How can any nation lock a man up for 5 years with no charge and call itself civilised ?

Question

The USA has imprisoned men in Guantanamo concentration camp for 5 years without charging them with any crime, and now has decided to release some, 4 of whom are British.

How can any civilised nation lock and man or woman up for 5 years for no reason at all, is it not a modern travesty that future generations of Americans will hang their head in shame and want to put behind them ?

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,2224408,00.html

Michael w - you keep telling me 'innocent until proven guilty' re the two child neglectors yet you condem hundreds as 'guilty' without charge or trial just because they were illegally detained by the Americans - get real mate.

Answer 1

they are not british citizens - so why didn't their own countries petition for their release?

EDIT

well said michael w and tinker

they were all doing charity work in afghanistan and pakistan, like the teaching assistant from birmingham who was released some time ago

do me a favour.......

Answer 2

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia questioned whether the detainees are entitled to hearings in civilian courts.

"Show me one case" down through the centuries where circumstances similar to those at Guantanamo Bay entitled an alien to challenge his detention in civilian courts, said Scalia.

Come back when you can answer that question. In the mean time , we'll have to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to hand down its ruling on this subject.

Answer 3

That's exactly what it is,a concentration camp and sadly that makes this American administration no better than the Nazi's.
America can't really complain to other countries about civil rights anymore without being called hypocrites.

Michael W-you don't know that,where's your proof?Certainly there's a chance some might be but equally there's a chance some are not.In which case they should all be tried.It's everyone's basic right, unless of course you are all for a Hitler like state.Are you aware that money was offered to people to inform on others in Afghanistan?What's the chances some dirt poor guy with a grudge sees it as a chance to make more money than he 's ever seen and points the finger at an innocent man?Pretty damned high I'd say.Agreeing with torture,rendition and imprisoning someone without trial is pretty disgusting.

Answer 4

Of course it can't.

Even us moderates may be prepared to extend detention in extreme situations, but not without accountability and consequences should the incarceration prove unjustified.

If you cannot prove a guilt, then you have no right to detain indefinately, no question in my book. In fact such detention would be a violation of fundemental rights that all 'civilised' people aspire to.

They reason they can lock these people up for 5 years with no accountability is because they can, and 'they' do not give a monkey's cuss about anyone's human rights apart from their own and their kind.

They do it because they want to, and what is anyone going to do about it? It's a big finger up to anyone who doesn't agree with them.

At best they can argue that the risk is justified, i.e. although no 'proof' can be offered which would stand up in a court of law, they (those in control at the time) judge that the risk is high enough, and it's better to incarcerate 100 innocent people rather than risk a guilty person be at liberty.

They do that on the basis of an electoral mandate. It goes something ike this:

"You voted us into power, so you have given us a mandate to manage things in your best interests, but we are not going to give you access to the information we have so you can judge whether our actions are acceptable or not"

Not only that, but we will spin and stretch the truth (even lie if we think we can get away with it) in order to persuade the 'public' to agree with our actions.

So it boils down to "We believe you are a terrorist, so we have decided to lock you up, and we reserve judgement on when we will let you out until we believe you are not a terrorist."

The way so many Americans accepts such things is a testament to their paranioa and fear, and how superficial their acceptance of 'human rights' seens to be. A sort of "I am a humanitarian but only when it suits me" kind of attitude.

It is something worthy of shame.

Answer 5

Yes it is a travesty and there are hundreds of thousands of Americans that feel George Buch and his Dick Chaney should be held accountable for the actions that have evolved from the detainment of so many people. And to those of you who think we Americans are ignorant and have no idea what else is going on in the world. Maybe you need to do a little more research. Bush should be tried for war crimes as far as many Americans are concerned. Thats just my opinion. And if they are terrorist they should stay there unless you want people strapping bombs to their body and blowing them selves up to make a religious statement or for pure HATE! We have enough hate dont you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Answer 6

in my opinion, the simple answer to that is that it cannot. i happen to wholeheartedly agree with frou frou on this, we are not as civilised as we like to think we are... there are little pockets, here and there, but the collective denial, the collective injustices and inequalities ignored, the collective greed, the collective turning of eyes away from some very unpalatable facts tell their own story, it is not a very pretty story and we are, each one of us, the writers of this story. p.s. i feel my answer is very "doom and gloom" but really, in my heart, there is plenty of room for optimism and a good dose of faith in humanity and what we are capable of when we turn our focus to important matters and stand united, at least bush is now out of the white house and the people of the united states elected a president with his fair share of brain cells, that's a start :) now, let's see how he responds to the inordinate amounts of pressure he must be feeling where the israel/palestine situation is concerned.

Answer 7

As far as i am aware they arn,t British.Maybe there,s other ways of drawing attention to it,but i hate to think what some countries do behind closed doors,and closed doors being the key.Maybe everyone else are nice and tea party type,do you think?? or is it usa again

Answer 8

in sudan the justice system seems better than in the usa.
a woman in sudan was arrested for calling a teddy bear mohumed the case quickly went to court and she was jailed. bowing to international pressure sudan let the lady go. wow i think america should be more accountable

Answer 9

As a US citizen, allow me to apologize for my country and for the government that I tried and failed to vote out. We are currently under the dominance of a group of greed-driven, crypto-fascist military and religious fanatics. The people, who are mostly good, honest, well-meaning and sensible are being controlled by fear and insecurity in one of the greatest examples of propaganda since Nazi Germany.

Again, allow me to apologize to the rest of the Western world and certain parts of the Eastern world for all of this abuse of power and utterly oblivious arrogance and assure you that we will do our best to undo the damage after the next election.

Answer 10

Future generations of Americans will hang their head in shame and want to put behind them ? It will already be behind them if their future generations. So not need to hang their heads.lol.
Yesterdays gone and tomorrows not here yet so don't judge your life by today.

Answer 11

Gadzooks! That a long time to be jailed without trial - I thought the British justice system was slow. Guess we don't know when we are well off.

Btw, they are British residents - the UK does not owe them anything. In fact as they were granted 'refugee' status they owe us.