CNN breaking: 3 Detainees in Gauntanamo "Committed Suicide"

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

More to come.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060610/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guantanamo_suicides_2

WASHINGTON - Three detainees at Guantanamo Bay committed suicide in what apparently was a joint pact to protest the U.S. military prison that holds suspected terrorists, a senior administration official said Saturday.

It was not immediately clear when the inmates died. The United States is holding about 460 men at the Cuban facility on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Very little more at this time.

CNN reporting that this is the first time a detainee has committed suicide at Guantanamo.

And now three at once?


And to think, we used to be the good guys.

[Crunchy Frog]

1. Our poor administration.

What a PR nightmare for them.:sarcasm:

[Terran1212]

41. UN General Assembly should vote to reccomend closing the place

[maddezmom]

2. Tom Yossarian Joad here is the link please edit your OP

thanks :hi:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060610/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guantanamo_suicides_2

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. Thanks. Did a search and must have missed it.

:hi:

[daleo]

3. This will raise suspicions around the world

Suicide? Hunger strike? Tortured to death? Slipped in the shower?

[IndianaGreen]

5. The US was force feeding the prisoners on a hunger strike

Force feeding can kill people!

Some articles about Guantanamo:

Guantanamo: American Gulag I represent six Kuwaiti prisoners, each of whom has now spent nearly four years at Guantanamo. It took me 2 1/2 years to gain access to my clients, ...

www.commondreams.org/views06/0226-20.htm


US Still Holds Child Detainees at Guantanamo Two demonstrators dressed as Guantanamo detainees kneel outside the US embassy in ... The detentions without trial at Guantanamo Bay have drawn worldwide ...

www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0116-02.htm


Halliburton to Build New Cells at Guantanamo Base The prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station has played a major part in the US war ... The fate of the prisoners being held at Guantanamo is still uncertain. ...

www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0727-02.htm


The Guantanamo Inquisition Our treatment of war prisoners in Guantanamo Bay violates the Geneva ... A courtroom is being built at Guantanamo for their trial by a special three judge ...

www.commondreams.org/views03/1128-08.htm


Shut Down Guantanamo Earlier this year, Channel 4 in Britain aired "The Guantanamo Guidebook" as part of a ... Either way, there's only one remedy: Close down Guantanamo. ...

www.commondreams.org/views05/1106-25.htm


The Children of Guantanamo Bay The notorious US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay has been hit by fresh allegations of human rights abuses, with claims that dozens of children were sent ...

www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0528-03.htm -

[acmavm]

6. Maybe their weapons accidentally went off like all the mysterious

suicides of our military personnel in Iraq.

:sarcasm:

[DBoon]

16. Hung themselves while trying to escape?

nt

[daleo]

19. Lol, that's a good one. n/t

[Zhade]

38. Slipped and fell on a bullet.

NT!

[Just Me]

7. Wouldn't you? I sure as hell would. No due process or justice,...

,...24/7 psychological/physical abuse and detainment,...all on the basis of "suspicion of links",...total psy-op brainwashing clinic (along with the others spread around the globe). Death or liberty!!! I'd rather die.

Wouldn't you?

[ContraBass Black]

55. Yes I would. Absolutely.

And I'd do it much sooner.

[Thickasabrick]

8. I wonder if it was some of the young ones that were kids when

captured.....this is so sad.

[Ghost Dog]

9. Reuters (1st report) here:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-06-10T185225Z_01_N10232278_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SECURITY-GUANTANAMO.xml

Three Guantanamo detainees die in suicides - US army
Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:52 PM BST

MIAMI (Reuters) - Three foreign prisoners being held at the U.S. navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, died on Saturday in apparent suicides, the U.S. military said.

"Two Saudis and one Yemeni, each located in Camp 1, were found unresponsive and not breathing in their cells by guards," U.S. Southern Command said in a statement.

The military said attempts to resuscitate the detainees failed and they were pronounced dead by a physician at Guantanamo, which holds just under 500 foreigners captured mainly in the U.S. war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

<snip>

The names of the deceased -- the first deaths at Guantanamo since it started being used as a prison camp in 2002 -- were not released.

The U.S. military said the bodies were being treated "with the utmost respect." An investigation had begun, it said.

/more...

:-( May Allah Have Mercy On Their Souls.

[thereismore]

18. Bodies treated with utmost respect. I wonder what that means.

May God have mercy on our souls.

