The Gulag - if it walks like a duck…
Amnesty International (AI), specifically Secretary General Irene Kahn, referred to Guantanamo Bay as "the gulag of our times" and the Bush administration is aghast. President Bush referred to the characterization as absurd in his press conference yesterday. Rumsfeld joined the fray today stating the the comparison cannot be excused and that free societies depend on oversight.
Rumsfeld is right. Free societies depend on oversight. How much oversight has Secretary Rumsfeld exercised? Has Secretary Rumsfeld been the object of oversight by the President to the degree America and the world rightly expects?
I cannot attest to the validity of AI’s report and Kahn’s statement in its foreword. Ignorance on my part, absent sufficient research, prohibits me from commenting on the historical conditions of Soviet gulags. I can say the US military, which by the way reports to Rummy and Bush, has not provided its detainees the comforts of Andy Taylor’s (Andy Griffith) prison cell which includes Aunt Bee’s apple pie hospitality. Not by a long shot.
Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush should put their rhetoric into action. Rumsfeld even gets chummy with the Washington Post! Is the New York Times next?
Amnesty International issued a report. Words only. The military, at whatever level of authorization, has in fact carried out atrocities with detainees and POW’s. Real actions by real people to real people. From my vantage point, if the administration reacts with the fervor they have over words, why can they not be as tenacious about real actions that harm, torture and kill real people? There seems to be an imbalance or inequity in the administration’s responses.
There is a bottom line here that no one can debate. The United States military leadership opened a huge door, with a welcome mat included, for criticism. The only way the door will ever close is by accountability and zero tolerance. Atrocities continue to be reported and I have not seen anyone fall on their sword or have the sword pointed in their direction.
Is America gullable enough to believe that a brigadier general, a sergeant and a few subordinates are the only responsible parties? Is it even remotely possible that General Kapinski served her country well as a scapegoat? When is the big shoe of zero tolerance going to drop? Until it does, we should be prepared for continued criticism and atrocities in the military detention facilities.
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