Guantanamo Video Released

[BeautifulBurnout]

So this is how we treat 16-year-olds.

I feel sick. And ashamed. And we dare to call ourselves "civilised".

[cacophony]

it's probably old news that they held a 16 year old but for some reason i find it so so so so much more disturbing that we're allowing this to happen to minors.

[Sean]

I'm hoping that if Obama wins, this will be high on his list of priorities. I understand the need for a detention center, but the way Guantanamo has been administered has been horrific. How in the world can we ever claim any "moral standing" when things like this are going on?

A quick search turned this up...

“We need to bring to a close this sad chapter in American history, and begin a chapter that passes the might of our military to the freedom of our diplomacy and the power of our alliances. And while we are at it, we can close down Guantanamo and we can restore habeas corpus and we can lead with our ideas and our values.”

-Barack Obama, Richmond, VA, May 8th

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBurnout

So this is how we treat 16-year-olds.

I feel sick. And ashamed. And we dare to call ourselves "civilised".

Well, is there a link to what exactly has been done to him? Because I've seen crying kids before and as gut-wrenchingly sad it is to watch, this one WAS charged with the act of killing a US soldier and 4 other militant crimes. I don't condone torture but I'm also not going to feel sick and ashamed until I know what's been done to him. 16 doesn't even factor in.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Originally Posted by potatobroth

Well, is there a link to what exactly has been done to him? Because I've seen crying kids before and as gut-wrenchingly sad it is to watch, this one WAS charged with the act of killing a US soldier and 4 other militant crimes. I don't condone torture but I'm also not going to feel sick and ashamed until I know what's been done to him. 16 doesn't even factor in.

According to accounts, he was held at Bagram at the age of 15 and tortured there before being rendered to Guantanamo. And yes, he has now been "charged" with throwing a hand-grenade that killed a US soldier.

Some points I would make, however:

a) He is the son of someone alleged to have "high connections" to Al Qaida, which is more likely to be the real reason he was grabbed in the first place. The occupying forces have a history of taking wives and children of suspected "insurgents" into custody as a means of blackmailing the person they are really interested in into making full admissions to whatever they want them to admit to.

b) We seem to be forgetting that we were the invaders. We were the people on foreign soil fighting battles in the villages and the hilltops. Of course he didn't have a uniform on. He was in his family's village, ffs, not in any army. Doesn't anyone remember that ghastly 80s film "Red Dawn", or the more recent "The Patriot"? Maybe he thought he was fighting for his country's freedom.

c) We don't know why he was in Afghanistan - we don't even know whether he is "guilty as charged" until he has a proper trial. (And I don't meet the fukken travesty of a Kangaroo Court that has been set up by the US Military either.)

d) All of the above notwithstanding - he was 15 when he was captured!! He was a child by the standards of any so-called civilised nation. So, yes, age does come into it.

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBurnout

d) All of the above notwithstanding - he was 15 when he was captured!! He was a child by the standards of any so-called civilised nation. So, yes, age does come into it.

thank you. if we recognize an age of majority then we must also recognize minority. there is no precedence for treating a minor to the same legal system as adults, except in situations when that minor has been given a day in court to determine adult responsibility and punishment is appropriate.

at this point it's not even about whether he's guilty as charged. it's that a minor, more than anyone else, MUST be charged and evaluated for his or her level of responsibility. only at that point can we be outraged about the rest of the guantanamo mess where people are held without trial.