Kuwaiti Prisoner Abuse Reported at Guantanamo Bay

US News Article | Reuters.com Lawyer Says U.S. Forces Abused Kuwaiti Prisoners reports this morning of more prison abuse accusations from terrorist suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay.

11 Kuwaitis being indefinately incarcerated by the United States as foreign terrorism suspects claim abuse at the hands of their American captors, the worst dating back to January of 2002 while they were in detention facilities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers says: "It is important to note that al Qaeda training manuals emphasize the tactic of making false abuse allegations" but "U.S. policy "condemns and prohibits torture" and that "credible allegations" of illegal conduct by U.S. personnel are taken seriously and investigated.

Their attorney, human rights lawyer Tom Wilner says:

All of them were hung from their wrists and beaten, sometimes beaten with chains. At least one was hung upside from his ankles and beaten. They were all beaten, they said, until they would pass out..
They were stripped naked and kept naked for extended periods of time. They were taunted while naked by female guards. At least one of them was sodomized. At least two of them were subjected to electric shocks while hanging from their wrists,"

The worst thing, say the prisoners, was that they were mocked for being Muslim and their Korans were taken and even thrown in toilets while their body hair was shaved, sometimes in the shape of christian symbols like the cross.

They claim their confessions about being involved with the Taliban or Al Qaeda was only to stop the torture. Wilner is quoted as saying one prisoner told him "Look, when this is happening, you tell them what they want to hear to make them stop."

Now it's up to the Military to investigate after all these years and even the prisoners say their treatment once they arrived at Guantanamo has been much better.

So, were these guys beaten up, hung by chains, ridiculed and humilited at the hands of young Americans way back in 2002? Or are they just making it all up now, as the Petagon hints, because it is something they were trained to do if captured to garner the favor or assistance of bleeding heart liberals?

I think a little of both is probably true.

I remember the weeks after September 11th well, even if most American's do not want to so honestly, and the general concensus I saw, both online and off, was anger, outrage and the strong desire to strike back at somebody.

I remember well the emails I recieved from the kindest and gentlest people I know demanding that we "Nuke Afghanistan" or turn the entire Middle East into a giant parking lot. We were angry and there was no one to attack with our great weapons of instant death.

Instead, muslims all over America suffered a horrible terrorism of their own, all in the name of "patriotism" or showing that one "loved America" while most of the politicians that now say they were against all this war business, sang a very different tune in January of 2002.

There were very few who dared speak of peace and understanding and those who did were quickly accused of treason and told to leave the country. It happened to me more than a few times when I pointed out the entire Sept 11 tragedy was orchestrated by a small band of criminals and you couldn't judge an entire people on the acts of a few. I had never been called so many horrible things for such innocent comments before or since.

We wanted answers and we wanted revenge. We wanted it now and damned to those who stood in our way or tried to talk us out of seeking our instant revenge. So what if we had to hang a few guys by some chains or call them names because they are different then us?

They are the enemy and ever since the 80's most Americans have been lead to believe that all the Muslim world is dangerous and different, they should not be trusted and quickly became our enemy of choice when the Red Menace so suddenly evaporated. It was easy to make them enemy number one with over 3000 dead.

Am I surprised to hear of this news? No, unfortunately I'm sure there will be many more accusations as we go. Some will be true, and some will not. It's just the nature of war, law enforcement and prisons to have such abuses, as sad as that sounds.

But let's just remember as we may judge these military people so harshly now, that most of us agreed with them at the time and our glasses may have become rather rose colored indeed in the years that have passed since then.

If you were with the "Nuke Afghanistan" folks in 2002, be careful throwing your stones around now at those who did your dirty work while in the service then.

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