Journalists Should Investigate Castro's Prisons Instead of Gitmo
The recent hysterics in the press over the treatment of al Qaeda prisoners give the impression that Cuba is some idyllic bastion of human rights save for that American eyesore Guantanamo Bay. The overzealous reporters en route to the communist isle are hell-bent on discovering some form of torture or mistreatment of the prisoners. Upon discovering that the envisioned inhumanity of "Gitmo" in reality is nothing more than conditions of mild discomfort, these same reporters responded with irresponsible exaggeration. One British editorial describes the prisoners as "trapped in open cages, manacled hand and foot, brutalized, tortured and humiliated." Despite the fictitiousness of such commentaries, the righteous indignation of the international community, dampened somewhat in the aftermath of September 11th, is gaining momentum with the aid of unscrupulous reporters.
The actual living conditions at Guantanamo Bay lack the scandal and spectacle so dear to the American and Western European media culture. The various amenities granted to the detainees appear incredibly generous in light of their military resumes. These anti-American al Qaeda fighters, who have pursued a skewed, unrighteous, and murderous jihad, merit the basic necessities for living and little else. Still, the camp provides two towels to each prisoner daily to meet both sanitation and prayer needs. One might wonder if some of those prayers include praise to Allah for killing thousands of innocent Americans by hijacking commercial airliners. Or, perhaps they just give thanks that Osama bin Laden remains at large, free from the infidels' justice. Regardless, the prisoners are af...
... middle of paper ...
...s." While the unlawful combatants held at Gitmo receive daily sick calls, the U.N. Special Rapporteur criticized the "widespread incidence" of "tuberculosis, scabies, hepatitis, parasitic infections, and malnutrition" in Cuban prisons.
Where is the media outcry over the actual human rights abuses by Castro's government? Where is the investigative reporting on the prison riots protesting inadequate medical services, constant beatings, and squalid cell conditions? Sure, blackout goggles and earmuffs on al Qaeda detainees may be annoying, but it takes some twisted relativism to equate the discomforts of Gitmo attire with parasitic infections and political oppression. Examples of real injustice abound in Castro's regime. Journalists would better serve the human rights cause by investigating, not inventing, incidents of torture.
In April of 2017, Jorge Ramos gave a TED talk titled, “Why Journalists Have an Obligation to Challenge Power.” Ramos is an immigrant and journalist who introduces the idea that the responsibility and purpose of journalism is to oppose those
Szegedy-Maszak, Marianne. "The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism." Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Custom, 2009. 210-12. Print.
Guantanamo Bay has been in control by America since the Spanish American war.Guantanamo bay was used as a coaling station for american navy ships.According to” A Brief History of Gitmo” by Alyssa Fetini. . “The 45-square-mile site was originally used as a coaling station for U.S. Navy ships, under a lease drawn up in 1903”. This is very important because this shows how Guantanamo bay was used as something positive and beneficial to America.Guantanamo bay was then a “haven” for Haitian refugees. According to the same article ” A Brief History of Gitmo” by Alyssa Fetini.in the early 1990s “when it became a vital haven for Haitian refugees fleeing the violent coup that ravaged their country.”This is also another example on how Guantanamo bay was used in a positive and helpful way.Guantanamo bay has been through many changes and uses and has a lot of history behind it.
26. Glover Julian, “Guantanamo piled lie upon lie through the momentum of its own existence” in The Guardian, April 25, 2011
Guantanamo Bay is where we detain and interrogate some of the most important and valuable prisoners. Some have become to disagree if that is such a good, since the detention center is not even on US lands. It is a couple miles off shore in a place, where OUR center shouldn’t be: Cuba.
