U.S. planning big new prison in Afghanistan.
U.S. planning big new prison in Afghanistan.
In “a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come,” the New York Times reports today that “the Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex” at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. As Justin Peters notes at Slate, the Times’ article doesn’t reveal until its final paragraphs that “some detainees have been held without charge for more than five years” at the current Bagram detention facility:
Military personnel who know both Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site, 40 miles north of Kabul, as far more spartan. Bagram prisoners have fewer privileges, less ability to contest their detention and no access to lawyers.
Some detainees have been held without charge for more than five years, officials said. As of April, about 10 juveniles were being held at Bagram, according to a recent American report to a United Nations committee.
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31 Responses to “U.S. planning big new prison in Afghanistan.”
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I nominate Lynndie England for warden.
May 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pmWatch out for those showers guys, can be a shocking experience.
May 17th, 2008 at 7:33 pmGee, that ought to look real nice beside the Afghan Disneyland.
May 17th, 2008 at 7:34 pmGreat idea!!! Let’s FRANCHISE Gitmo!!!!
The World is ready for a quality standard that can be replicated anywhere!! We could hire Blackwater to run them, use CIA planes for intra-prison transfer, and Rove’s paper shredders and self deleting computers to track the “detainees”, set up an IPO with off shore banking, outsourced third world employees ALL privately held by Carlyle and we have COMPLETE deniability and no need for pesky Constitutional or Human Rights issue!! A perfect place for those future unemployed Republicon operative to work.
Got any good names to suggest? “Gitmo, Gits It Done” or ???
May 17th, 2008 at 7:42 pmYa know its expensive to hold people in prison, especially for five years…how conservative is that?
May 17th, 2008 at 7:46 pmWhy? Have we finally run out of run here for locking up nonvioloent offenders under ill advised “get tough” on crime manditory minimum political pandering laws?
May 17th, 2008 at 7:58 pmroom!
May 17th, 2008 at 7:58 pm“…the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.. ”
I cannot fathom why any responsible journalist or thinking individual would ever consider making such a statement. For a moment let us examine what is actually communicated herein and the assumptions necessary for such a statement:
“the United States:” basically what is assumed here is that the Bush Administration policy is indicative of the entire Country. Mathematically this assumption isn’t even close: 28% does not a majority make.
“is likely:” assumes a greater than 50% of the citizens approve of the Bush Administration’s actions. Mathematically, again, not even close.
“to continue to hold prisoners:” assumes that those citizens of another Country were legally arrested and detained for violation of a law of the United States. These “prisoners” broke no law in the United States therefore they are being held illegally as foreign citizens held by an invading force.
“overseas:” assumes the Bush Administration has legal authority to invade another sovereign Country and establish a legal presence. You gotta be shittin’ me!
“for years to come:” assumes McBush the third will somehow steal, again, the next two elections and engender another clone for eight or so more. In your dreams, Sonny Bumps!Should such a travesty occur there will be a revolution here that will negate all of the above and all the neocons that dream such shit.
This BS has a little more than seven months to survive. If “for years to come” equals seven months I want to sue the calendar makers!
May 17th, 2008 at 8:04 pmFreedom is on the march!
Progress is finally taking root in Afghanistan!
/sarc off
May 17th, 2008 at 8:16 pmfriggin nuts. they love us for their freedom right?
May 17th, 2008 at 8:31 pmAnd the same as in Iraq, just few blocks away building another Disneyland amusement park.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:35 pmWe are the incarceration nation.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:45 pm#8 Crusty Old Bastard Says
Great post!
My comment to your post is “awaiting moderation” as they claim. Which meansit probably will not see the light od day here. However I posted it over at the zoo so if you have any interest in reading it here is the link
http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/ 2008/ 05/ 17/ let-the-fallout-begin/ #comment-61338
May 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pmThe new USA? …give me your political prisoners, your demented and your psychopaths. And if we don’t have room here we will extend our loving prisons to your land along with McDonalds, Disneyland and debt.
