Our Lady Help of the Abandoned OnesToday, in an article written by AP News reporter Pamela Hess, a U.S. military officer warned Pentagon officials
over six years ago that
an American detainee was being slowly, cruely, driven insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation in a U.S. military jail. An American, in an American jail, on American soil was being subjected to grueling mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual torture... and this was brought to the US Government's attention in 2002!
The treatment of prisoners at detention facilities located off of US soil - like those in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Eastern Europe; Afghanistan; and Iraq have long been the subject of human rights abuses and protests by religious and secular groups who complain about them. Members of the Bush Administration, as well as others in the US Government stated that these jails only existed off of US soil and did not contain any US citizens or residents. The new documents reveal how at least two
American citizens and
a legal U.S. resident were treated in military jails
inside the United States. The documents also reveal how the Bush administration
ordered the men to be held in military jails as "enemy combatants" for years of interrogations without criminal charges, which would not have been allowed if they were held in regular civilian jails. This is clear evidence that the Bush administration violated the most basic of human rights, and is involved in the abuse and detainment of
US Citizens and Residents.
The documents given to the AP also show that the men were interrogated by the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency. They were repeatedly denied access to attorneys, mail from home, and contact with anyone other than guards and their interrogators. This sort of isolation would not be tolerated in even the most secure of civilian prisions. It is clearly cruel and inhumane to treat prisoners in this manner.
In addition to an environment of social and religious isolation, the prisoners were also subjected to a physical environment of abuse and neglect. All of the men were deprived of natural light for months. For years they have been forbidden hobbies or amusements - not even books for personal reading, a soccer ball, or a dictionary. Nothing. This is detrimental to the emotional and mental well-being of the men, as it begins to erode their sense of self. As one of the officials who was responsible for prisoner Yaser Esam Hamdi in 2002 stated, "I will continue to do what I can to help this individual maintain his sanity, but in my opinion we're working with borrowed time. I would like to have some form of an incentive program in place to reward him for his continued good behavior, but more so, to keep him from whacking out on me."
That's right - one of the jailers is worried that the prisioners they are responsible for are in danger of "whacking out" due to the pressures of the environment and the abuse they are recieving.
As Catholics, Chrisitans, and members of the human world community, we MUST speak out against this. The Catechism CLEARLY teaches
against both TORTURE and the INHUMANE and CRUEL treatment of prisioners - both civil and military. The following is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Respect for bodily integrity
2297 Kidnapping and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong. Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity. Except when performedfor strictly therapeutic medical reasons,directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.
2298 In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture. Regrettable as these facts are, the Church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy. She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors.
These paragraphs make it clear that by using torture, we have become like those we sought to oppose in the "War against Terror". We have become just like those who George W. Bush and members of his administration labeled "The Axis of Evil".
The CCC also talks at great legnths about what Peace is, how it is to be achieved, and even what it looks like in modern society. Peace is what we should be working for - not a way to vent our anger and frustration onto others. Let us learn how to be peacemakers, instead of abusers.
The CCC has the following to say in regards to being Peaceful and Peacemakers:
Peace
2302 By recalling the commandment, "You shall not kill,"94 our Lord asked for peace of heart and denounced murderous anger and hatred as immoral.
Anger is a desire for revenge. "To desire vengeance in order to do evil to someone who should be punished is illicit," but it is praiseworthy to impose restitution "to correct vices and maintain justice." If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin. The Lord says, "Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment."
2303 Deliberate hatred is contrary to charity. Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm. "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."
2304 Respect for and development of human life require peace. Peace is not merely the absence of war, and it is not limited to maintaining a balance of powers between adversaries. Peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity. Peace is "the tranquillity of order." Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity.
2305 Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic "Prince of Peace." By the blood of his Cross, "in his own person he killed the hostility," he reconciled men with God and made his Church the sacrament of the unity of the human race and of its union with God. "He is our peace." He has declared: "Blessed are the peacemakers."
These paragraphs from the Catechism link to Monday's Gospel reading of Luke 10:25-37:
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Now it is clear that
American citizens and residents are being treated as political prisioners by the Bush Administration. As Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU's National Security Project in New York said, "These documents are the first clear confirmation of what we've suspected all along, that the brig was run as a prison beyond the law. There was an effort to create a Gitmo inside the United States." This is important because the Guantanamo jail was created by the Bush administration
specifically to avoid allowing detainees any constitutional rights. The Bush Administration's lawyers believe and act as if the Constitution does not apply outside the US... which shows that the Bush Administration has no respect for
international human rights as contained in the UNDHR.
This November, remember these three men - and the others that we do not know about - when you vote for President and local government. Please vote for the candidate who is most likely to be a force of change and end these abuses -
Barack Obama.
And please remember that John McCain blasted both Obama and the Supreme Court earlier this year when both moved to give prisioners more rights and protections.
