The idea that someone is so desperately unhappy that they successfully commit suicide whilst imprisoned is an unpleasent one and raises questions about the of acceptability of imprisonment as a form of punishment. When you consider that those held in Guantanamo have not yet being convicted of a crime, being given a fair and open trial or had access to independent judges or lawyers, it angers me that the anyone could attempt to suggest that this is “act of war”!
Two Saudis and a Yemeni were “committed” and had killed themselves in “an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us”. They committed suicide for christ’s sake!?!? How on earth can that be construed as an act of warfare? You think I’m quoting out of context maybe?
Rear Adm Harris said he did not believe the men had killed themselves out of despair. “They are smart. They are creative, they are committed,” he said. “They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warface waged against us.”
BBC News Article: Guantanamo suicides ‘acts of war’
I mean does the American military that be really believe that or alternatively do they believe I’m stupid enough to believe them when they say it? I’m not sure which is worse.
ADDITIONAL: 30-year-old Saudi Arabian Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi was apparently due for release but had not yet been notified. He was a member of a banned Saudi militant group, according to the defence department. The other two men who died on Saturday morning were named as Ali Abdullah Ahmed, 28, from Yemen, and Yassar Talal al-Zahrani, 21, another Saudi Arabian.