U.S. lawmakers tour Guantanamo Bay prison

[sabra]

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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1119719111987_27/?hub=World

U.S. lawmakers tour Guantanamo Bay prison
Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — American lawmakers on Saturday were touring the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists for the first time since recent harsh condemnation of Guantanamo detainees' treatment and renewed demands that the camp close.

"Guantanamo has become a lightening rod," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif.

She was one of 16 members of the House Armed Services Committee who were on a one-day fact-finding trip. Sens Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., were visiting the prison separately.

.....

The chairman of the House committee, Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), said such criticism amounted to "wild accusations." Hunter, R-Calif., blamed "propagandists" for spreading "rumor and innuendo" to hurt the U.S.

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[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. interesting

that the people saying "wild accusations", et al, all have an R after their names.

[bunkerbuster1]

2. I couldn't help but think of another time and place...

When the Red Cross representative appeared before this young mother, she remembers being asked how it was to live in Terezin during those days. Her reply implored the questioner to look around. Be sure and look around, as she herself rolled her own widely opened eyes around in an exaggerated manner. The Red Cross reported dryly that while war time conditions made all life difficult, life at Terezin was acceptable given all of the pressures. The Red Cross concluded that the Jews were being treated all right.

from
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/terezin.html

oops. Mustn't make those analogies, lest I have to apologize later.

[rodeodance]

3. notice that HUNTER the gitmo 'menu' man is along on this trip--maybe

if we are lucky he will bring back some more menus??????

[americanstranger]

4. He's only there for the roast chicken.

And the two pieces of fruit, of course.

-as

[Patty Diana]

8. and don't forget those fresh vegatables

what a fuckup this guy is

[Igel]

5. Terezin was a very strange place.

It was a way station. If it hadn't become overcrowded, it--by itself--wouldn't have been a problem. As it was, it was a way of lulling victims into acquiescence, making them compliant, and warehousing them in what were intended to be good conditions until they could be sent to the slaughter. (Now this is *one* kind of claim I haven't heard about Gitmo.)

From the same page:

"Terezin developed a deep feeling of family according to many of the survivors. As larger numbers of people were crammed into smaller spaces, a sense of community deepened. In the town of Terezin, the population had normally been around 5,000 people before the war. At the height of the war, the Ghetto/Concentration Camp Terezin held over 55,000 Jews. As a consequence, starvation and disease proved rampant. Thousands died of malnutrition and exposure. Their bodies were cremated at the small crematorium with its four gas ovens.

"This was not a death camp, by the usual definition. There is no way to compare Terezin to Auschwitz-Birkenau or Treblinka or any of the other death camps where hundreds of thousands were gassed or murdered in other ways each year. Terezin, by comparison was a place to which people would apply so as to avoid a worse fate.

"The elderly and families were brought in large numbers to Terezin. Then, in large groups, they were transported to the East, to Auschwitz-Birkenau, when it was fully operational in late 1942. There, the elderly were sent immediately to the gas chambers while the younger inmates who still could work, were temporarily spared. Terezin families were, in some instances, kept together at Birkenau, in family barracks, until their fate was met."

[bunkerbuster1]

7. A strange place, and certainly not Gitmo.

Reading the OP, I was just reminded of stories I'd heard about a "show ghetto" the Nazis had for Red Cross inspectors during the war, and wanted to learn more, and then post a link.

The only thing analogous, really, is the idea that reports on these well-prepped-for "inspections" are worth about as much as the paper they aren't printed on, is all.

[habitual]

6. What a spectacle

it is all bullshit, what are they expecting to catch an interrogator torturing somebody while they happen to be there. Everyone knows how to 'clean up' before inspection. give me a break, what is the purpose of this other than to fuck us when they come back and say "conditions are actually great there" MFs

[lumpy]

10. Spiffy up the place

"Now every one be on their best behavior, get in there and clean up those toilets".

[Patty Diana]

9. US acknowleges torture at Gitmo, in Iraq and Afghanistan_thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1577637