The shaming of America

This week, four years after my first, 深く，強烈に troubling visit to Guantanamo Bay, I was 予定 to return. I had hoped to discover the truth behind the 解放する／自由なd British 抑留者s' 主張s of brutality and despair.

I had also been 認めるd 許可 to 証言，証人／目撃する the 開始 交流s in the 裁判，公判 of Binyam Mohamed, a British 居住（者） who was 逮捕（する）d in Pakistan four years ago and is の中で the 460 囚人s at the 議論の的になる penal 植民地 in Cuba.

Are the American 当局 正当化するd in 述べるing Mohamed's 審理，公聴会 as a 合法的 and 適切に-行為／行うd '軍の （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限'? Or rather, since the 裁判官, 起訴 and defence are all U.S servicemen, would I 証言，証人／目撃する a 'つるしあげ，でっちあげ（私的）裁判', as 述べるd by the 上級の British 法律 lord, Lord Steyn?

Sadly, for now, these 圧力（をかける）ing 事柄s cannot be その上の 調査するd. Nor are we permitted to 診察する the Lord （ドイツなどの）首相／（大学の）学長 Lord Falconer's 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, 配達するd on BBC1' s Question Time on Wednesday, that Guantanamo Bay is a ' 新採用するing スパイ／執行官' for テロ行為.

For last Saturday afternoon, の直前に my flight to 'Gitmo' was 予定 to 出発／死 from Andrews 空気／公表する 軍隊 Base, Washington DC, three '抑留者s' hanged themselves: a 悲劇 述べるd with breathtaking insouciance by the 刑務所，拘置所 （軍の）野営地，陣営's 指揮官, 後部 海軍大将 Harry Harris, as 'an 行為／法令／行動する of asymmetric 戦争'.

These 明らかに synchronised 自殺s sent the 米国防総省, which prided itself on never having 'lost' a 選び出す／独身 囚人 at Guantanamo Bay, into a tailspin of panic.

The （軍の）野営地，陣営 was 'locked 負かす／撃墜する', new discipline and 安全 対策 were introduced and Binyam Mohamed's 法廷，裁判所 審理，公聴会 was 無期限に／不明確に 延期するd. まっただ中に this frenetic activity, Lt 指揮官 Jeffrey Gordon, the 米国防総省's grandly-肩書を与えるd '圧力（をかける） Officer for Western 半球 事件／事情／状勢s', forgot to 知らせる me, and a British 新聞記者／雑誌記者 同僚 予定 to travel on the same flight, that the （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 was cancelled.

I heard the news from Binyam's Washington-based brother. He had read about the 自殺s on the internet and had spent anxious moments 恐れるing Binyam might be の中で the three men who had taken their lives, before a lawyer's phone-call put him at 緩和する.

In his 決意 to 保護する 後部 海軍大将 Harris and other Gitmo 長，指導者s from ぎこちない questions about the 自殺s, 圧力（をかける） 長，指導者 Gordon ― or 'JD' as he likes to be 演説（する）／住所d ― was altogether more efficient.

Since there would now be no （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限, I would not be permitted to travel.

But I reminded him that I had received separate 通関手続き／一掃 to 小旅行する the （軍の）野営地，陣営 from the 共同の 仕事 軍隊 操作／手術s at Guantanamo Bay, and so - along with my British 同僚 - I made 手はず／準備 to 借り切る／憲章 a 計画（する） from Kingston, Jamaica. Arriving to check in for the flight, we were told that Gordon had phoned to summarily 取り消す our 許可. 代表者／国会議員s from the Los Angeles Times and Miami 先触れ（する）, who had arrived at the （軍の）野営地，陣営 の直前に the 自殺s, were later expelled on the first 利用できる 計画（する）.

In the light of the three 自殺s and the broader 不正s of Guantanamo (where, let us remember, almost 800 men, 老年の from 15 to 80 years old, have been locked away as 'enemy combatants' without proven 証拠), this crudely-扱うd little 演習 in 検閲 may seem a 比較して trifling 事柄. The War on Terror has, after all, turned the world on its 長，率いる.

