Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(February 2002)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
The Guantanimo Bay situation.
I understand that the first group of al-Queda and Taliban
prisoners being held by US Forces in Afghanistan are enroute
from Kandahar airbase in Afghanistan to Guantanimo Bay,
Cuba.
The prisoners are being relocated to the Guantanimo camp
in Cuba for intensive debriefing and interrogations, which
the report that I have seen states "may last for several
years".
These are very dangerous individuals and must be treated
as such. It will be interesting to see what kind of trial
these prisoners get.
 There
is a lot of opposition from Human Rights Organizations as
to the validity of the proposed Military Tribunals, and
the closed door trials.
There is much debate as to whether these Afghan fighters
should be classified as terrorists or prisoners of war.
There's one thing for sure, that even if they are ever released,
the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist prisoners will probably
not wish to return voluntarily to the extreme poverty and
deprivation they experienced in their previous life in Afghanistan.
The United States presence at Guantanamo Bay, where the
United States rents the base for the amazing sum of $4,000
per annum, (the checks for which, I understand have never
been cashed by the Cuban Government).
The presence of United States Forces at the Guantanimo base
has been a bone of contention with the communists since
the Revolution in 1959.
Wonder what Fidel Castro and the Cuban people are thinking
about the relocation of such dangerous criminals to their
Island, and what's more, what will he and the people of
Cuba do about this imposition.
Coincidence: During the American Civil War in the early
1860s, a problem arose with respect to determining the status
of captured Confederate troops as to whether they should
be considered "Prisoners of War".
I'm not quite sure as to the final solution but I understand
that they were incarcerated in various Forts at several
locations.
It is questionable as to if they faced trial and for what
crimes, but it eventually transpired that they were released
and told to find their own way home.
I acknowledge that it is a different time, different place,
and different degree of behavior, but there appears to be
an interesting similarity in determining the status of the
Guantanimo "Detainees" (as they are now known),
with the combatants of the American Civil War.
Perhaps you maybe aware that it has been suggested that
one of the reasons that the Island of Cuba was chosen to
house the Afghan prisoners, (detainees), is the fact that
as they are not on American soil they therefore are not
subject to trial under United States laws and can be tried
by military tribunal. Interesting, and shall we say more
than a little devious
|
