February 26, 2006
US Defends Conditions at Bagram Prison
The New York Times on Sunday reported that inmates are held by the dozen in wire cages at the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul - some for as long as two or three years without access to lawyers or the chance to hear the allegations against them.
[Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages... sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for toilets. Before recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight except for brief visits to a small exercise yard.]*
Col. James Yonts, the U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, would not confirm or deny whether inmates are held for up to three years, saying the secretary of defense sets the criteria for detention. But he added that all those held were at one time "enemy combatants" and their status is regularly reviewed.
The U.S. military maintains that "enemy combatants" are not covered by the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.
The military has not allowed Afghan and international human rights groups access to the Bagram Detention Facility, although it does allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the prisoners.
The Times report described conditions as "primitive." It cited military figures as saying numbers of detainees at Bagram had risen from about 100 at the start of 2004 to as many as 600 at times last year.
It said the increase was in part a result of decision by the U.S. government to shut off the flow of detainees to Guantanamo after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that those prisoners had some basic due-process rights. The report said the question of whether those same rights apply to detainees in Bagram has not been tested in court.
["Guantánamo was a lightning rod," said a former senior administration official who participated in the discussions and who, like many of those interviewed, would discuss the matter only on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy surrounding it. "For some reason, people did not have a problem with Bagram. It was in Afghanistan."]*
story | Seattle Intelligencer
also [*s]: the NY Times' story | International Herald Tribune
>related: Reservist Acquited of Abusing Detainees
(for news' junkies note the NYTimes' story appears after the trial)
A military jury acquitted a reservist Thursday (Feb. 23) in the final case involving an Army reserve unit from Ohio that was linked to prisoner abuses at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld speaks with Army Sgt. 1st Class Rick Scanvett, assigned to Commander Task Force 76, at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, on Dec. 22, 2005. Rumsfeld is in Afghanistan to visit and thank the troops for their service and to meet with the senior leadership. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy.
~Bagram Air Base is the safe place in Afghanistan for America's Secretary of Defense to visit yet it houses hundreds of men incognito for years in "primitive" prison conditions? Every military base, (every Republican's home), needs a crowded dungeon?
Posted by Cieciel at February 26, 2006 01:25 PM