Monday, July 2, 2012

Some interesting things going on....

Time will tell but there are a few stories that I am keeping my eyes on:

First is the leak that some of the Afghan men at Gitmo may be heading to an Afghani prison (run by the US of course). The thing that is different about this story is that it is not about the 4 or 5 top Taliban guys that have been in discussions for about a year but instead it is about the farmers and other innocents being held. It has always been ironic -especially to the men at Guantanamo- that many of the first ones to leave (even before attorneys were allowed on the base) were the ones who were involved in at least some hostilities.... anyway read more about this here.

Second is this story about the military abruptly dropping charges against a Kuwaiti man (read it here)....while at the same time it seems that at least some talks have resumed with Kuwait about taking there remaining two men. It doesn't look like the talks are going anywhere very quickly (see this article by the Kuwaiti's military attorney Barry Wingard)....but maybe it is a start.

And then there is Omar Khadr, the young man we have been holding at Guantanamo since he was 15 years old. Canada (SHAME ON CANADA) still refuses to repatriate him but it seems he is getting a pretty good education while he waits....read more on that here.  Despite the horrific things my country has done to this young man at least he is not being warehoused like the other men...the military cannot even bother letting the men learn english, nevertheless some life skills while they wait. Yes, I know the military claims the men can take English and Art but that is propaganda....

And finally there is this story- Gitmo gets a new admiral and some are acting like its the 4th of July or some shit....I mean really- this is the first time I have read any pomp and glory surrounding a change of hands- is it really that the last guy was so bad they are celebrating his exit (he really was bad) or is it just another WTF moment....stay tuned.