Beyond Guantanimo?

March 20, 2005 4:47 AM

Transferring the problem does not transfer the moral responsibility. According to Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, Afghanistan is the hub of a global network of detention centres, the frontline in America's 'war on terror', where arrest can be random and allegations of torture commonplace. I leave it up to each reader to judge for themselves, but if they are right can the world afford to turn a blind eye?
posted by MadOwl (10 comments total)

He who fights with monsters should take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146
posted by temporicide at 5:09 AM on March 20, 2005

I'm from the UK and live in the US, and this makes me ashamed to associated with either.
posted by blindsam at 5:55 AM on March 20, 2005

blindsam: I'm in the same position and I share your feeling. USUK's post 9/11 madness will go in the black pages of the history books. I take some comfort from the fact that Blair did not get the public support for his war crimes that Bush did (and does) for his. Some. But not much.
posted by Decani at 6:33 AM on March 20, 2005

What are we talking about here, exactly?
posted by Witty at 6:36 AM on March 20, 2005

that comment was the finest piece of american performance art i have yet to witness. bravo, Witty!
posted by quonsar at 6:45 AM on March 20, 2005

What are we talking about here, exactly?

I think that would be Afghanistan becoming a hub of a global network of detention centres, the frontline in America's 'war on terror', where arrest can be random and allegations of torture commonplace. Oh, and in Iraq, and through out the middle East, where terror suspects are handed over to the Saudi and Syrian governments.

It there anything else we can help you with, Witty?
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 7:54 AM on March 20, 2005

Thank you Blind Owl. I do not always get to read the Grauniad. Why can no mainstream US publication tell it like it is. Here is a google news search for Afghanistan detention centres. It amazes me that no mainstream US publication seems fit to mention anything to do with this. Is Amerika completely in denial about what it is doing. Seriously - this is not a troll - I spend about 4 months of the year in USA and apart from Atlantic Monthly and Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, ignorance about US behavior against the "war on terror" seems to be the norm apart from the TV appearances of politicos mouthing banal generalities.
Witty - Pratish comment - what is reported here is the blatent disregard for human rights by the administration of the country you live in and presumably voted in. You seem to agree with this stance by your trollish inability to comment usefully to this thread.
The seemingly willful ignoring of this disregard by the US mainstream media. .
posted by adamvasco at 9:25 AM on March 20, 2005

We're not exactly occupying the moral high ground with "dentention centers," sanctioned torture and extraordinary rendition, are we?

This is what happens when the nutcases are in charge.
posted by nofundy at 10:03 AM on March 20, 2005

And those that should be incarcerated go free. Kidnappers released by US armed forces via UK Independent on Sunday
posted by adamvasco at 1:48 PM on March 20, 2005

Schiavo Schiavo Schiavo!
Hey, look over there - something shiny!
posted by spazzm at 2:59 PM on March 20, 2005