Your government is openly torturing people, and justifying it.
After Guantanamo Bay has been exposed and put under some limited
legal scrutiny, this regime has responded by expanding an even more
brutal torture chamber in Afghanistan. After public outcry and the work
of human rights groups and activists, a recent Supreme Court decision
granted some limited due process to detainees at Guantanamo Bay. So
since the Supreme Court decision, the Bush regime has moved very few
detainees to Guantanamo, instead packing a detention center at Bagram
in Afghanistan with as many as 600 detainees.
Conditions at Bagram are even worse than at Guantanamo. The
New York Times reported “Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages,
the detainees and
military sources said, sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until
about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for latrines. Before
recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight except for brief visits to
a small exercise yard.” Few outside visitors are allowed in to observe
conditions, and detainees have been held for up to 2-3 years without
any charges. “Enemy Combatant Review Boards” are held in which the
detainee is not even told of the accusations against him or allowed to
appear before or have legal representation at the board. Given this
regime’s ugly track record, who knows what else goes on behind closed
doors at Bagram.
Once again, the expansion of this torture chamber in Afghanistan
just shows how intent the Bush regime is at forcing its ugly program on
the world, and the need for massive resistance to stop this disastrous
course.
(source: “A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantanamo”, NY Times, 2/26/06)