Suicides as a PR Stunt? New low by the US.

the Bear SG

so... it's now a "PR Move" ?

people who are so divorced from reality, have their fingers on The Button...

scary world we live in...

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Guantanamo suicides a 'PR move'

A top US official has described the suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a "good PR move to draw attention".

Colleen Graffy told the BBC the deaths were part of a strategy and "a tactic to further the jihadi cause", but taking their own lives was unnecessary.

But lawyers say the men who hanged themselves had been driven by despair.

A military investigation into the deaths is under way, amid growing calls for the centre to be moved or closed.

Speaking to the BBC's Newshour programme, Ms Graffy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, said the three men did not value their lives nor the lives of those around them.

Detainees had access to lawyers, received mail and had the ability to write to families, so had other means of making protests, she said, and it was hard to see why the men had not protested about their situation.

(for the rest of the article, click here => BBC News)

oxford mushroom SG

Biggest joke I have ever heard. Can't they think of a better excuse?

Now they will make those prisoners sleep naked without bedsheets so they won't have anything to hang themselves with Mr. Green

MobyDog SG

Much worst actually... they are calling it an " Act Of War "..... yeah, blame it on the prisoners.. who are mentally tortured, force fed and no foreseeable future... no trail no contact... after certain duration.. even I might do it and end it all.

Even an average trailed prisoner commits suicide in legally run prisons, so crime has declared an "Act of War" ? by the same reasoning ?

LazerLordz SG

That Collen lady sounded like a warmonger, and “jihadists” as a term, has no place in public spokesmanship.

av98m SG

Bush, Cheny, Rummsfield and gang are war criminals and should be tried as such by an international court. The death penalty should be suitable.

lwflee SG

Yah, I heard about that a few days ago. Seriously, these generals need to realize they are not PR experts and shut the fcuk up.

They also need to realize Guantanamo Bay is indefensible and stop trying to defend the indefinsible.

fudgester SG

Very nice of the US, eh?

Arrest some people for the slightest suspicion, fly them out of their homeland, detain them indefinitely without trial, and then claim that their despair and subsequent suicides are just a PR stunt.

I know that the US system is basically legalised hypocrisy. But even this has got to be a new low for them.

Atobe SG

Singapore is well known to be a regional hub for air traffic - could Changi or any one of our airbases have been used by the secret CIA shuttle flights - also known as "rendition flights" ?

With a newly built multi-million dollar, super secret ISD facility euphemistically called "New Phoenix Park" - and being a strong supporter to the US fight against terror, have we been a host to some of these 'international jihadist' who are the passengers of these secret air travel organsed by the CIA ?

Our experienced 'interogation' experts will have a wonderful opportunity to test their unlimited array of imaginative techniques to extract information from these fervent martyrs.

Could we have contributed to these suicide cases if they had made any transit stop to experience the multi-million dollar facility ?

the Bear SG

i doubt it Laughing

too far off the direct routes...

fudgester SG

Uhh... Atobe? You're stretching things a bit too much here.

The shortest route from the Middle East to Cuba is over the Atlantic Ocean. I don't see how Singapore figures in all this as a transit point for the incarceration of Gitmo passengers. Confused

Atobe SG

Not all of the Jihadist were arrested in the Middle East and sent to Cuba; and is it odd that some flights between the Middle East to Cuba had taken a detour to East Europe, and some flights had taken off from Canada to Morocco, Greece and Syria ?

Two Egyptians were arrested in Stockholm, Sweden and transferred for a flight out to an Egyptian prison and there after disappeared.

Some were flown out of Guantanabo to East Europe and some were delivered to complying former Soviet States, where ex-KGB facilities still exist to extract information in a very artful way.

Amnesty International had documented a report of such rendition flights and taken statements from detainees who had participated on these "tours".

Documented suscpicious flight lists by hired private planes clearly raised the suspicion of such flights.

Singapore's techniques of using low temperature with sleep deprivation interogation techniques have been detailed by Francis Seow, who was given the courtesy of this treatment by by Singapore ISD agents.

The Malaysian Jihadist Hambali was arrested in Cambodia, where could he possibly be interogated by the US agents ? Can the US agents be interogating Hambali with their American accented Bahasa, or would this service be executed by Singapore on behalf of the USA ?

No one seems to know where Hambali is kept now ? He is probably rendered useless after being arrested.

lwflee SG

Can people stop using 'rendition' and call the practice what it is: Kidnapping.

Bloody media.

MobyDog SG

I like that about you... straight to the point Very Happy

Atobe SG

The word "rendition" is correct for what the CIA is doing.

What is the meaning of the word "rendition" ?

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary :
it is a middle French word meaning "alteration of", an act or result of rendering - as in surrender

The CIA had "surrendered" the Jihadi prisoners to those countries who are willing to "accomodate" these prisoners, and help to extract information from these seemingly information rich individuals.

As for your charge of these Jihadist being "kidnapped" - surely you had read the reference sites on those who have been arrested across Europe and some Middle Eastern Countries.

LazerLordz SG

Though I'm inclined to agree with you, but in today's GWoT, I would not be really that surprised.

It may not be for Gitmo prisoners, but other combatants.I'm just speculating here...