One of my Philosophy classes this semester recently hosted Darius Rejali, the world’s leading expert on torture. While the subject matter may seem fairly morbid, Rejali had some fascinating insights, particularly his assertion that modern democracies have been leading innovators in torture. According to Rejali, in democracies, torture has to be a lot cleaner and less visible since there is the potential for outcry from various members of society, like the free press and human rights organizations.
But there was something Rejali said that really stuck with me. He rather casually mentioned that the only evidence brought against eight detainees at Guantanamo was that they were wearing Casio watches, supposedly a favorite “accessory” for Al Qaeda. As much as I loathe this administration, I’ll admit my initial skepticism at this claim. Well, it turns out Rejali was (sadly) right.
The prisoners, who stand accused of links to al-Qaida or to the Taliban in Afghanistan, say they have been shocked that wearing a cheap watch sold worldwide could be used against them. Even guards at Guantanamo wear Casios, noted Usama Hassan Ahmend Abu Kabir, a Jordanian accused of belonging to a group linked to al-Qaida, the terror organization that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. “I have a Casio watch due to the fact that they are inexpensive and they last a long time,” the 34-year-old detainee told a tribunal. “I like my watch because it is durable. It had a calculator and was waterproof, and before prayers we have to wash up all the way to my elbows.”
This makes me wonder what other sorts of “evidence” are being used against Gitmo detainees. Of course, this only matters if such individuals even get trials. Just yesterday, the military dropped war crimes charges against 5 Gitmo detainees, a month after the Prosecutor handling their cases resigned. Colonel Vandeveld claims, among various other things, that evidence favorable to the defense was withheld. According to the military, these 5 men will not be released. Oh, and did I mention that Bush will keep Guantanamo open until he leaves office (only 88 days, yay!!). Worse yet, he didn’t even consider any proposals to transfer the detainees elsewhere, effectively passing the buck to the next President. Sounds like the theme of his entire Presidency.
So, yeah, to all those people who claim that history will be much kinder to Bush, I respectfully disagree. This man is a miserable failure and the fact that he wasn’t able to show any sort of moral leadership on the issue of torture is telling. Every policy put forth by him in the last 8 years has been a disaster and not surprisingly, his own party including Mr. “I Voted with Bush 90% of the Time” is running away from him like the plague. No, Bush will go down as one of the worst Presidents in history and if there was a God, he would have been impeached ages ago, along with Cheney.
-Indira
