Incisive-View

Published: 14/01/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

A cry from Guantanamo
By Jumah Al Dossari, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post


I am writing from the darkness of the US detention camp at Guantanamo in the hope that I can make our voices heard by the world. My hand quivers as I hold the pen.

In January 2002, I was picked up in Pakistan, blindfolded, shackled, drugged and loaded onto a plane flown to Cuba. When we got off the plane in Guantanamo, we did not know where we were.

They took us to Camp X-Ray and locked us in cages with two buckets - one empty and one filled with water. We were to urinate in one and wash in the other.

At Guantanamo, soldiers have assaulted me, placed me in solitary confinement, threatened to kill me, threatened to kill my daughter and told me I will stay in Cuba for the rest of my life.

They have deprived me of sleep, forced me to listen to extremely loud music and shined intense lights in my face. They have placed me in cold rooms for hours without food, drink or the ability to go to the bathroom or wash for prayers.

They have wrapped me in the Israeli flag and told me there is a holy war between the Cross and the Star of David on one hand and the Crescent on the other. They have beaten me unconscious.

What I write here is not what my imagination fancies or my insanity dictates. These are verifiable facts witnessed by other detainees, representatives of the Red Cross, interrogators and translators.

During the first few years at Guantanamo, I was interrogated many times. My interrogators told me that they wanted me to admit that I am from Al Qaida and that I was involved in the terrorist attacks on the United States.

I told them that I have no connection to what they described. I am not a member of Al Qaida. I did not encourage anyone to go fight for Al Qaida.

Al Qaida and Osama Bin Laden have done nothing but kill and denigrate a religion. I never fought, and I never carried a weapon. I like the US and I am not an enemy. I have lived in the US, and I wanted to become a citizen.



No conclusion

I know that the soldiers who did bad things to me represent themselves, not the US. And I have to say that not all American soldiers stationed in Cuba tortured us or mistreated us.

There were soldiers who treated us very humanely. Some even cried when they witnessed our dire conditions. Once, in Camp Delta, a soldier apologised to me and offered me hot chocolate and cookies.

When I thanked him, he said, "I do not need you to thank me". I include this because I do not want readers to think that I fault all Americans.

But, why, after five years, is there no conclusion to the situation at Guantanamo? For how long will fathers, mothers, wives, siblings and children cry for their imprisoned loved ones?

For how long will my daughter have to ask about my return? The answers can only be found with the fair-minded people of America.

I would rather die than stay here forever, and I have tried to commit suicide many times. The purpose of Guantanamo is to destroy people, and I have been destroyed. I am hopeless because our voices are not heard from the depths of the detention centre.

If I die, please remember that there was a human being named Jumah at Guantanamo whose beliefs, dignity and humanity were abused.

Please remember that there are hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo suffering the same misfortune. They have not been charged with any crimes. They have not been accused of taking any action against the US.

Show the world the letters I gave you. Let the world read them. Let the world know the agony of the detainees in Cuba.

Jumah Al Dossari is a 33-year-old citizen of Bahrain. This article was excerpted from letters he wrote to his attorneys. Its contents have been deemed unclassified by the Department of Defence.

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Another great and pressing article from MPACUK:

Yet Another Database to Monitor You!
Tuesday, 09 January 2007

Union JackMany of you by now may be aware of government plans to store our medical records in to a national database, dubbed NHS SPINE, this is to comprise of the records of 50 million patients in the UK. These plans are currently being sold to us as a means for the NHS to provide a better service to its patients. As a computer scientist, I do not doubt the advantages of having all this information stored in this form – it is true that databases offer us almost limitless flexibility and efficiency over recording information in a paper format; the most obvious of benefits being that the data can be accessible from anywhere: an emergency visit to the hospital, or registering to a new GP – your data would be available to the medical staff instantly allowing them to provide the most appropriate form of treatment.

That said; the government is prepared to wholly abuse the medical information stored in these databases. In an era where we are to see compulsory ID cards to be introduced, a time where our movements by tube and car are logged, where our activities on the internet are subject to scrutiny, this database seems to be one of the long line of computer systems the government is utilising in order to take away our privacy.

Already there have been indications that information stored on these databases will be accessible to the government, police, security services and potentially other third parties (employers, insurance firms etc) without our knowledge or consent.

As a result, many Civil liberty organisations and critics are calling this "data rape" and are urging Britons to boycott it. Details of mental illnesses, pregnancy, HIV status or drug-taking may also be included, and there are no laws to prevent DNA profiles being added. Plans are also in place to use clever data mining techniques with these records to try and predict things such as which children are likely to commit crimes etc. One worry is that patients will be unwilling to confide in their doctors, and doctors may well be unwilling to record information given in confidence. The outcome of a recent poll by the Guardian newspaper found that four out of five doctors thought the confidentiality of their patients' records would be at risks - if the doctors are worried about this, we certainly should be!

The system is being introduced through an underhand "implied consent" model (used more and more by centralised bureaucracies), rather than the explicit, informed, individual consent which the principles of data protection require, something the British Medical Association has already expressed reservations about.

