Those crazy blue helmets...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article350765.ece

Quote :

"Britain and US in talks over closing Guantanamo Bay he US has asked the British government for advice in preparation for closing down the notorious prison camp at Guantanamo Bay by sending hundreds of alleged al-Qa'ida fighters back to their home countries, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Senior Bush administration figures have asked British officials for advice on how to hand alleged terrorists over to regimes with a reputation for torture and extra-judicial killings, such as Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Pakistan. President Bush is under intense and growing international pressure to close down the notorious camp in Cuba, where more than 500 alleged Islamist terrorists and Taliban fighters are being held without trial. Legal sources in the US have confirmed that senior Bush officials want to send most of these men, including senior aides to Osama bin Laden and at least five British residents, to be imprisoned in their home countries - a process that could start within weeks. Last week, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asked British ministers about the Government's controversial attempts to deport terror suspects living in the UK back to their home countries in North Africa and the Middle East. So far the Government has signed three deals with Lebanon, Jordan and Libya in which they undertake not to abuse terror suspects sent back from Britain. The Government was forced to release more than a dozen alleged al-Qa'ida figures from high-security prisons last year after the House of Lords ruled ministers had breached the Human Rights Act by detaining the men without trial. The US is not bound by similar legislation, but it feels stung by the intense global criticism of its conduct at Guantanamo Bay."

Just one more example of the administration's pattern: (1) Ignore and scoff at international criticism, (2) Challenge the motives of those who criticize, (3) Adopt their ideas and call them your own.

Whatever. At least it'll be closed.

3/12/2006 5:39:31 PM

Haha, you know, if they're going to face worse treatment in the foreign prisons than in Guantanamo Bay...

Nevermind, that's just evil.

3/12/2006 5:46:50 PM

Oh, I'm not proud of what happens in those other countries, but I'd feel a hell of a lot less responsible for it personally. At the very least, the American flag won't be flying over the facilities where they're being tortured. My tax dollars wouldn't be responsible for the operation.

3/12/2006 5:49:03 PM

Out of sight out of mind...

Well, I guess that's even more of the same.

I can't think of any way to take this that won't sound bad. We keep the prisons and we're evil. We get rid of the prisons and we're sending them off to be treated even worse in other prisons, which could be considered worse by itself...

Eh, oh well why don't they just do it. Maybe people will shut the hell up about the prison.

3/12/2006 5:54:16 PM

Of course they would, and for the same reason I'd probably quiet down about it. It wouldn't entirely be out of mind, though. I acknowledge that torture is a terrible thing and shouldn't happen in today's world, but I'd feel a lot less responsible for it if my tax dollars, my troops, and my country aren't involved in it.

I don't feel as bad about complicity as I do about direct involvement.

3/12/2006 6:59:28 PM

Git-mo-duuun!

:proceeds to blow own brains out after telling such a shitty joke:

3/12/2006 7:00:26 PM

so basically we've held all these guys for years.

they're probably shitheads, but obviously if we're sending them home, we're not going to charge them or kill them.

so now they're really pissed off and going home only to be busted out of their prison in pakistan or wherever by other shitheads.

great. gg bush. gg.

3/12/2006 8:54:52 PM

^ Trust me, most of them are not "going home." They are going to vanish into Pakistani or Iraqi prisons, never to be seen again, except for a few cases which will be tracked for the benefit of the public at large.

3/12/2006 10:18:00 PM

they should just fucking excecute those god damned terrorists.

3/13/2006 2:23:27 AM

I know, right? What's awesomer than denying due process?

Freedom is on the march!1

3/13/2006 2:33:25 AM