Gitmo Suicides

Remember back in June, 3 inmates at the Guantanamo Bay Military prison, committed suicide. The bleeding hearts would have us believe, the mean Americans bullied and harassed these poor souls, who were just picking posies in Tora Bora, so much their only option was to commit suicide.

Gitmo was branded a "great stain" on the human rights record of the US. I wonder if anyone is monitoring the human rights record of al-Qaeda. The military and the politicians were quick to assure us, the bodies would be treated humanely and with utmost respect, we wouldn't want another flushed Koran incident would we, imagine hurting the feelings of those who would have the lots of us blown to pieces.

When the news broke, I remember hearing on the radio, the presenter exchanging views with the America correspondent on this issue; they were all but ready to take the wet lettuce to Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., the facility's commander, who described the suicides as acts of "asymmetric warfare." A diplomat described it as a PR stunt.

Oh how could he be so insensitive? I would be surprised if, in this touchy-feely new age world, both have not been reassigned to practice diplomacy somewhere in Siberia or monitor the ice caps, and were both wishing for some of the much whined about global warming.

"They are smart. They are creative, they are committed," he said. "They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

See here for more whining and sensitivity.

Well now that the dust has settled and the media is busy crucifying the army elsewhere, it seems there is some truth to what the 'mean' Rear Admiral was saying.

Detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba may have planned three suicides there last month by exchanging messages on note paper that was provided by lawyers and generally not scrutinized by guards because of confidentiality rules, the government has asserted in court papers.

In the cell of one of the detainees who died, the authorities said, investigators found a hand-written message from another prisoner on notepaper marked "privileged attorney-client material."

Several other notes said to be relevant to the suicides were later discovered in prisoners' cells and plastic bins where detainees keep their personal possessions, according to a chronology of the investigation.

One of the notes offered guidance on knot-tying, court records said, although it is not clear if the three detainees were aware of the instructions when they hanged themselves with torn sheets and clothing.

Another set of notes marked privileged and "potentially authored by at least two of the deceased detainees" were found in the cell of a living detainee, according to court documents. One detainee also used envelopes marked attorney-client that were found to hold government documents that investigators said might have been classified.

Here's the clincher.

Because all three of the men who died had never been visited by attorneys, government lawyers said the evidence "indicated the passing of materials and messages between detainees and that some level of planning or coordination of the suicides had taken place."

I await patiently for the outcome. Meanwhile,

The Army general investigating whether military personnel tried to cover up any part of the alleged massacre of up to two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha late last year has completed a voluminous report on the incident.

Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell sent his report to Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking commander in Iraq, U.S. military officials announced Friday. No information about his findings was provided.

Again I await patiently, if the findings are favourable, then we'll probably have to do a bit of digging before we can find it. If the findings prove there was a cover up, I'm sure we can depend on the MSM to give it front page coverage.