Fromm the BBC News web-site again:


Guantanamo inmates attack guards
Inmates at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have clashed with guards who were trying to prevent another detainee from hanging himself.
The detainees used weapons crafted from fans and light fixtures, but the disturbance was quelled with minimum force, the US military said.

Six inmates were hurt in the clash, the US said. Earlier three inmates tried to kill themselves with prescribed drugs.

Thursday's incident coincides with a UN call to the US to close down the camp.

The UN Committee against Torture said the US should release detainees or give them access to a judicial process.

Free association

The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says this is the first time that details have emerged of such an incident involving more than one inmate, although individuals regularly resist guards.

The definitions and legal limits of the structures and the practices the US has followed are all being tested - and in many cases found wanting
Paul Reynolds, BBC News website


US military spokesman Cmdr Robert Durand said guards responded to an attempted suicide in Camp 4, a less restrictive part of the facility where detainees are allowed to associate freely as a reward for good behaviour.

"Minimum force was used to quell the disturbance and prevent the suicide," he said.

Another military spokesman, Rear Adm Harry B Harris Jr, said the suicide attempt had been staged in order to lure the guards.

He said the detainees were eventually subdued and six were treated for minor injuries.

None of the detainees involved has been named. All those involved in the clash were removed to higher-security parts of the centre.

The military says there have been 39 suicide attempts in the camp since 2002, and hunger strikes have been common as detainees protest against their continued detention without trial.

About 460 detainees are held at Guantanamo, which opened after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Detainees are being held without charge or trial and lawyers who have visited the facility say many of them suffer from depression.

'Immediate measures'

The call by the UN torture committee to close Guantanamo was accompanied by recommendations that secret US detention facilities abroad should be closed.

UN COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE
Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader.


It called for "immediate measures" to eradicate torture and ill-treatment of detainees by US military personnel "in any territory under its jurisdiction".

John Bellinger, a legal spokesman for the US state department, said the report contained "factual and legal inaccuracies".

Some "acts of abuse" had occurred in the past, he said, but the US was taking steps to prevent any repeat.

"I think without a doubt our record has improved over the last few years," he told the AFP news agency. "We take our obligations under theconvention seriously."

The committee has asked the US to respond within a year to its recommendations.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4998928.stm

Published: 2006/05/19 20:47:18 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Am I one of them? I feel complete empathy with these detainees. I do not know their stories and the way my government is operating I never will. Either charge and try these people or release them! Is that not the American way? Are we not Americans? When (and why) did we become a repressive human rights violating fascist regime? And can we go back? Now?!

From the BBC News web-site:
US 'must close Guantanamo camp'
The US should close the Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba and any secret "war on terror" detention facilities abroad, a United Nations report has said.
The UN Committee against Torture said that detaining persons in such conditions was a violation of the UN Convention against Torture.

It also urged the US to put in place "immediate measures" to eradicate torture of detainees by its troops.

The committee's report follows a hearing in early May into US conduct.

"The state party should cease to detain any person at Guantanamo Bay and close the detention facility," the 11-page report said.

It also urged the US to "rescind any interrogation technique" that constituted torture, such as the use of dogs to scare detainees.

The report was compiled by a panel of 10 experts who heard testimony in early May from a delegation of US officials into its "war on terror" conduct.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Bush's response (my prediction): "We don't torture, don't condone torture and we have no "secret camps". We will close the Guantanamo Bay facility when it is no longer needed. The enemies of freedom are everywhere."

Just suppose for the moment that George W. Bush really is chosen by God but with a twist (you know God and his sense of what, humor? The macabre?). The twist is that he is the anti-Christ. (Or Antichrist) Think about it. What was Christ's chief message? Love. What is W.'s? Fear. (No not hate). Jesus said do unto others as you would have done unto you. Georgie says we gotta do it to them before they do it to us.

Jesus went around with the poor and the sick and the wretched. Bush goes around with rich and the powerful and the influential.

Jesus made the world, at least his part of it, a better place. (Only my opinion?) George? Well, there might be some people that would tell you that Bush is making the world better. There are, there's no doubt of it. These people should be rounded up and shot. (Just kidding. Or Am I?)

I hereby nominate William Jefferson Clinton for vice-president, to run in the November 2008 election; on the democratic ticket I would guess. Think about it, what does the vice-president do? Make speeches, schmooze, spout policy, be one of the faces of the admin. but with no real power (at least, not usually). These are all things that Bill Clinton does very, very well. Say what you want about him as a president, I believe his true calling is as the vice-president.

I got to thinking about this while viewing Real Time with Bill Maher tonight when he mentioned some poll that found that if Bill Clinton was running right now against GWB that he would get 68% of the vote. I began to wonder if I would like the chance, at least, to vote for him again. A two term limit, say, but only to consecutive terms, then, after being out for one you can run again. In the end, I don't favor this. I'm thinking, I don't care about whom we're talking, he's not the only guy that's qualified to be president. The biggest problem seems to be in getting to choose among qualified candidates; at best we are usually offered one. Or maybe that's just my opinion.

France remembers slavery victims
By Clive Myrie
BBC News, Paris

France is to become the first European country to hold a national day of remembrance for the victims of slavery.
Wednesday's day of commemoration has been ordered by President Jacques Chirac, who says the stain of slavery on history must not be forgotten.

He will attend a special ceremony in the nation's capital designating 10 May as Slavery Remembrance Day.

But some of his other attempts to address aspects of his country's colonial past have drawn criticism.

On 10 May five years ago, the French Senate passed a law recognizing slavery as a crime against humanity.

For France, shackling people in chains was concentrated in her Caribbean colonies, with captured Africans transported to plantations.

Now Mr Chirac - with an eye on his legacy - wants France never to forget what he calls "this indelible stain on history".

Historians' anger

But he is not just looking to the past. He has promised to fight modern forms of slavery, allowing companies that knowingly use forced labour anywhere in the world to be prosecuted in French courts.

But laws he has championed requiring schools to teach lessons on the horrors of the slave trade have proved very controversial.

Some historians are angry the government is dictating how history is taught in the classroom, while other critics are furious schools won't be required to highlight the positive role they say France played in its former colonies.

There's little doubt that on this day every year from now on, there will be heated debate about France and her colonial past.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4756635.stm

Published: 2006/05/10 02:01:45 GMT

© BBC MMVI