Red Cross Hit Hard By Suicide Bombers (Camp X-Ray Alert)

[Whoa_Nelly]

Red Cross Hit Hard By Suicide Bombers

The bombing of the Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad raises a number of serious questions about the role of the international humanitarian organization in modern conflicts.



Exclusive to American Free Press

By Christopher Bollyn



GENEVA, Switzerland—When a powerful car bomb exploded outside the Baghdad headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) the first question was: “Why?”

<snip>
When asked about U.S. compliance with the 3rd Geneva Convention (1949) concerning the treatment of prisoners of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the ICRC “watchdog” appeared to be muzzled.

<snip>
The reported conditions at Guantanamo, however, would constitute violations of the Geneva Convention, and the way in which the detainees were transported from Afghanistan was seen as “inhumane.”

Alif Khan, an Afghan detainee who was later released, described the trip: “They put cuffs and tape on my hands, taped my eyes and taped my ears. They gagged me. They put chains on my legs and chains around my belly. They injected me. I was unconscious. I don’t know how they transported me. When I arrived in Cuba and they took me off the plane they gave another injection and I came back to consciousness. I did not know how long the plane was flying for. It might have been one day or two days. They put me onto a bed on wheels. I could sense what was going on. They tied me up. They took me off the plane into a vehicle. We to a big prison and there were cages there. They built it like a zoo.”

more... (A LOT more...)
http://www.americanfreepress.net/11_01_03/Red_Cross/red_cross.html

[Brucey]

1. What a pathetic mess we have created.

Iraq was relatively calm and safe before we occupied it.

[bpilgrim]

2. i can understand some politicians not wanting to speak out

but for the redcross and hrw to be so timid and sparse with their critism of the illegal detainees not to mention the wars is down right SCARY.

i hope they realize they are our last line of defense to staving off the neoCONs plans of WORLD DOMINATION

:scared:

peace

[Paschall]

3. Thank you. Excellent article on a very important subject

I hope that we'll one day (soon) have Congress call some of these ex-"detainees" to testify openly before the public. We need to know what is being done to these people "in our name."

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. The last paragraph is the most chilling

Goldstone said the military tribunals will not be independent or impartial: “The officers who will preside over those courts are all military officers, subject to the command of their commander in chief, President Bush, has already stated publicly that the people being held on Guantanamo are bad people.”

:scared:

[Paschall]

5. There's the rub

Shrub is judge and jury. And in fact he's done more than say they were "bad people." I distinctly remember him saying they were "killers."

Fair and impartial trial? Don't think so.

[lumpy]

6. And we thought Japanese-Americans during WW2

was bad. There has been too many reports/and visual proof on the conditions at Gitmo to discount the allegations of beastial treatment of detainees. Bush has the power to right this terrible wrong.
By the way I still have the pictures of the bound/strapped and naked young American taken into custody during the Afghanistan invasion. This was my first introduction to the modern treatment extended to US 'prisoners of war'.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Another piece of the truth drips out

This is one of the most disturbing things I've ever read and I read alot of disturbing stuff.

What I would like to know is why is ICRC allowing themselves to be muzzled? Even with walking on tiptoes for the US didn't seem to do much to protect them in Iraq.

Another important item I would like to point out. During the start of US operations in Iraq, the ICRC was reporting the number of dead and wounded Iraqis on a daily basis. On March 24, 2003 these reports were discontinued. Who issued the gag order and why are they complying?

[TahitiNut]

8. Not LBN

This is an ideological opinion piece about old (not latest breaking) news. I'm locking this thread.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation,
TahitiNut - DU moderator