Behaviour that was once the 排除的 trademark of the Eastern 圏 is now par for the course, it seems, in the land of the 勇敢に立ち向かう and the 解放する／自由な.

And yet, I would 投機・賭ける, when the 米国防総省 opens and の近くにs the door on truth to 控訴 its own ends, we all feel the draught.

The 宣伝 落ちる-out plays into the テロリストs' 手渡すs, almost as surely as those first, unforget-an （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する photographs of （軍の）野営地，陣営 X-Ray 囚人s, ひさまづくing before their guards in Day-Glo orange jumpsuits and 奪うd of their senses by goggles and ear-guards.

There appears not a shred of 証拠 to support the 告訴，告発 - made this week by Yemeni 親族s of one of the 自殺 犠牲者s - that the three dead men did not hang themselves, but were 殺人d by their American guards.

But how much easier it would be to quash such 憶測 if inquisitive and impartial outside 観察者／傍聴者s had been 認める.

For more than four years since that most 損失ing of all public relations 災害s, 連続する Gitmo 命令（する）s have worked feverishly to 修理 the （軍の）野営地，陣営's image.

新聞記者／雑誌記者s are 認めるd interviews with the 最高の，を越す 厚かましさ／高級将校連 and taken on choreographed fact-finding 小旅行するs; human 権利s 行動主義者s and 政治家，政治屋s are also 認める (somewhat belatedly, 自由主義の 民主党員 leader Menzies Campbell's 署名 may soon be 追加するd to the guest-調書をとる／予約する).

Now we see plainly the cynicism behind these 'come on 負かす／撃墜する', open-house 招待s to Gitmo. It is one thing to 延長する old-fashioned American 'Howdy!' when things in the （軍の）野営地，陣営 are 罰金 and dandy; やめる another when suicidal 囚人s have embarrassingly 避けるd scrutiny in '最高の，を越す-安全' 独房s which, so we were 保証するd, made Death 列／漕ぐ／騒動 seem 私的な by comparison.

Perhaps there is something more personal behind the 米国防総省 禁止（する）. Perhaps this was payback After all, I had been 深く，強烈に 批判的な of Guantanamo Bay after my previous visit.

So, too, had my 除外するd 同僚, David Rose, the author of a 調書をとる／予約する about the （軍の）野営地，陣営 which has become a 基準 text の中で American 自由主義のs.

Whatever the real 推論する／理由 for 'JD' Gordon's fraught, eleventh-hour phone-call (made, one 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs, on orders from high within the White House) we must turn to other, more 最近の 観察者／傍聴者s for insight on life at Gitmo.

の中で the most moving accounts is an article written for the Washington 地位，任命する, by Mahvish 旅宿泊所, a young interpreter and 法律 卒業生（する） who has visited nine times, and is invariably struck by the 'beauty of the surroundings and the evil they mask'.

行方不明になる 旅宿泊所 readily 譲歩するs that her 初めの 利益／興味 in working at Gitmo was probably 影響（力）d by her 遺産. Whether her 見解（をとる）s are 完全に impartial is open t o 審議.

Her Pashtun parents, both doctors, are from north-western Pakistan, の近くに to the Afghan 国境, and she is a practising イスラム教徒. However, she was born and raised in America, 'felt the 苦痛 of September 11' and 'understood the need to 侵略する Afghanistan and destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda'.

By the same 記念品, she 'felt the 苦しむing of the Afghans as their country was 爆弾d. And when hundreds of men were 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up and thrown into a 黒人／ボイコット 穴を開ける of 拘留，拘置, many with seemingly no proof that they had テロリスト 関係s, I felt that my own country had taken a wrong turn.'

She has heard dozens of 囚人s relate their stories of 'betrayal, mistaken 身元, beatings and 拷問', but 特に 解任するs an emotion-告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d 会合 with 抑留者 Number 1009, Haji Nusrat, at 80 years old, Gitmo's oldest 囚人.

