Habeas Schmabeas
If you get a chance, take a listen to this week's This American Life. They're exploring the detainees at Guantanamo and talking to a couple of detainees who have since been released. We can't know how well they represent most of the detainees who are still there, but these individuals clearly had no valid reason for their imprisonment. One put out a satirical magazine in Pakistan (watch your backs, Onion editors!). Another didn't even do that much to get under the military's skin but were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the arguments the White House has given for holding the detainees is that they were captured on the battlefield. That may be true for some, but others were captured because the military was offering bounties for terrorists, and people just turned in random individuals for the cash. This is a very disturbing hour that should get as wide distribution as possible.
(If you miss the episode this week, it'll be available in Real Audio archives on the This American Life Website in a week or so.)
posted by Doug @ 1:28 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Definitely an interesting program. I caught bits and pieces as I was driving around last night & earlier today, and I definitely need to sit down and lsiten to the whole thing straight through.
Meanwhile, though, here's a link to the Seton Hall Law School analysis of the Guantanamo prisoners that was mentioned during the broadcast:
http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_report_final_2_08_06.pdf
One eye-opener in the report (which was highlighted by the program) is that only 5% of the detainees were captured by Americans, and 86% of the detainees were captured by Pakistani or Northern Alliance forces at a time when the U.S. was paying large bounties for captures.
Thanks for that link, Jason. The report is filled with information, but its reading style is still very accessible. I wish it were dated, though. There are a few references to February 2006, which indicates that it's new, but it would be good to have a nice, easy reference to when it was completed.
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