Git mo Blues ... exposition

posted by The Vidiot @ 6:22 PM Permalink

Lawyers Protest Delayed Notification of Guantanamo Deaths

Attorneys for detainees who committed suicide at the "war on terror" detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba said the military failed to notify them of their clients' deaths for three days, calling the delay unacceptable.
[...]
In a news conference Saturday, General Bantz Craddock*, head of the US Southern Command, and Rear Admiral Harry Harris, the commander at Guantanamo, would not identify the detainees but said none of them were represented by outside lawyers.
[...]
A spokeswoman for CCR said Ahmed and Utaybi were represented by the civil rights group and private lawyers.

She said Zahrani also was represented by CCR because he fell under a habeas petition filed on behalf of all prisoners at Guantanamo whose names had not been disclosed by the Department of Defense (DoD)
[...]
"This is indicative of the DoD's inability to know who they are or identify them properly," said Gitanjali Gutierrez, a lawyer with CCR.

"Its claims that Guantanamo provides good intelligence is belied by the fact that the DoD doesn't know who is there," she said.
[...]
Earlier, the Pentagon Tuesday rebuffed calls by human rights groups for an outside investigation into the suicides.

"I wouldn't expect that," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "The United States is very capable of reviewing its own procedures to determine whether or not any changes need to be made."

He said the incident "will be looked into appropriately."

"If there is one thing the United States military does very well, it is review with a critical eye all its processes and procedures when significant events occur," he said.

Somehow I think his use of the word appropriately is the key to the military's response. They've so appropriately investigated things so far: Abu Ghraib, Ishaqi, Haditha, Guantanamo ... etc, ect, etc.

I'll turn Bushco's words around on them: If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear ... by an outside, impartial investigation.

*Miller would have been the highest-ranking officer to face discipline for detainee abuses so far, but Gen. Bantz Craddock, head of the U.S. Southern Command, declined to follow the recommendation.