America’s Use of Torture in Interrogations of Suspected Terrorists Violates Human Rights by Lisa Hajjar
...vatized prison health care scrutinized. Retrieved from The Washington Post: Health & Science : http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/privatized-prison-health-care-scrutinized/2012/07/21/gJQAgsp70W_story.html
Article 53 of the Cuban Constitution provides: “Freedom of speech and press are recognized for citizens consistent with the purposes of socialist society. The material conditions for their exercise are present by the fact that the press, radio, television, movies, and others mass media are state-owned or socially owned, and can in no event be privately owned, which ensures their use exclusively in the service of the working people and in the interest of society. The law regulates the exercise of these freedoms.” (Human Rights Watch 29)
A Writ of Habeas Corpus is an authoritative order forcing governments to provide the “body” of the detainee in which the legality of their detention and individual liberties will be challenged. Historically associated with civil liberty violation and the injustice of illegally detaining potentially enemies of the state, jurisdictional issues regarding their detaining location have made justice difficult to administer and deliver. Detaining enemies for their participation, involvement, and/or ties to threats of terror towards the United States will result the confinement of combatants, as solidified by the US Constitution, however, to what extent will they be forced to stay?. Residents of Guantanamo Bay are just; enemies of the state, accused individual that have been arrested and detain with minimal civil human rights to our jurisdictional due process that we American’s hold dear; with only a Writ of Habeas Corpus as their life line to legality and freedom. Although controversial in its conception and implementation by US presidential administration, judiciary members have cordially interpreted cases of questionable detention and the legality of doing so. It is truly unfortunate when individuals are tossed into confinement illegally with no help and/or the promise of their restorative freedoms (ACLU, 2014).
Abu Ghraib is one of the worst prison scandals to this date. 3,800 detainees were under the care of U.S. soldiers at the U.S. military detention center in Iraq from 2003 to 2006 during the Iraq war. While in prison the detainees were beaten, humiliated, tortured and abused by eleven U.S. soldiers. The detainees might have been good people but once they went through all they did inside the prison most, if not all, of them have been psychologically changed. Putting any good person in any evil situation with psychologically change them.
Savage, Charlie, William Glaberson, and Andrew Lehren. "Classified Files Offer New Insights Into Detainees." The Guantanamo Files. The New York Times, 24 Apr. 2011. Web. 1 Jan. 2014. .
Life in prison can be a difficult experience to properly comprehend as an individual who has never been behind bars or somebody who has not been subjected under criminal law and incarcerated. Researcher Muzammil Quraishi, a British Muslim has undergone a year of research from July 2001 to July 2002 investigating Muslim prisoners in the United Kingdom. Muzammil goes through numerous challenged in his year worth of research investigating a sum of three anonymous prisons. Doing such Muzammil had gone through numerous obstacles, generic research validity, to the side effects of the field research. This paper will separate three columns of obstacles Muzammil had to go through, Technical issues, which would outline the challenges, he as a researched had to adapt to due to the setting he was investigating. The second is Political issues, which mostly stem from outside interferences; most notable would be the incident on September 11, 2001. Finally, the third is administration issues, which has the spotlight on regulations Muzammil had to abide by to get on with his research in a legitimate manner.
Overcrowding is one of the predominate reasons that Western prisons are viewed as inhumane. Chapman’s article has factual information showing that some prisons have as many as three times the amount of prisoners as allowed by maximum space standards. Prison cells are packed with four to five prisoners in a limited six-foot-by-six-foot space, which then, leads to unsanitary conditions. Prisons with overcrowding are exposed to outbreaks of infectious diseases such as, tuberculosis and hepatitis.
The features of enhanced confinement that consistently draw the most profound condemnation revolve around: the often-brutal forms and compassionless deprivations in which these units or facilities operate, the harrowing living conditions that inmates are compelled to endure, the resulting physical and psychological damage to body and soul, and the questionable legality of such confinement. Leading human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are regularly outing the United States for operating torturous prisons that house convicted criminals in the most deplorable and extra-legal conditions. (Marion Experiment pgs.
Torture is commonly practiced all over the world, but most notably in the Guantánamo bay detention center in Cuba. It is most commonly used on prisoners of war to obtain useful enemy information, but it is not limited to that as it is practiced in normal prisons and jails. After experiencing torture, people don’t possess the same mindset. These sessions of torment can give victims mental scarring, which often leads to damaging psychological disorders. It can also disable people’s ability to act and think on their own.