[umtalal]

58. Sad, sad, sad.

Amen, may Allah have mercy on their soul.

[LibDemAlways]

70. How ironic that the military felt compelled to assure us

that their remains were being "with the utmost respect" when, while they were alive, they were at the very least, constantly humiliated, and at worst, tortured to the point where death became an attractive alternative.

[BlueStorm]

10. I don't blame them...

I think I would have done the same given the conditions that they were in. I would definately feel trapped and hopeless. The detainees are being held there illegally according to the Geneva Convention and to them there is no way out but death...

very sad indeed.

Blue

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. They are interviewing an attorney that has been down there

and he stated "Why do you assume it happened today?"

The interviewer said "that's what the government said."

Denbroe (sp?) says: "I wouldn't believe anything the government says in regard to Guantanamo."

It was a pretty damning interview for the conditions down there.

[struggle4progress]

12. How could they possibly "commit suicide"? No details.

[NYC]

83. Strange that it wasn't stated.

I was wondering how they committed suicide. What could they use? It strikes me as strange that the article does not say how they committed suicide, even though it says the guards tried to resuscitate them.

It's very curious.

Edit: I found this:

From: Reuters

June 11, 2006

Gitmo
Deaths ... inmates found "unresponsive and not breathing"

THE commander of the US Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Rear Admiral Harry Harris has described the overnight suicide of three inmates "as an act of war".
Three foreign prisoners were found dead overnight after hanging themselves with clothing and bedsheets in the first deaths at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since the prison opened in January 2002, US defence officials said.>>>>>>>

Why are they called "foreign" prisoners? Who else is there? Americans? Cubans? Who is not foreign to Guantanamo?

Second edit:

One defense official, who requested anonymity because the details had not been made public yet, said that initial reports were that two of the detainees hanged themselves while the third suffocated or choked himself.

[daleo]

13. So no lurid trophy photos this time.

"The U.S. military said the bodies were being treated "with the utmost respect.""

[DemonFighterLives]

73. No framed matte photos

:cry:

[longship]

14. Was this reported before or after the alien abductation story?

Enquiring minds want to know!

[Thickasabrick]

15. Couldn't resist. The freepers are really happy about this...those

are some sick people over there. They automatically assume these were bad people....how in the hell do they know? I try not to hate people but when I read some of their shit....it's really hard. :(

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

17. That's not surprising.

They are one of the most hate filled groups of people I have ever known of.

[Mr_Spock]

20. Freepers would kill and eat their own mothers for a dollar

They are human skum.

[Zhade]

39. OUR freepers, or FR's freepers?

Kinda hard to tell sometimes...

[Thickasabrick]

44. FR's Freepers....There are DU Freepers?????

[Zhade]

50. You'll see them eventually.

They kinda stick out like blood on a white floor.

[niallmac]

21. This really sucks.

Who the hell knows who they were or why they were there? No f'ing trial. No media.
C'mon Ameruka. This makes us the bad guys we suppose we are fighting.
I am sooooooooo god damned tired of war and death and the republican
love affair with hate and self interest.

[MyDogSpot]

28. Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we ...

and more bullshit after more bullshit.

[bvar22]

22. My Gitmo rant.

Secret Detentions, Secret Prisons, Secret Tribunals are an insult to EVERYTHING I believe in as an American!

The Forefathers made it clear that Human Beings are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.."--Declaration of Independence

The forefathers MADE IT CLEAR that our rights do NOT come from the government, but solely from the fact that we are Human Beings!
An attempt to argue that the Protections in our Constitution are ONLY for some Human Beings remind me of Animal Farm where "some" animals were more equal than others." Arguing that Constitutional Rights extend ONLY to US Citizens indicates a PROFOUND misunderstanding about America and the values this country claims to stand for.

It is very simple. You either believe that our country was founded on values that extend beyond mere governments, and that our sacred documents restrict Government, or you Don't believe it.



GITMO DEPRIVES ME OF MY RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN!!!

The right of Due Process and Public Trial was specified not ONLY to protect those detained by our Government, but it also confers on me, an American Citizen, the RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to observe the Government in action. It is MY RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to OVERSEE the government. It is absurd to argue that this RESPONSIBILITY is limited by our National Borders. There is NOWHERE in the WORLD where those who serve in MY NAME should be able to hide from the supervision of the American People. The Forefathers GAVE the PEOPLE the responsibility of Supervising the Government! Whenever those who serve IN MY NAME willfully hide the actions of MY government, something is BAD wrong!