May 17th, 2008 at 9:31 pmUS fascist imperial colonial aggression and occupation, just like the kind Benito, Joseph and Adolph used to make, back in the 1930s… There’s no excuse for this kind of barbarism some seventy years later. The US corporate media has been hiding the truth about US barbarism in Afghanistan and Iraq for years now. If the truth were spread across the front pages of American newspapers, we would be immediately sickened and demand an immediate end to this vile aggression against the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course, there will always be a small minority of Americans who like barbarism, torture and tyranny, as there probably are in most every country around the world…
May 17th, 2008 at 9:48 pmRemember all the teeth gnashing and breast beating when it was said these were ‘the gulags for our times’.
The US HAS created a multi-national network of prisons that are beyond the reack of international law.
They are the gulags for our times.
Remember the horror on the far right when reports of Soviets drugging dissidents?
-GSD
May 17th, 2008 at 10:02 pmSomething tells me this Pentagon fiasco will be roundfiled about 1/25/09.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:12 pmMerlin,
“January 20, 2009… The End of an Error.”
Thank you my friend. You said in one line what I have been pontificationg for eight years.
Well said!
May 17th, 2008 at 10:36 pmKilo Says:
“WTF has public opinion got to do with anything you child ?”
Thanks, Kilo. The last time I was called a child was long before your grand-daddy was caught masturbating in the hayloft. Dream on my young friend! Should I be wrong you too may be one of those unfortunates eating your own words. The most influential force in this world, since Al Gore invented the public, is the force of public opinion. It may be slow but it is, in the end, onmipotent.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:48 pmKilo the internet thing is a myth and when people keep repeating it I have to wonder about their intellectual honesty.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:05 pm#17 Kilo Says:
Nice try Kilo. Usually you do better than this, however. This time you come up way short. Additionally, I don’t recall you being as denigrating as you are here to crusty old bastard. But then I’m getting old and perhaps my memory is failing me in preference to wanting to see you in a good light, (even though we do disagree a lot.)
May 17th, 2008 at 11:14 pmMerlin,
Don’t bother with Kilo, it is beyond his bedtime. Thanks for the support! We may be old but in getting there we got tough too!
May 17th, 2008 at 11:28 pmKilo Says:
Come February 2009, you’ll be able to say the same thing about the lack of coverage here as well. You’ll be able, let’s see if you do.
Stating the obvious says nothing Kilo. The MSM is solidly owned by GE, Murdoch and the like and you know that. They will not change or go away. Part of the work we as a people have to do is replace the slanted and partisan report… er opinion-making with good investigative journalism. That will be very difficult due to the amount of money needed to do it. However, the internet is providing that forum, and in future generations just may make the current “fair and balanced” type opinion programs obsolete.
So your challenge (You’ll be able, let’s see if you do.) is meaningless. I guess you are having a bad day.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:29 pmWhere is the news. I have always assumed that prisoners were being held, dating back to the start of the invasion, without charges and without due process, including access to counsel. I have even assumed that the prison facilities have been expanded over time. This is par for the course for an occupation force and more of your tax dollars at work.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:33 pmKilo,
My, my. You simply ignore what is said and answer what ever you want. Making assumptions and hanging them on whomever you want. Now why are you doing that? You certainly are a sharp guy and you do have something to say.
Of course, if you are only trying to irritate, rather than discuss, that would explain everything, wouldn’t it? And in that case there would be no point in having any dialog with you, would there? So the choice is yours. Discuss or purposefully irritate. Care to state your preference?
May 18th, 2008 at 5:37 amKilo Says:
Who gives a sh¡t ?
_AIO_
May 18th, 2008 at 5:38 amSay, who are the latter day Nazis now? Da Yanks of course!!
May 18th, 2008 at 7:13 amThe Democrats need to make sure they don’t fund this. Then when Obama takes office, he can straighten these things out.
That’s one thing I don’t understand about the Democrats. They say they are against permanent bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet they fund them. Why is that?
May 18th, 2008 at 10:42 amJust ignore Kilo the William Buckley wannabe.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:42 amAnother great day for freedom and demockercy.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:15 pmCorrection:
“U.S. planning big new public prison in Afghanistan.”
May 19th, 2008 at 5:26 am