I think this is one reason why I couldn’t sleep last night:
The Bush administration is preparing plans for possible lifetime detention of suspected terrorists, including hundreds whom the government does not have enough evidence to charge in courts. The Defense Department plans to ask the U.S. Congress for $25 million to build a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence. One proposal would transfer large numbers of Afghan, Saudi and Yemeni detainees from the U.S. military’s Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center into new U.S.-built prisons in their home countries, it said.
This really is scary. Lifetime imprisonment with no charges, no conviction, no trial, no legal recourse. Nothing. Can you imagine if another country did this to American citizens? I just can’t fathom that anyone thinks this is a good idea and in accordance with any standards of morality, decency or law. But what do I know – I’m just a selfish hedonist. We’ve got prisoners off the books, secret prisons, indefinite detention, pointless warfare, torture by guards… we’ve got all the ingredients (granted, not all 14 herbs and spices).
I wonder who’s building those prisons.
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