2005-06-04
LANGUAGE
"No credible witnesses" | I've been meaning to write about this for awhile so here goes | In the GITMO
Qu'ran defilement case, this phrase seems to be the main defense against the disputed Newsweek report | It is is a phrase that rings loud in my head whenever I hear it |
You see, part of my day job is to interview patients/inmates who report allegations of abuse as they might have observed at a maximum security facility | In such investigations, I don't get to interview the staff, though I may read their witness statements | Over the years I've conducted interviews as part of investigations that, once concluded, are closed with no corrective measures in place to prevent some future occurance | The reason for dismissal? Ofttimes, "no credible witnesses" confirmed the allegation of abuse |
But on this I beg to differ |
For example, in one investigation the victim, a young man bloodied and bruised, had a cut in his face closely resembling a unique square ring that one of the employees freqntly wore to work | Other employees, while acknowledging being in close proximity to where the event took place, denied seeing anything happen to the man; "He must have fallen on a loose carpet" one staff statement read | Apparently no one noticed that there were no carpets on the linoleum tiled hallway floor |
In contrast, in that same incident, I'd taken six patient statements, three of whom reported observing the employee push the man to the
floor while moving his arm as though punching the man's face [no one actually saw the hand touch the victim's face]
I could rattle on with numerous other examples, examples where I personally collected and transcribed many witness statements frome people who did not have time nor ability to collude and make cross-alibis for one another | People who had no reason to lie | People afraid that, without coming forth, feared they might be the next victim of abuse |
So it is with the GITMO defense of personnel assigned to monitor, interrogate and yet, safeguard, inmates under their purview | When I hear "no credible witnesses" the effect it has on me is to believe the allegation so refuted | There is, then, mostly likely a lot of truth to the statment as made |
Were copies of the Qu'ran defiled? My guess is 'it happened' | On the other hand, on this instance, I also find myself agreeing with Charles Krauthammer [a man with whom I rarely find myself in accord] sectarian bombings of a mosques wherein many copies of the Qu'ran were also likely defiled, is at the very least equally as bad | Can't say I agree that the response, rioting in cities on the other side of the globe, is warranted either | I don't doubt that others, less interested in protecting the sanctity of Holy Writ, fanned some true believers into a frenzey over the matter ...but I digress |
In this instance, Holy Writ was defiled, and most likely some who did this intended to disturb those they were watching | But were there "no credible witnesses"?, I doubt it |
"No credible witnesses" | I've been meaning to write about this for awhile so here goes | In the GITMO
Qu'ran defilement case, this phrase seems to be the main defense against the disputed Newsweek report | It is is a phrase that rings loud in my head whenever I hear it | You see, part of my day job is to interview patients/inmates who report allegations of abuse as they might have observed at a maximum security facility | In such investigations, I don't get to interview the staff, though I may read their witness statements | Over the years I've conducted interviews as part of investigations that, once concluded, are closed with no corrective measures in place to prevent some future occurance | The reason for dismissal? Ofttimes, "no credible witnesses" confirmed the allegation of abuse |
But on this I beg to differ |For example, in one investigation the victim, a young man bloodied and bruised, had a cut in his face closely resembling a unique square ring that one of the employees freqntly wore to work | Other employees, while acknowledging being in close proximity to where the event took place, denied seeing anything happen to the man; "He must have fallen on a loose carpet" one staff statement read | Apparently no one noticed that there were no carpets on the linoleum tiled hallway floor |
In contrast, in that same incident, I'd taken six patient statements, three of whom reported observing the employee push the man to the
floor while moving his arm as though punching the man's face [no one actually saw the hand touch the victim's face] I could rattle on with numerous other examples, examples where I personally collected and transcribed many witness statements frome people who did not have time nor ability to collude and make cross-alibis for one another | People who had no reason to lie | People afraid that, without coming forth, feared they might be the next victim of abuse |
So it is with the GITMO defense of personnel assigned to monitor, interrogate and yet, safeguard, inmates under their purview | When I hear "no credible witnesses" the effect it has on me is to believe the allegation so refuted | There is, then, mostly likely a lot of truth to the statment as made |
Were copies of the Qu'ran defiled? My guess is 'it happened' | On the other hand, on this instance, I also find myself agreeing with Charles Krauthammer [a man with whom I rarely find myself in accord] sectarian bombings of a mosques wherein many copies of the Qu'ran were also likely defiled, is at the very least equally as bad | Can't say I agree that the response, rioting in cities on the other side of the globe, is warranted either | I don't doubt that others, less interested in protecting the sanctity of Holy Writ, fanned some true believers into a frenzey over the matter ...but I digress |
In this instance, Holy Writ was defiled, and most likely some who did this intended to disturb those they were watching | But were there "no credible witnesses"?, I doubt it |
NOTE: The incident described occurred more than 5 years ago | Administrators at the facility where it occurred have a clear policy of not tolerating inmate abuse and since that occurred, many personnel changes, including firing of staff and have taken place and imposing early retirements | PIX CREDITS: Attica picture from YLE's Documentaries [text in Finnish], GITMO pix from Mother Jones | AND WHILE YOU'RE ON THE SUBJECT: See Bilmon's Qur'an desecration at Guantanamo Gulag, the USA Today story of the soldiers pissning on the Koran and Global Security's training tactics for interrogation |
¶ 09:37
