One detainee was judged a threat in part because he was a karate expert and had taught martial arts to Bosnian orphans, tribunal records show. He was also classified as potentially dangerous because he was familiar with computers. Another detainee was flagged because he had performed mandatory service in the Algerian army more than a decade ago, as a cook.
As if we needed more evidence that Guantanamo is useless, farcical and cruel, there comes this article in today’s Washington post that details how six Algerians were kidnapped from Bosnia in 2002 despite being completely exonerated by the Bosnian authorities for allegedly planning an attack on the US Embassy. Not a proud moment for the US government, which threatened Bosnia with the withdrawal of peacekeeping troops to have legally innocent men handed over to them.
What makes who an unlawful combatant? This “unlawful combatant” definition was, in my underdstanding, carried through partially on the back of a claim that Taliban fighters did not identify themselves with a “fixed distinctive sign,” per Art 4 of Geneva III, which also demands that arms be carried openly.
Where. in the opinion of the Bush Whitehouse, does this place the Sayeret Matkal commandos who recently invaded Lebanon dressed in false uniforms talking (apparently not very good) Arabic? Would it have been acceptable to have detained any captured commandos indefintely and subjected them to periodic waterboarding? How about kidnapping them after the fact and popping them incommunicado into Palmyra or Guantanamo?
Fine, the original argument has long been exposed as specious and the implications well harried, but beating dead horses is cheap in the digital age.
What makes a regular Egyptian an enemy combatant to the Egyptian governement? I’m asking as the video on this site
http://www.zippyvideos.com/6877949705857386/police_brutality_haram
means only one thing, that Egyptians are treated worse than Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib by their government. Shame on them!!!!