron is bubbling and the unsavory stew boils over into a cover-up that "exceeds Watergate and Iran-contra." Because the torture-videos destroyed by the CIA in November, 2005, have come back to haunt the spoilers. Critics want accountability here in this country; they want due process, habeas corpus, and they expect America to honor international law. And yes, they are clamoring for investigation (if not outright closure) of Gitmo itself. The cloak and dagger drill is getting old, and with each new disclosure, with each ploy of stonewalling by both CIA and the administration, the cry of "obstruction of justice!" is heard. CIA officials may soon be subpoenaed. And as the scenario unravels, the White House has instructed CIA not to cooperate with congressional inquires. Yet, when CIA is called to testify before the House Intelligence Committee this month, analysts predict they may spill the beans. But be not deceived. Both Republicans and Democrats are complicit in the torture cover-up; the administration, in fact, is depending on the Democratic Party to finesse damage control. Count on it, the House hearings are a charade destined to whitewash any exposures of the war on terrorism. No, it is not our own lawmakers who furnish oversight, but the world itself. As Sen. John McCain has pled: "We could never gain as much from that torture as we lose in world opinion. It's not about the terrorists, it's about us. It's about what kind of country we are." The global village is reacting. Protests of Gitmo have been heard from the European Union, from OAS, International Red Cross and The Lancet, from NGOs and the UN, the European Parliament, UK Attorney General (Lord Goldsmith) and Lord Chancellor, as well as Judges Steyn and Collins and Tony Blair; indeed -- from 69% of countries surveyed by the BBC, along with the majority voice of Germany, Poland and India. Stateside, censure has come from the New York Times, the Supreme Court,xi Navy lawyers, Colin Powell,xii Senator Arlen Specter and others. Are we listening? The script for the war on terror seems to need a fresh draft, with more convincing plot and characters. Forced confessions, illegal detention, paid informants, and gag orders are not the stuff that will "save American lives." On the contrary, if we know anything about abuse -- "what goes around, comes around" -- we are well advised, for our own sake, to play it straight, come clean, join the world (Geneva Conventions), tell the truth, allow fair trials, win back the world's respect, and eschew, honestly eschew, resorting to cruel and unusual tactics in the name of national security and Democracy for all.