The 無学の father of ten children from a small Afghan mountain village, the wizened, white-bearded old man was 逮捕（する）d in 2003 after complaining to the U.S. 当局 about the 拘留，拘置 of his son Izat, who is also in Guantanamo Bay.

Nusrat now stands （刑事）被告 of 命令（する）ing a テロリスト group with links to Osama 貯蔵所 Laden, and harbouring a （武器などの）隠匿場所 of 武器s.

At his 軍の （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 審理，公聴会, his son 主張するd the 武器 belonged to the Afghan 省 of Defence, and that his father was 存在 paid to guard them ― a ありふれた 協定 in his country.

True or not, only the hardest of hearts would remain unmoved by the octogenarian's 苦境, or fail to question the 司法（官） ― and 目的 ― of his 長引かせるd incarceration.

'A 一打／打撃, 15 years ago, left him paralysed. He cannot stand up and hobbles to the bathroom behind a walker,' 行方不明になる 旅宿泊所 令状s.

'にもかかわらず his paralysis, his swollen 脚s and feet are tightly cuffed and shackled to the 床に打ち倒す. He says his shoes are too tight. He has asked for 医療の attention for his 脚s, but has not been taken to hospital.'

Apart from 取引 with his lawyer, Nusrat has no 接触する with t he outside world, and frets 絶えず for his wife, wondering whether she is still alive.

Mahvish 旅宿泊所 says: 'I can honestly say that I don't believe any of our （弁護士の）依頼人s are 有罪の of 罪，犯罪s against the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs. No 疑問 some men here are, but not the men I've met.'

Who knows, perhaps 行方不明になる 旅宿泊所 is a hopeless idealist. Maybe she is na?ve. But surely the point is in her finalcomment. For if just one of the 460 抑留者s are 存在 held in this God-forsaken place erroneously, the 司法（官） upon which America prides itself is a sham.

The Bush 行政's line has always been that Guantanamo Bay's 存在 is 正当化するd by the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and unusual danger 提起する／ポーズをとるd to America's 国家の 安全 in the wake of 9/ 11.

Critics 反対する that the White House cynically cherry-選ぶd bits of the U.S 憲法 and international 法律 and cobbled them together to support its 事例／患者.

The 合法的な argument grinds on, but surely now it is almost beside the point. More than four years have passed since the first 'enemy combatants' were flown to this American-賃貸し（する）d 飛び領土 in Cuba: ample time for a fairer system for 拘留するing and 過程ing 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs to be 工夫するd.

Of course, Binyam's Mohamed's family, who あられ／賞賛する from Ethiopia, are 納得させるd he is の中で innocent. His parents were secularised, open-minded イスラム教徒s who 指名するd each of their four children in 一致 with different 宗教s (Binyam is a 伝統的な ユダヤ人の 指名する) and sent them to a Christian school.

His brother and two sisters sought 亡命 in America during the war with Eritrea, and 証明するd to be the sort of ambitious, hard-working 移民，移住（する）s who form the nation's bedrock.

Binyam, 28, is every bit as 有望な as his siblings. At school he won prizes for maths and was also an 優れた 競技者. At 14, he was sent to live with a sister in Virginia, but she felt unable to care for him adequately, and so his father asked friends in London to take him in.

There he was improperly 監督するd, によれば his brother, a nd drifted into bad company and 麻薬s. Like so many disaffected young British イスラム教徒s, his escape 大勝する appears to have been Islamic fundamentalism. In 早期に 2002, it took him to Afghanistan and Pakistan: no one is really sure why.

Perhaps, as he has since told his British lawyer, he 簡単に 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see for himself whether they were 'good countries' or not. Or かもしれない there was a darker 動機 and he is, indeed, a テロリスト.

設立する to be travelling on a 誤った パスポート belonging to a friend, he was 逮捕（する）d at Karachi airport on April 10, 2002. He had been 試みる／企てるing to return to London 経由で Zurich.

