Framing the American GULag

I don’t like the term “frame” as it is used in a political context, I prefer “lie”, as it is shorter and more realistic.

Three individuals have reportedly died in US military custody at the facility located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There is no way of independently confirming the deaths or the circumstances of the deaths or any of the particulars about the individuals who are reported to have died. There is no independent oversight and only the International Committee of the Red Cross has regular access to the facility.

As the Culture Ghost notes, NBC is reporting that: First suicides at controversial facility an ‘act of warfare,’ U.S. military says.

The BBC tells us that the US State Department as a different view: Guantanamo suicides a ‘PR move’

A top US official has described the suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a “good PR move to draw attention”.

Colleen Graffy told the BBC the deaths were part of a strategy and “a tactic to further the jihadi cause”, but taking their own lives was unnecessary.

Autopsies have yet been completed to determine the cause of death, but the military has decided that this is “war by other means”, while the State Department knows that this is part of a “public relations campaign”.

To claim suicide is an act of war is rather paranoid. How is the security of the United States threatened by individuals taking their own lives? While there is certainly a long history of people sacrificing their lives by heroic acts that result in their death, the acts generally involve attacking a target, not an individual act in private. I think some needs to talk to their doctor about Xanax.

The State Department “public relations” spin is true to the extent that having a GULag is not great public relations for the United States. Friends and foes alike think it should be shut down and the status of those held there converted to internationally recognized status, not a White House buzzword.

The prisoners could certainly shut down the facility if they all decided to commit suicide. Given the fact that the majority of the people in the facility don’t actually seem to have been guilty of anything before they were scooped up to sell to the US for $5,000 a head, it is long past the time to shut the place down and return to the rule of law and the observance of treaties.