It is MY RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY as an American Citizen:

*to know the NAMES and ORIGIN of those who are being held captive IN MY NAME!

*to HEAR their OWN story in their OWN words delivered in a PUBLIC Forum

*to study the evidence and testimony of those who have accused them

*to hear and study ANY evidence that the accused can present in his/her defense

I DEMAND that my government HONOR my RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES as an American Citizen.
The secret detention centers and secret tribunals are an INSULT and an ABOMINATION to ALL American Citizens, and a direct violation of the Limits imposed on Government in our Constitution!

[daleo]

24. 30 years ago, the Soviets had the Gitmos.

And the U.S. deplored it then.

[MyDogSpot]

26. The US is the most shameful country on the planet right now.

[anitar1]

62. Thank you for expressing my feelings, My Dog Spot.

[DemonFighterLives]

74. You are completely right

Rant On dude!
:yourock:

:dem:

[Up2Late]

23. Here's a report from BBC News, not much new yet.

I suspect this is just old news that AP is trying to play off as new, because they just found a need to report it.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5068228.stm>

Also Reuters:

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=12488892&src=rss/topNews>

[MyDogSpot]

25. How old were these detainees? Octagenarians?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

29. Why would the age matter?

[MyDogSpot]

69. Like the babies at Haditha,

I suppose age shouldn't matter.

Take a life, or imprison one w/o cause, what difference does age make?

[babylonsister]

27. The skepticism I'm witnessing on DU is shocking, I tell ya!

You all sound like you have any doubts about the very sincerity of the reports coming from the Pentagon!

[Pachamama]

30. I don't believe an effing word this Administration spews!!!!

Do you? :shrug:

[babylonsister]

32. I debated whether I should use the

:sarcasm: but figured it wouldn't be necessary. And this thread already has an abundance of them! :hi:
But to answer your question, I have never had any faith in this admin and know something happened at Gitmo we aren't being told about. That's standard ops with these cretins.

[Zhade]

40. ...

:spray:

[anitar1]

63. But , I do! n/t

[The Stranger]

31. Never indicted, much less convicted, which means they were innocent.

Let Madame Defarge continue her curious knitting . . . , knitting, knitting, knitting . . .

[Ghost Dog]

35. Curious Google ads I'm seeing offered

(at least to me) right now in relation to this thread:

At topof page:

Provisioning
Comprehensive Solutions for Enterprise Security Management.

Get RoI from ID Managemnt
White paper for CIOs calculating real RoI from User Provisioning

Two Factor Authentication
Strong Authentication for Laptops and Workstations. Cross Platform.

Two Factor Authentication
Secure your digital identity with world class technology

At foot of page:

User Authentication
Authenticate with top industry solutions. Insightful whitepapers.

Active@ Password Changer
Boot disk to reset passwords for Windows XP 2000 2003 NT. Free Demo.

Secure password
Secure your web and VPN with one time password

Password Storage
Never lose any login info again. Only $19.95. Free trial available.

:shrug:

[xchrom]

33. i will -- cause no one else did -- ZARQAWI!

guatanamo has to go down in history as one of america's lowest points.

it is absolutely antithetical to our founding.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

34. Remember Duncan Hunter?

Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California, supports the administration's efforts to convince the public that detainees are well treated. Hunter recently showed journalists samples of food for the detainees that respects Islamic beliefs.

"This is lemon fish. And this is what the 20th hijacker and Osama bin Laden's bodyguards will be eating this week in Guantanamo," Hunter said.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/06/7809adb9-40d3-4169-a5b6-15271d24b736.html

I guess they didn't like the Lemon Fish, Duncan.

[DemonFighterLives]

75. I saw him when he went there like a year ago

What a clown. He made it sound like they were in the lap of luxury with red carpets between the dog cages.
:freak:
What a jerk!

[leftchick]

36. there were 89 on a hunger strike for the last few weeks

I can't imagine they can force feed them all. The USA has become The Soviet Union with our very own Gulags! :puke:

[onehandle]

37. Another Victory in the War on Terrorism!

Those three killers could have been in my living room in minutes!

Thank you, Fearless Leader!

[mom cat]

42. When were we the good guys? That is such a hollow myth.

An evening or two with Howard Zinn's Peoples History should prick that festering boil of self serving lies.

