On Sunday, three prisoners at Guantanamo Bay committed suicide by hanging themselves using make-shift nooses from clothing and bedsheets. What follows are a collection of quotes in response to the revelations.

“He also stressed that it was important to treat the bodies humanely and with cultural sensitivity.”
- White House Spokesman Tony Snow describing US President George Bush’s reaction

“He wants to make sure that this thing is done right from all points of view.”
White House Spokesman Tony Snow describing US President George Bush’s reaction

“It does sound like this is part of a strategy - in that they don’t value their own lives, and they certainly don’t value ours; and they use suicide bombings as a tactic. Taking their own lives was not necessary, but it certainly is a good PR move.”
- Colleen Graffy, the deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy

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IOL have reported some more details regarding the rendition Khalid Rashid. They state that the airline company AVE that is linked to the plane used in the rendition, is the latest incarnation of Phoenix Aviation i.e. they’re both one in the same, which clears that up. They also revealed more details about the deportation:

Meanwhile, a Lenasia-based radio station, Channel Islam, reported on Friday night that it had established, following a special investigation, that a Gulfstream II jet (with registration A6-PHY) left Mombasa, Kenya, at 11am on Saturday, November 5, last year. It landed at Lanseria at 2.52pm, where passengers and crew cleared customs. The jet departed for Waterkloof Airforce base at 6.42 the next morning, where Rashid was waiting with Joseph Swartland, a senior immigration official.

It has also been revealed that Execujet, an international handling company at Lanseria, checked at least six people from the Gulfstream into the Palazzo Hotel at Monte Casino.

In papers before the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, the Minister of Home Affairs said there were five crew members and four passengers on board when the plane left Waterkloof. However, the flight plan only mentions a pilot and one crew member.

They also revealed that Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service gave a report on Rashid to the South African Secret Service sometime last year which claimed that “Rashid was not involved in terror in the UK and had never been to the United States.” Finally, IOL also said claimed that Rashid’s family’s lawyer, Zehir Omar, is taking the case to the International Criminal Court.

Updating on my earlier piece regarding Khalid Rashid, the Mail & Guardian reports that the plane used in the rendition, with flight number A6-PHY, was “a Gulfstream II jet owned by AVE”, and not Phoenix Aviation as had originally reported, “a company legally domiciled in the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, whose main base of operations is Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.”

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Do we think about the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay? What does the media say about them? They pop up occasionally - a small item on page six. They have been consigned to a no man’s land from which indeed they may never return. At present many are on hunger strike, being force-fed, including British residents. No niceties in these force-feeding procedures. No sedative or anaesthetic. Just a tube stuck up your nose and into your throat. You vomit blood. This is torture. What has the British Foreign Secretary said about this? Nothing. What has the British Prime Minister said about this? Nothing. Why not? Because the United States has said: to criticise our conduct in Guantanamo Bay constitutes an unfriendly act. You’re either with us or against us. So Blair shuts up.
- Harold Pinter, 2005 winner of the Noble Prize for Literature

The prisoners of Guantanamo Bay have popped up again, this time with news that there are 89 inmates on hunger strike at the “gulag of our times” (Amnesty) or the “anomaly” (Tony Blair). A few months ago, it was admitted that several hunger strikers were being force fed in a process that Captain John S Edmondson, commander of the Guantanamo Hospital, admitted resulted in bleeding and nausea. Despite the latest news that dozens of the hunger strikers have given up their attempt, this is just another sordid chapter in the history of Guantanamo’s force feeding.
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The Washington Post recently reported on US war crimes during the Korean War. In 1999, an AP story about refugees being shot by US soldiers at No Gun Ri was investigated by the Pentagon, which concluded it was “an unfortunate tragedy”, and “not a deliberate killing.” But a recently discovered memo from then-US Korean Ambassador John J. Muccio refutes this claim. Addressed to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, it states:

If refugees do appear from north of US lines they will receive warning shots, and if they then persist in advancing they will be shot.

Charming stuff. Wonder if that’ll get into the school history books.

Looks like using computer games to help hack social networks is becoming all the rage these days. Wired is reporting that an Iranian game “designed by schoolchildren belonging to the Union of Islamic Student Societies” is to be released next year:

Rugged veteran Iranian special forces hero “Commander Bahman” will soon be tackling one of his toughest missions, rescuing one of his country’s top atomic scientists captured by U.S. forces in Iraq. […] The Fars news agency said that in the game’s narrative Iranian atomic scientist “Doctor Kousha” goes on a pilgrimage to the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Kerbala in Iraq where he is seized by U.S. troops.

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There’s no love lost between the US and Venezuela. The country’s leader, Hugo Chavez, was overthrown by a US-backed military coup which quickly backfired when a populist uprising returned him back into power. Chavez recently kicked out the US-based New Tribes Mission accusing them of being involved in “true imperialist infiltration, the CIA, they take away sensitive, strategic information” and “exploiting the Indians”. The US, for their part, have repeatedly warned against Chavez, with Condolezza Rice accusing him of a “Latin brand of populism that has taken countries down the drain”.

But today comes an interesting story from ZDNet, who says that US gaming company Pandemic Studios’ upcoming game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is being denounced by Venezuelan lawmakers as “a U.S. government-inspired propaganda campaign against Chavez that could even help lay the psychological groundwork for an actual invasion”:

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Perhaps European investigators who are complaining of stonewalling by the US government in their investigation into the secret CIA detention centers and prisoner rendition should give ABC News and the Washington Post a call. Chances are, they know something they’re not telling. Have a look at this very interesting exchange between Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent for ABC News, and Ed Schultz provides wonderful insight into how the media will often apply self censorship to themselves:

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