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Gitmo detainees want to stay there

Quote:

As President Barack Obama's deadline to close Guantánamo looms, some occupants of the notorious detention centre would rather prolong their stay than be sent to maximum security prisons on the US mainland, according to camp officials.

Somewhere in cyberspace, Waters' and Lebowski's heads are exploding.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...officials.html

there could be many reasons why someone in Gitmo would want to stay:

1. Political visibility at Gitmo. "People will know I exist and am imprisoned" versus getting swallowed up and disappearing in the US Penal system.

2. Fear of the unknown.

3. Prison officials latching onto the opinions of a few kooks who have gone crazy in maximum security isolation for years on end. Would Tex take it at face value if the Nazis had annouced that some Jews were happy in the work camps?

4. Fear of deportation and rendition to countries that will kill/torture them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters (Post 307848)

And it's also possible that the Easter Bunny actually lives, too. We can concoct a lot of reasons out of thin air, or we could actually read the article, which notes ...

Quote:

The 221 remaining inmates receive between four and 20 hours outdoor recreation in the Caribbean sun and anything from weekly to almost unlimited access to DVDs and receive three newspapers (USA Today, plus one Egyptian and one Saudi Arabian title) twice a week. Every bed has an arrow pointing towards Mecca and every cell a prayer rug. ...

The detainees' diet is exclusively Middle Eastern and halal, in observance of regional and religious sensitivities. Dates, olive oil and honey are provided daily and pita bread is baked on the premises. They drink the same bottled water as the prison's staff and have the same access as other prisoners to 16,000 books and 1,600 magazines held at the library.

An escorted tour of Guantánamo by the Daily Telegraph revealed that Camp 7's requested reading included Gardens of the World by Mick Hales, Fine Art Flower Photography by Tony Sweet and a copy of Birds and Blooms magazine, material in keeping with nature-bound leisure pursuits approved by conservative Islam. Two volumes of the Tales of the Arabian Nights were also in the pile. Tomes on Islamic theory are in plentiful supply and demand, said library staff.

The article contrasts this to federal prison:

Quote:

At Florence, Colorado, prisoners would also spend 22 ½ hours a day in a 9ft by 9ft cell with the only natural light coming from a skylight outside.

Exercise would be limited to an hour and a half indoors five days a week and they would have minimal contact with others, including the 33 other international terrorists held there. An official study found that most inmates suffer psychological trauma from the severe isolation.

Since 2005 an Arab American cultural adviser, who for security reasons is identified only by the name of Zak, has been employed at Guantánamo to liaise with detainees.

He said that some detainees would rather stay put than go on trial in the US, where they would probably receive a life sentence or could wait years for a death sentence to be carried out.

"They know there will not be the same privileges as here," he said. "Given the choice of being sentenced forever in Guantánamo or moved to supermax, it is 'no, can I stay in Gitmo?'. Here they can be outside, they can smell the sea."

I do love how this topic drives you into irrationality though (which is why I posted it). The Nazi reference is truly vintage Waters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex (Post 307852)

The Nazi reference is truly vintage Waters.

Thank you.

Sheesh, I didn't read the article, but with the quotes you provided, I feel sick. We are babying these terrorists. Can't we get back to torturing them? This must be Obama's doing.

Let me also add that I think the way we run the prisons here in the United States is criminal, counter-productive, and just plain stupid.

We put people in prisons, make them worse people, and train them to be better criminals when they are released. We traumatize people, we foster gangs, criminal organizations, mafia.

Joseph Smith proposed changing the way we treat people in prison.

Having said that, I am law and order, and anti-crime and pro-punishment. But I'm not stupid anti-crime.

KSM to get a civil trial in NY. This should be good.

Quote:

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and four others accused in the attacks will be put on criminal trial in New York, Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce later Friday.

The decision, described by people familiar with the matter, is part of wider announcement planned on how to bring to justice detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. It's the first set of decisions before a Monday deadline on how to deal with the more than 200 prisoners remaining at the facility, which President Barack Obama has ordered closed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1258...LEFTTopStories

I'm surprised there's been no further comment on this. No one has any strong feelings on one of the architects of 9/11 being granted Constitutional rights and access to federal courts? Does anyone actually think he's going to get the presumption of innocence?

National Review's Andy McCarthy highlights some of Obama's comments on the trial:

Quote:

In a meeting with the press in China, President Obama said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be "convicted" and had "the death penalty applied to him" . . . and then said he wasn't "pre-judging" the case. He made the second statement after it was pointed out to him — by NBC's Chuck Todd — that the first statement would be taken as the president's interfering in the trial process. Obama said that wasn't his intention. I'm sure it wasn't — he's trying to contain the political damage caused by his decision — but that won't matter. He has given the defense its first motion that the executive branch, indeed the president himself, is tainting the jury pool. Nice work.

Wasn't "pre-judging" the case? What the hell is wrong with these people?

If he is not convicted, esp. because of a liberal judge's "technicality", it's not going to look good for Obama, to put it mildly.

I think it is pretty safe to say that the fix is in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters (Post 308291)

If he is not convicted, esp. because of a liberal judge's "technicality", it's not going to look good for Obama, to put it mildly.

I think it is pretty safe to say that the fix is in.

It's been a while since I read the stuff on "tainting" the pool, but an isolated comment while in China is not likely to taint the pool sufficiently to circumvent a conviction. However, I truly don't know how any one of these combatants could receive a fair and impartial jury pool. That sounds almost impossible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters (Post 308291)

If he is not convicted, esp. because of a liberal judge's "technicality", it's not going to look good for Obama, to put it mildly.

I think it is pretty safe to say that the fix is in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archaea (Post 308292)

In the which case one is forced to ask: what is the difference between this and a show trial?