Ok folks, we know that the Gitmo torture tactics migrated from Gitmo to Bagram to Abu Ghraib and are still in use in many detention facilities, but now they have apparently migrated to a Florida middle school.
More below the fold:
Check out the below article posted on Drudge that describes how the Gitmo torture tactics were used.
local 5 Florida
Four Central Florida middle school students were arrested Monday for allegedly ripping off the clothes off classmates and then snapping photos with their cell phones, according to a Local 6 News report.
Investigators said the boys, ages 12, 13 and 14 years old, attacked the girls Friday at Tavares Middle School in Lake County, Fla., in the back of a school bus. The boys then allegedly groped the girls and took pictures of them.
Cell phone video allegedly showed one of the girls screaming for help while the boys touch her breasts, according to the report.
Police said the attack continued after the boys got off the bus when they pulled another girl by her hair. When she fell, detectives said they put their hands up her skirt.
Detectives said it is a crime that comes close to being rape, Local 6 reporter Jessica Sanchez reported.
Detectives are claiming that this is a crime, but apparently they have not checked in with Abu Gonzales yet.
"You forcibly hold someone down, you remove their clothing, you are fondling that person -- if these children had been adults, this is a crime, if convicted, they would be labeled sex offenders for the rest of their lives," Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Christie Mysinger said.
This is exactly what is going on at Gitmo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
Police said two of the boys have confessed to taping the attacks with their cell phones, Local 6 News reported.
Also, police are looking at surveillance video from the school bus.
All of the boys face felony charges.
I wonder what Rumsfeld would say after reading about this story;
Maybe he would say "these people were treated humanly" or "our values as a country states that we do not physically abuse people and since these people suffered no serious physical injury they were not abused".
What about Abu Gonzales?
Maybe he would say; "there is no specific law that says that you have a right to clothing and the laws in Florida are vague and quaint."
What about Robert Bork?
Maybe he would say; "this case will be a magnet for judicial activists that wish to impose their standards of decency on this country like a super legislature."
"There is nothing in the history or text of the constitution or our laws that would suggest that the activities noted in this article are illegal under a strict interpretation of the law."
What might Karen Hughes say?
"The fact that these girls are complaining about their treatment is evidence that they do not respect men; in fact their complaints may indicate that they hate men."
The above story articulates the daily treatment that prisoners at Gitmo and elsewhere are subjected to. Just imagine how it would be like to wake up everyday knowing that the above treatment was what you had to look forward to.
The tactics at Gitmo and elsewhere are designed to make prisoners feel like rape victims and the prisoners are trying to escape the daily horrors of their existence the only way they know how and that is by starving themselves to death.
Amnesty
Several detainees on hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay are critically ill, according to lawyers who have recently visited the detention camp. Amnesty International is also concerned at reports that the camp's facilities are unable to cope with the medical crisis.
"The US military appears to be systematically downplaying the hunger strike in order to avoid international criticism," said Susan Lee, Americas Director at Amnesty International. "In July they denied the existence of a hunger strike two weeks after it had started. Now they seem to be understating the number of detainees involved and the gravity of the medical condition of several of the detainees. This policy once again demonstrates the lack of transparency around all US detention practices and policies in the `war on terror'".
As many as 210 people are said to be taking part in the current hunger strike in Guantánamo Bay, although the US Department of Defense has put the figure as low as 36. Detainees' lawyers put this low figure down to the criteria used to determine who is technically on hunger strike. The US military defines a hunger strike as the refusal of nine consecutive meals within a 72 hour period. Reports from lawyers suggest that detainees are accepting one meal in this timeframe, but then flushing the meal down the toilet to avoid being force-fed through nasal gastric tubes.
"We are particularly concerned about the health of detainees who may have escaped this narrow definition of a hunger-striker. They may not be receiving any medical treatment," said Susan Lee. "We urge that independent medical experts be given access to detainees."
New details are emerging of the earlier hunger strike in Guantánamo, which took place over the summer. Lawyers report that a number of detainees collapsed in their cells and vomited blood.
"Faced with a worsening situation of its own making, the US government should close Guantánamo Bay and either charge and try the detainees in line with international law, or release them," said Susan Lee.
One of the key points that detainees say drove them to hunger strike was the lack of access to a court to challenge their detention. They said beatings and other ill-treatment were another reason. Amnesty International has long campaigned for access to courts for Guantanamo detainees, as well as an end to torture and ill-treatment.
In a worrying development, lawyers working with the Center for Constitutional Rights who are representing a number of the hunger strikers say they are being denied access to the detention camp hospital. Their clients are taken from their sick beds, some so weak they cannot sit up, and moved to cells for interviews with their lawyers.
"Not only should the US administration release full details of this hunger strike and keep detainees' families informed on their health, it should open up Guantánamo and all other 'war on terror' detention facilities to independent scrutiny," said Susan Lee.
Background
An unknown number of detainees resumed an earlier hunger strike around 12 August because camp authorities had not kept promises that conditions in the camp would be improved, according to reports.
During the first hunger strike, which took place over the summer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico denied any knowledge of it despite consistent reports from lawyers.
Amnesty International believes the conditions in Guantánamo Bay amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The organisation is campaigning to stop torture and ill-treatment in the "war on terror".
Amnesty tells the truth that the daily conditions at Gitmo due amount to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment as it does in our prisons and jails when it occurs.
The question really is; are we going to improve human rights or lead a downward spiral in human rights.
People of all political stripes and cultural backgrounds should be able to come together on this issue as it is about protecting universal human rights.
I ask everyone to please contact your senators and representatives to ask that they work to change detention standards to comply with army regulations on the treatment of prisoners and thus prohibit all forms of torture.
This is so important as it is about American values, decency and respect for the dignity and bodily integrity of every individual. Torture of any kind is un-American, cruel and wrong.
This is also important because these practices are bound to come back to haunt us and only more suffering will result. A change in policy is absolutely necessary.
I have to tell you being a patriot these days and exposing un-American behaviour being perpetrated in our name is in the words of George Bush "hard work."