PaulJ: Incredulity
Ok, I've not posted for a while, but seriously, get a load of this.
In the frankly deranged mind of Guantanamo Camp Commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris, the suicide of three Guantanamo inmates is not a tragic loss, or indeed the result of years of legally unsound imprisonment. It is, in fact, an act of Asymmetrical Warfare against the United States.
Well, there you have it. I mean, how do you win a war against a enemy who kill themselves before you get the chance? Frankly I reckon the US might as well throw in the towel right now...
Yes, ok, if we're talking power relations in a Foucaldian sense then you could suggest that the prisoners have used their only real power over the guards (the power to kill themselves) as a final act of defiance against the decadent West. Or you could use a bit of perspective and look at the conditions these people have been kept in for however many years and the awful sense of uselessness that must invoke, and see any suicide or attempted suicide as simply an act of desperation against boredom, fear, uncertainty and oppression.
But anyway, back to the stupidity - let me suggest a new slogan for the war on terror - Kill all the terrorists, before the evil bastards kill themselves!
In the frankly deranged mind of Guantanamo Camp Commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris, the suicide of three Guantanamo inmates is not a tragic loss, or indeed the result of years of legally unsound imprisonment. It is, in fact, an act of Asymmetrical Warfare against the United States.
Well, there you have it. I mean, how do you win a war against a enemy who kill themselves before you get the chance? Frankly I reckon the US might as well throw in the towel right now...
Yes, ok, if we're talking power relations in a Foucaldian sense then you could suggest that the prisoners have used their only real power over the guards (the power to kill themselves) as a final act of defiance against the decadent West. Or you could use a bit of perspective and look at the conditions these people have been kept in for however many years and the awful sense of uselessness that must invoke, and see any suicide or attempted suicide as simply an act of desperation against boredom, fear, uncertainty and oppression.
But anyway, back to the stupidity - let me suggest a new slogan for the war on terror - Kill all the terrorists, before the evil bastards kill themselves!
-PaulJ | Link
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3 Comments:
????
Suicide without blowing up others is now an act of warfare, a weapon? Well, in a way, it's demonstration that they don't feel they've any other choice, and it will certainly damage the policies of the administration domestically.
Gah! Some things are beyond despair.
Posted by MatGB
By
Anonymous, at 6/11/2006 1:42 PM
It's a PR stunt now...
I just don't understand what they hope to achieve by making out it's something other than, well, just a group of suicides. Can't they see how stupid they look?
Just to get this straight, we are not seeing the beginning of an ad campaign by Al Qaeda's Marketing division; they are suicides by hopeless and desperate people and nothing more!
Posted by PaulJ
By
Anonymous, at 6/11/2006 7:31 PM
Well...
Remember the hunger strikers? They were politically motivated. But, essentially, they've got nothing left to lose, nothing to live for, and no hope of release; from what I've read, these guys had no lawyers either, so no contact at all with the outside world. Maybe within the despair there's also the thought that they might do some good for the rest of the detainees?
I mean, I think it's pretty apparent most of the civilised world thinks something should be done.
Posted by MatGB
By
Anonymous, at 6/12/2006 12:12 AM
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