There has also been a lot of concern aired regarding the security of this information - people's medical secrets will be vulnerable to computer hackers and security breaches. Ministers are promising state-of-the-art technology to prevent unauthorised access, but anyone who has any knowledge of encryption and security technology is fully aware that no method of security is totally failsafe (if the U.S defence and NASA systems get hacked into, what hope is there for the NHS database?) .

What can be done?

Before this data is transferred across to the live system, individuals can opt out of it by writing a letter to their GP (http://www.nhsconfidentiality.org/optoutletter ) but once this information is uploaded, it will be very difficult to reverse the process - matter of fact; the only way to have it taken off is if you can show "substantial mental distress"… and that is surely going to be a difficult task.

US Church offers abuse settlement.

A Roman Catholic diocese in the US state of Washington has agreed to pay at least $48m (£24.7m) as compensation to people abused by priests.

A judge said the plan, designed to lift the Spokane diocese out of bankruptcy, includes non-economic provisions to give victims some "closure".

The Spokane diocese serves some 90,000 Catholics in Washington state.

It is the latest in a series of multi-million dollar settlements offered by US churches in abuse claims.

Federal Bankruptcy Judge Gregg W Zive told the Associated Press news agency the settlement also includes a mechanism for paying off future claims.

He said money for the settlement would come from insurance companies, the sale of church property, contributions from Catholic groups and from the diocese's parishes.

Victims and another bankruptcy judge must approve the move before it comes into effect.

In December last year, the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the US agreed to pay $60m (£30m) to settle dozens of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.

The settlement by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles related to 45 cases among more than 500 that are pending.

It was one of the largest settlements since the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal erupted in the US in 2002.
In February 2004, a report commissioned by the Church said more than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests in the US had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years.

How many more deaths of innocent children do we need before we realise that there should be some regulation on dog ownership? These animals are dangerous and must not be let out freely in to society!

Girl killed by pit bull terrier

A five-year-old girl has been killed and her grandmother seriously injured by a pit bull terrier at their family home on Merseyside.

Ellie Lawrenson was found bleeding to death in the living room of the house in St Helens shortly before 0430 GMT.

Her grandmother, Jackie Simpson, 46, who is recovering in hospital, managed to lock the dog outside.

The owner, believed to be Ellie's uncle, had been warned in June about the dog's behaviour.

The pit bull terrier was destroyed by police immediately after the attack at the property in Knowles House Avenue, Eccleston.

Ms Simpson, who shared the home with Ellie's aunt and uncle, was bitten on her arms and legs.

Serious injuries

Her injuries are described as "serious but not life threatening". Police said she may have to undergo surgery at Whiston Hospital where she is being treated.

Superintendent Jon Ward, operational manager for the St Helens region, said: "This is such a tragic incident.

"We attended the scene, by which stage the dog had been shut away down the side entrance of the house.

"When officers arrived it became apparent from a very early stage that the girl had tragically died as a result of the attack.

"The ambulance service did what it could for her but unfortunately she died at the scene."

Police dog handlers who arrived minutes later, decided the dog, called Reuben, had to be shot as soon as possible.

Mr Ward added: "They made a decision as to whether it was safe to control the dog and seize and safely remove it.

"The assessment was that that couldn't be done safely so the dog was humanely destroyed at the scene around 5.40am this morning."

Detectives understand Ellie's parents were not in the house at the time of the attack.

Police believe Ellie's parents went out to celebrate New Year's Eve, leaving Ellie with her grandmother, and when they returned Ellie asked to stay there.

They are then thought to have left the property at about 0340 GMT, shortly before the attack.

Tragic incident'

According to police, Ellie's uncle was not at home when the attack happened.

However, Mr Ward said Ellie regularly stayed at her grandmother's house so police believe she knew the dog well.

A large part of Knowles House Avenue was cordoned off with police tape on Monday afternoon as forensic officers continued to examine the end-of-terrace house where Ellie was mauled.

A white and yellow forensic tent was attached to the front door of the property which is believed to be owned by Ellie's great-grandmother.

A police spokeswoman said Ellie's body was removed from the house at about1400 GMT.

She confirmed that several members of Ellie's family had arrived at the property in the morning wanting to see her body.

"They were obviously distressed and distraught at not being able to see Ellie, but we couldn't let them in while the body was still in situ and while forensic science officers were still at the scene.

"There was some shouting, there are a lot of high emotions flying around," she said.

Dorothy Watkinson who lives near the family home told BBC News that Ellie was used to dealing with the dog.

"I've seen her at the gateway with it, stroking it. It never turned on her like that."

Supt Ward said: "This is such a tragic incident. When a child loses her life in such circumstances, it has an effect on the whole community."

He added that the safety of the public and police officers was paramount and in such circumstances "we were left with no other option but to have the animal destroyed quickly and humanely."

He added said police would be looking into whether any offence had been committed under the Dangerous Dogs Act.Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/merseyside/6222319.stm