NYT: Prisoners' Ruse Is Inquiry Focus at Guantánamo

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, June 11 — Three detainees at the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, tried to conceal themselves in their cells — behind laundry and through other means — to prevent guards from seeing them commit suicide, a senior military official said Sunday.

One of the prisoners hanged himself behind laundry drying from the ceiling of the cell, and had arranged his bed to make it look as if he was still sleeping, said the official, Lt. Cmdr. Robert T. Durand of the Navy. The other two detainees who committed suicide also took steps to prevent guards from seeing that they had put nooses around their necks, he added.

The deception by the prisoners raises questions about how long it took military guards to discover the suicides. Military officials said one focus of an investigation into the suicides would be the need for procedural changes, such as barring prisoners from doing laundry in their cells.

Gen. Bantz J. Craddock of the Army, who oversees Guantánamo as head of the Southern Command, told reporters Sunday that the investigation into the deaths "kind of boils down to two things: Are the procedures that you have in place adequate, and then were the procedures followed to the standards."

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/us/12gitmo.html?hp&ex=1150084800&en=8a90ebf9272446b4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Oddly, they're not concerned about WHY these guys committed suicide, just why they weren't found out.

[Kutjara]

1. Because its really all about us.

The important thing is that they pulled the wool over our eyes and made us look like idiots. That's unforgivable. All the hysterical attempts to define suicide as an 'act of war' or a 'PR stunt' is just the reflexive response of a bunch of narcissists who view the world only in terms of themselves and their own needs.

[Journeyman]

4. Coudn't have said it better, Kutjara. . .

It's all about us. . . sums up the madness -- and its pending ultimate failure -- better than the reams of analysis that all the "inquiries" will generate.

[acmavm]

2. Everybody know those goldarn suiciders did this just to make the US

look bad. Not that they need any help but you know, it's all their fault they had to kill themselves. I mean so what there were no charges, no contact with the outside world, no fair and adequate legal representation, and if they ever got a trial, it would be a secret military tribunal.

:sarcasm:

[ToolTex]

3. Trials now! Or release them! Most are there on hearsay.

This administration - Serial criminals, all.

[kskiska]

5. From the article:

General Craddock speculated that the suicides may have been timed to affect the Supreme Court decision on the Hamdan case.

"This may be an attempt to influence the judicial proceedings in that perspective," he told reporters, according to a transcript of his comments during a brief visit to Guantánamo on Sunday.

[Critters2]

8. Or it may be

that being held away from home and loved ones, with no trial or opportunity to defend themselves, indefinitely made them feel hopeless and desperate to the point of feeling suicide was the only way out.

Just sayin'.

[Judi Lynn]

9. ....and this is the genius who said that, god help him.....

It would seem loving power over helpless people too much kills your brain cells.



Bantz J. Craddock

[daleo]

6. Talk about sneaky

Committing suicide behind the guards backs. These terrorists won't respect the most basic principles of civilized behavior.

"May I commit suicide, SIR?"
"Yes you may."

[951-Riverside]

7. They couldnt hear them choking and trashing around?

[rooboy]

10. If I was a guard I would have gotten suspicious...

when they didn't phone their dinner order down to reception on time...
or when they didn't turn up for soccer practice...
or when they missed their sailboarding lesson...

it's fucking Club Med down there, dontcha know?

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. The people running this war

are truly delusional.