Califlander's excellent diary on the subject, currently on the recommended list and otherwise available at
http://califlander.dailykos.com, reminded me that last night, I had intended to write a diary on the suicides at Guantamo Bay. Predictably enough, the military is claiming that the suicides were an act of war, a suicide attack meant, I suppose to spite us. Those evil bastards, robbing us of our victory even in death! And of course, our community, quite morally and sensibly, I believe, feel pity for these poor people. However, after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that this tragedy could not be a clearer example of why we have constitutional protections and ignore them at ours, and other people's, peril.
It's very easy for us as Americans to take our constitutional rights for granted, particularly when they are infringed upon subtly and in ways we don't feel immediately. For example, it's easy for us to stand by as critical speech becomes taboo because we don't see jackboots kicking in our doors, just cold stares and admonitions from those in power to "support the troops", etc. Most of us, especially those of us who are White and middle-class, have never had a reason to worry about the right to trial by jury, the writ of habeas corpus, the right to a fair and swfit trial by a jury of our peers, and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. Much as we sympathize with them, much as we are sincere in our liberal views, deep down jail is for "other people." Of course I don't speak for all of us, but I'd imagine for most kossacks, the inside of a cell is not a hugely familiar sight. It certainly isn't for me. But we have those constitutional protections for a reason.
And here's what happens when we ignore them:
Studs Terkel's book on the working class is called "Hope Dies Last." Above Dante's Hell is inscribed "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Two different cultures, different places, 700 years apart, sending the same message- HOPE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. Take away the reason for hoping and you take away the reason for living.
That's what's happened in Guantanamo bay. Here we have a number of young men. Some of them, as Califlander rightly points out, are almost certainly terrorists. Many of them simply fought with the Taliban army against the US invasion and have never contemplated blowing anything up outside of Afghanistan. And some of them are just young Afghan or Iraqi men in the wrong place at the wrong time. And they are basically in a giant, foreign, limbo. They have been taken away from their countries; their relatives don't know where they are or whether they are alive or dead. They have been removed from all contact with these loved ones, and they do not have the "luxury", or what we used to call, "right" of knowing the length of their sentence or confinement so that they can plan to rejoin them. Their families will almost certainly drift apart, their children growing up strangers, their wives remarrying, or, having been left husbandless in a country not known for the fair treatment of its women, worse. They will in many cases NEVER HEAR FROM THEIR LOVED ONES AGAIN FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE. Think about that for a minute. There is no mechanism in place to charge these people. They have, as far as I am concerned, every reason to believe that they will be incarcerated forever. Some of them will be tortured. They have no appeals process. No means to challenge their detention, fundamentally speaking. And that is where the death of hope comes in. There is no trial date. There is no guideline of sentencing. There are no family visits. There is no prospect for anything approaching a fair trial, since these are people who by definition aren't subject to US law. These men were swiftly uprooted from their native land and deposited in a jail where, for all they and I can see, some of them will be forever. Never charged, never released, never seeing families again, never seeing native soil again. If that's not a reason to lose hope and kill yourself, I don't know what is. When we read a tragic story, or witness suicide in our own lives, we are heartbroken because the victim clearly thought they had NOTHING ELSE TO LIVE FOR. And we think "if only I could have talked to that person more." "If only I could have let them know how much they mattered, or how much they could have done with their lives. It wasn't hopeless!" Well, for these people, it's as close as it gets, some of them. And this is why we have constitutional protections. This is why the constitution provides for a swift and fair trial by a jury of your peers, for a writ of habeas corpus, for protection against double jeopardy and self-incrimination, and not for clean toilets, dietarily sanctioned food, and a place for a prayer mat. Because these are the things we hear about on the news when Gitmo is mentioned. We hear about how every effort is made to accomodate diet, religious leanings, etc. We are humane, is the message. Well, there's a reason why those things aren't what's in the constitution of this country. Because at the end of the day, we could have these people locked up in a mansion with plush beds, the finest food and fixtures, and dozens of amenities, but without the hope of release, the knowledge that a certain sentence and verdict would be arrived publicly and in a semi-transparent way, THOSE THINGS DON'T MATTER.
Maybe they did kill themselves to spite us. It wouldn't surprise me if that was a part of it. But put yourself in that situation and ask if, after 5 years and with no end in sight, you might consider doing the same in a moment of weakness. We ignore the constitution and our sense of fair play at a great peril, of which we have only seen the beginning.