[IDemo]

43. Military: Gitmo suicides 'an act of warfare'

Incredible:

Detainees hanged themselves in ‘act of warfare,’ U.S. military says

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 5:43 p.m. ET June 10, 2006

WASHINGTON - Three detainees at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, committed suicide by hanging themselves with clothing and bedsheets, U.S. defense officials said Saturday.

"They are smart. They are creative, they are committed. They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of ...warfare waged against us," Rear Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said in a telephone news conference.

Harris said the suicides were "clearly a planned event, not a spontaneous event."

The suicides were the first reported deaths at the detention center where many suspected terrorists have been held for as long as 4½ years without charge.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13246132/

[countmyvote4real]

45. "clearly a planned event, not a spontaneous event"

A spontaneous death is usually an accicent. And aren't most suicides planned? Good grief.

[Thickasabrick]

46. When you think you've heard it all.....unfuckingbelievable. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

49. Oh, hell yes! Unfuckingbelievable.

:wow:

How dare they "kill themselves" and thereby make our Dear Leaders within The Pentagon look bad. :sarcasm:

[Thickasabrick]

54. I'm sure Dubya is bummed about this......this took all

the headlines and attention away from his latest trophy kill...not to mention those pesky insurgents beheading 3 people. He's wondering...."why can't these people just follow my script?" :banghead:

[DemonFighterLives]

76. It is perfectly fine for us to kill them on the mean streets

But God forbid they should kill themselves while in our loving care.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

47. OMFG. We truly live in Bizarro World. An act of "warfare?"

Jesus, these people will say anything.

[MisterP]

48. is this like charging a 15yo with "war crimes" like we are?

[Rose Siding]

52. The old 'people in dungeons throwing themselves into walls' war tactic

Ingenius.

[brer cat]

57. OMG! Do I feel safe now!

Lifting a quote from your post: "I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of ...warfare waged against us," Rear Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said in a telephone news conference."

Committing suicide is an act of warfare against us??? Well, I'm sure glad they didn't commit suicide in MY backyard...that would have required a whole lot more duct tape for my homeland security.

:sarcasm:

[TahitiNut]

59. El Smirk found hisself a kindred pathological narcissist to command Gitmo.

It takes a pathological narcissist to blame three people dead of suicide for victimizing him!! It's all about him. Empathy? None. Compassion? None. Impact? Not on their families or loved ones - it's only about how mean they were to HIM!

Rear Admiral Harry Harris Junior should be locked up in a padded cell adjoining El Smirk's. The man's insane! He makes Nicholson's character look like a choir boy! With someone like that in command at Gitmo's prison camp, there's no fucking leash on the troops there. God only knows what goes on. As a vet, I can think of few nightmares greater than that,

:puke:

"They are smart, they are creative, they are committed," said Rear Adm. Harry Harris Jr., the (prison camp) commander at Guantanamo. "They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/11/GITMO.TMP

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

67. Yoy pegged him. It is insanity.

[DemonFighterLives]

77. That is what I thought

"Their" brains are gone! The turrowists made him look bad and therefore mad.
:crazy:

[Xipe Totec]

60. They did it just to piss us off?

Adm. Harris called the suicides an act of war.

Can you smell the stench of cognitive dissonance?

This is unbelievable!

[Ghost Dog]

65. Yeah. That 'act of war' spin is going down very well

on the news here in Spain this morning ... :sarcasm:

Looks like major remediary spin-control of the first spew-spin will be required ofthe US admin...

[Xipe Totec]

80. Rediéz! You're in Spain?

You Lucky Dog!

[Judi Lynn]

64. You have to be a very sick critter to see a suicide by someone alone

in his room with NO EXPLOSIVES which could hurt anyone else, as an ACT OF WAR. Good godalmighty.

If you found yourself thinking like that, you might feel it's time to go for psychological help. Something's wrong.

Here's the great thinker, Rear Admiral Harry Harris, Commander, Joint Task Force, Guantanamo:

[leftchick]

68. are you fucking kidding me?

:argh:

I hate what ameriKa has become!

:argh:

[otherlander]

78. How the fuck can suicide be an act of warfare?

Jesus Christ... Greatest motherfucking country on earth, aren't we?

[Rex]

51. Sure they did.

People get 'suicided' all the time; shotgun to the face in a car, jumping off the State Department building barefoot, 'falling' from a hotel window, sudden (terminal) brain cancer, the list goes on and on.

