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Efforts to Whitewash Inhumane ConditionsLike its predecessor, "the Obama administration to date has continued (the same practice of) sanitiz(ing) the conditions for the men detained in the most restrictive facilities (at Camps 5, 6 and Echo)." Deception and deliberate lies suppress the daily brutalization of inmates.
Following Obama's EO to close Guantanamo, officials responded "by instituting minor changes that fail to address the fundamental inhumanity (and daily torment) of this facility." Nothing fundamentally has changed. Nothing from the White House addresses it, and inmates exhibiting the severest psychological trauma face even harsher restrictive and punitive responses. "Inexplicably, their psychological deterioration is presented as a failure to comply with camp rules, rather than a medical issue (demanding) concern and care."
Minor cosmetic changes have done nothing to relieve daily brutality and suffering or the violation of US and international laws. So far, Obama's EO is empty, meaningless, and fails to address similar practices at secret Pentagon/CIA prisons globally, housing "ghost detainees."
Some are on "prison ships," addressed by this writer in July 2008 as follows:
"....in 2005, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism took note. He spoke of 'very, very serious' allegations that the US was secretly detaining terrorist suspects aboard special ships at various locations around the world, notably in the Indian Ocean.
The UK legal action charity, Reprieve, believes up to 17 floating prisons (were and likely still are) involved where detainees are held under torturous conditions and subjected to harsh and brutal treatment, in some cases worse than Guantanamo. Details have emerged from US administration and military sources as well as the Council of Europe, various parliamentary bodies, journalists, and former prisoner testimonies.
The USS Bataan is one ship mentioned, and a former Guantanamo detainee described his treatment on board. About 50 in total were there. They were closed off in the ship's bottom area and beaten more severely than at Camp X-Ray. Reprieve's Director, Clive Stafford Smith, said: 'The US administration chooses ships to try to keep their misconduct as far as possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers. We will eventually reunite these ghost prisoners with their human rights.'
'By its own admission (then and likely now), the US government (is detaining up to) 26,000 people without trial in secret prisons, and information suggests that around 80,000 have been 'through the system' since 2001. The US government must show a commitment to rights and basic humanity by immediately revealing who these people are, where they are, and what has been done to them.' The Bush administration's response (at the time was) silence." So far, it's no different under Obama.
On February 22, the UK Independent's Stephen Foley headlined: "Very Bad News - Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base Will Be Obama's Guantanamo." It's to undergo a $60 million expansion to hold 1100 more prisoners, above the 600 now there, and nearly five times the 240 at Guantanamo. Other than occasional ICRC visits, human rights groups and journalists are barred from a facility notorious for the worst of mistreatment, according to the few former inmates released.
Reprieve's Clive Stafford called the scheme "the Bagram bait and switch....a diversionary tactic in the 'war on terror,' " a willful case of hypocritical deceit to keep thousands of prisoners in illegal black holes and brutalize them to the point of despair or death.
Executive director Tina Foster of the New York-based International Justice Network warned that "leaving Bagram open (let alone tripling its capacity) turns the closure of Guantanamo into essentially a hollow and symbolic gesture." The status quo is unchanged. Bagram prisoners "have been tortured to the point that they have died; it is a rallying cry for those who oppose the US actions in Afghanistan (and a travesty regarding) everything we (say we) stand for as a country."
The Obama administration's justification is that Bagram is a special case in a war theatre. Unmentioned is that US and international laws allow no "special cases" for illegal detentions or torture anywhere, at any time, for any reason with no exceptions ever.
CCR demands better. Prior to Guantanamo's closure, it wants camp conditions improved, legal standards observed, and humane practices restored as stipulated under Geneva, the Constitution, and all applicable international human rights laws. This must be initiated "promptly and thoroughly." Specifically, the following practices must be implemented at Guantanamo and all other US run or supervised detention facilities:
-- solitary confinement must end, and at Guantanamo Camps 5, 6 and Echo closed;
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