Sunday, May 21, 2006
Doubts about the official story of the Guantanamo riot.
Official story: Guantanamo inmates riot, staging suicide attempts to draw in guards, then attacking them in a well-coordinated uprising bridging completely isolated cell blocks by committed jihadis and employing carefully hoarded weapons improvised from fan blades and the like. Goal: to have Guantanamo shut down.
Moazzam Begg, formerly an inmate, points out the obvious:
Mr Begg, who was seized by the CIA in Pakistan in 2002, said he was sceptical that inmates would be able to avoid the round-the-clock surveillance by CCTV cameras, foot patrols and watchtowers to make and hide weapons. Medical staff were also scrupulous about ensuring detainees swallowed their medication.
He added that electrical equipment such as fans and cameras were normally out of reach. "It's not like a Second World War prisoner of war camp where you can dig tunnels. There's so much security, day in, day out. Everything is logged, everything is watched, everything is scheduled," he said.
So, I dunno. But Mr. Begg's point seems pretty well taken. Maybe there's widespread corruption that would permit coordination and sophisticated, well-planned attacks. Maybe the guards just don't watch the security cams the way they're supposed to and evidence will emerge from a review of the archives.
Or maybe it's all just one more pile of manure from the fertilizer factory.
(Hat tip: angryarab.blogspot.com, a useful site to hear about the arcana of the Middle East from an American Arab's viewpoint)
More blogs about politics.