In an account supported by 航空機 flight スピードを出す／記録につけるs and his own retrospective diary, after 存在 手渡すd over to the Americans, he （人命などを）奪う，主張するs to have been secreted away into a world of darkened dungeons, 麻薬-induced 尋問 and relentless 拷問.

From Pakistan, he was flown to Morocco by '驚くべき／特命の／臨時の rendition' ― the 非公式の flights by which America 輸送（する）s 逮捕（する）d terror 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs to さまざまな 刑務所，拘置所s around the globe.

There, he （人命などを）奪う，主張するs, he broke 負かす／撃墜する under 18 months of 拷問 by masked men who 繰り返して （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 him and 削減（する） his penis '20 or 30 times' with a knife. He says he also 耐えるd other unspeakable 行為／法令／行動するs, which he still cannot bring himself to discuss.

In February 2005, he was 輸送（する）d to Gitmo.

His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, a crusading 自由主義の who has fought for many Death 列／漕ぐ／騒動 囚人s and who 代表するs 36 Gitmo 抑留者s, 述べるs Binyam Mohamed's 治療 as the worst he has 暴露するd.

Small wonder, he says, that Binyam 結局 '自白するd' to 存在 伴う／関わるd in an 申し立てられた／疑わしい 陰謀（を企てる） to 工場／植物 a 'dirty 爆弾' in 本土／大陸 America. He has since recanted the admission.

On Monday, the All-Party 議会の Group on 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の Renditions will 持つ／拘留する a public 審理，公聴会 into Binyam Mohamed's 主張s that the British 政府 was 伴う／関わるd in his seizure and transportation for 拷問.

His 軍の （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 this week had 約束d t o be やめる a spectacle.

にもかかわらず his brutali-sation, he has somehow 回復するd his 反抗的な spirit, and at his first 簡潔な／要約する 法廷，裁判所 外見 in April, he used his かなりの wit to mock the 訴訟／進行s.

Binyam 拒絶する／低下するd the 申し込む／申し出 of smart 非軍事の 着せる／賦与するs, 主張するing that he dress in the same 有望な orange over-shirt and shorts he wears in his 独房. He also held up a 調印する 説 'Conn-使節団'.

The 訴訟／進行s descended その上の into farce when his lawyer, Major Yvonne Bradley, 試みる／企てるd to disobey an order to defend him.

Such is the 疑わしい 合法的な status of the 訴訟／進行s that she had been 警告するd against 関与 by the Pennsylvania 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 協会, which 認めるd her licence.

A rum 明言する／公表する of 事件／事情／状勢s which makes sense of the 米国防総省's 膝-jerk 返答 to the humiliating ３倍になる-自殺: to 延期する the risible 'つるしあげ，でっちあげ（私的）裁判' and 禁止（する） the ますます 批判的な マスコミ.

They may keep 観察者／傍聴者s out this week, and after reading this article, they will almost certainly 除外する me in perpetuity. In the long run, however, news 管理／経営 策略 ill-befitting a 広大な／多数の／重要な 僕主主義 can never 後継する.

In his subservience to the White House, Tony Blair dares to say no more than that Guantanamo Bay is 'an anomaly'. Yet the clamour to の近くに gulag Gitmo grows louder by the day.

If America, a country I love, is to 回復する the moral high ground in the War on Terror, the 460 inmates must be 派遣（する）d to the 本土／大陸 and 過程d through the U.S. 司法（官） system forthwith. If they are 罪人／有罪を宣告するd, lock them away; if they are acquitted, send them 支援する whence they （機の）カム.

Now, five years too late, even 大統領 Bush appears to be waking up to this imperative. This week, he said he would 'very much like to の近くに' the （軍の）野営地，陣営 and is を待つing a 最高裁判所 判決，裁定 on whether the 囚人s should be dealt with by a civil or 軍の 法廷，裁判所.

That 判決，裁定 cannot come too soon. For only by 涙／ほころびing 負かす／撃墜する the high barbed-wire 盗品故買者s and 開始 the prefabricated cages will America trul y 証明する its real strength.