Several weeks after the US Supreme Court declared illegal the Bush administration’s plans for military tribunals in which defendants could not see the evidence against them, there has still been no positive action. It would be a simple matter for the US government to hold military tribunals that conform to both the Geneva conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war as well as the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In fact, the US Congress passed a law requiring the government to treat prisoners humanely.

    Abuses of the Supreme Court orders apparently continue. Time reported that clients’ notes from attorney-client conferences were confiscated by Guantanamo authorities without notifying the court in advance.

    Many of the prisoners at Guantanamo have been held for over 3 years without charge. There have been both suicides and hunger strikes, and attempted suicides. Against the Geneva conventions, the US is reported to be force-feeding some hunger strikers.

    While the rest of the civilized world is protesting the continued detention of POWs without trial and calling for the closure of the illegal prison camp, the US is opening a permanent prison called “Camp 6”. (I guess they chose the name “Camp 6” because they do the devil’s work there.)

    It is an insult to our allies that the Bushies nominated Army Gen. Craddock, who was the commander in charge of the area of Guantanamo, to be the supreme commander of NATO. NATO had little choice but to accept the nomination because the supreme commander of NATO is always an American. The BBC reported that Craddock blocked a reprimand of a Guantanamo commander over abusive interrogation techniques.

    My readers may wonder why I write about US human rights abuses when there are so many governments on the planet that commit worse abuses. If you have even a shred of belief that the US is a ‘government of the people and by the people’ then, as a US citizen, you have a responsibility to speak out against our government’s abuses.