December 4, 2007

The callousness and lack of empathy necessary to float such an idea is the definition of sociopathy. It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court will interpret such a take as they are hearing cases today on detainees' rights. Shakespeare's Sister has the story:

I heard this story on the BBC International morning news, which is the only place any Americans are likely to hear about it, despite the fact that it has been authenticated by US officials:

An inmate at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay slashed his throat with a sharpened fingernail, US officials have confirmed.[..]

US officials characterised the incident as an act of "self-harm" rather than a suicide attempt.

...US Navy Cmdr Andrew Haynes said there was "an impressive effusion of blood" but the prisoner was treated by guards and taken to the prison clinic.

Officials would give no details of the man but lawyer Zachary Katznelson said the inmate had been held without charge for nearly six years.

Cmdr Haynes said "self-harm" incidents were a tactic to discredit US forces.

Right. Because it's impossible to imagine why someone left to rot in a prison for six years without charges, doomed to indefinite despair, would have any legitimate reason to want to end his life-except to make the people holding him look bad.

And sadly, Cmdr. Haynes is not the only military officer to suggest suicide as an asymmetrical warfare tactic.

Oh, the humanity...and oh, the lack of ours.

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