Important story

But will people pay attention?

This is incredibly important regarding the morality- or lack thereof- of the US treatment of detainees, and, in fact, the morality of our nation.

Will we, as a people, stand by while our values are undermined and our reputation around the world is damaged- by our own government?

Selections from the MSNBC article (which you should read for yourself):

[F]ormer leaders of the Defense Department’s Criminal Investigation Task Force said they repeatedly warned senior Pentagon officials beginning in early 2002 that the harsh interrogation techniques used by a separate intelligence team would not produce reliable information, could constitute war crimes, and would embarrass the nation when they became public knowledge.

The investigators say their warnings began almost from the moment their agents got involved at the Guantanamo prison camp, in January 2002. When they could not prevent the harsh interrogations and humiliation of detainees at Guantanamo, they say, they tried in 2003 to stop the spread of those tactics to Iraq, where abuses at Abu Ghraib prison triggered worldwide outrage with the publishing of graphic photos in April 2004.

The law enforcement agents, who were building criminal cases against the detainees, also say that military prosecutors told them that abusive interrogations at Guantanamo compromised the chance to bring some suspected terrorists to trial. Among them, the agents say, is Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi whom the Pentagon has described as the intended 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Key points raised by the article:

• The abuse began almost immediately at Gitmo.
• The statements by law enforcement agents links the treatment that has taken place at Gitmo with what we have all seen was done at Abu Ghraib.
• The abuse of prisoners- in the opinion of the law enforcement experts- undermines potential prosecution of people involved in terrorism. In other words, American security is undermined, not enhanced, by the abuse.

I'm interested in seeing how this story develops.

As I said earlier... People hide things when they have something to hide.

For a related story about Guantanamo abuse, watch the interview below.

GP