When will those people in Guantanamo get their 'day in court'? Never, that's when. :(

[otherlander]

79. To tell you the truth...

I think it was suicide. I mean, God knows there have been enough suicide attempts there in the past. So now one group finally succeeded in escaping by the only means possible.

The last suicide attempts, they tried to write off as being "staged", didn't they? To lure guards into a trap... Oh, yes, what a carefully-planned trap that was. Because fighting men with guns with fan-parts clearly shows premeditation, doesn't it? :sarcasm: :banghead:

[Rex]

82. It would be an option if I was being held without terms or conditions.

Sadly, now that I've had some time to think about it I agree with you. :(

[AlCzervik]

53. How prisoners at GITMO are actually charged with something?

like 5% or less? How can this continue?

[Synnical]

56. AP: Military says three detainees apparently commit suicide at Guantanamo

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0610gitmo,0,6125090.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press Writer
Posted June 10 2006, 5:32 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Three detainees at Guantanamo Bay apparently committed suicide amid protests of the U.S. military prison by inmates, the Defense Department said Saturday. They were the first reported deaths at the detention center where many suspected terrorists have been held for as long as 4½ years without charge.

Two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found ``unresponsive and not breathing in their cells'' early Saturday, according to a statement from the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive the prisoners, but failed.

One defense official, who requested anonymity because the details had not been made public yet, said that initial reports were that two of the detainees hanged themselves while the third suffocated or choked himself.

Pentagon officials said the three men were in Camp 1, the highest maximum security prison at Guantanamo, and that none of them had tried to commit suicide before. That camp was also the location where two detainees tried to commit suicide in mid-May, when a riot broke out at the facility. The two men, who took overdoses of an anti-anxiety medication they hoarded, were found and received medical treatment and were recovering.

[lovuian]

61. Everybody told Bush to shut it down!!!

This is extremely BAD Karma!!!

[Judi Lynn]

66. Senators queries Pentagon on letters from detainees

Posted on Fri, Jun. 09, 2006
Senators queries Pentagon on letters from detainees
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
Knight Ridder Newspapers

MIAMI - Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy is asking the Pentagon to explain why the military is withholding letters a Guantanamo detainee wrote U.S. lawmakers from behind the razor wire at Camp Delta.

``Is this really happening?'' the Vermont senator and senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee scrawled across the bottom of a letter this week to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He asked for an answer by Monday.

At issue are 98 handwritten letters that Pakistani captive Saifullah Paracha, 58, wrote between February and May to most of the U.S. senators and Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress.

``He says that he and all the others demand justice,'' Paracha's attorney Gaillard Hunt told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview Friday, explaining that the man accused of terrorist ties sent him the letters a month ago for delivery.
(snip/...)

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/14783446.htm

[Zynx]

71. Assuming that it was suicide, of course they did. They have no hope of

getting out and they are being tortured. What would you do?

[DemonFighterLives]

72. It is becoming the death camp

that I always thought it was.

This place should close before the World closes it for us. The prisoners should be turned over to some sort of UN authority or World Court.
:argh:

[RamboLiberal]

81. Did you know O' Reilly was reporting live from Gitmo this week

Wonder if any connection?

Bill O'Reilly On Location In Guantanamo
Reported by Deborah - June 06, 2006
O'Reilly announced his plans to travel to Gitmo this week during a segment tonight about the new Army Field Manual on interrogation which omits part of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions forbidding "humiliating and degrading treatment". O'Reilly told Lt Bill Cowan and Sgt. Major Eric Haney that he planned to interview the Guantanamo interrogators.
6/6/06

Lt. Cowan pointed out that this war was going to continue for 30, 40, even 60 years and it would be better if we didn't proceed with our " hands tied behind our backs". Sgt. Major Haney argued that we shouldn't try to "out brutalize them" claiming , "It will not be a manual on torture."

O'Reilly did the dance of rationalization questioning what defined humiliating and degrading treatment wondering if it was something like "mocking a turban". He stressed that we need to do whatever is best for the country.

comment: We can all rest easy now that Bill O'Reilly is traveling down to Gitmo to get the real story. It will probably be the same kind of truth that Sean Hannity delivered about Terry Schiavo when he camped outside her hospice last year? This could get interesting.

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/06/06/bill_oreilly_on_location_in_guantanamo.php