Thursday, October 19, 2006

Will Governments Ever Stop Lying to the People?

Der Spiegel is running a story about Murat Kurnaz , the German mistakenly picked up and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay ... a man who spent more than 4 years isolated and in chains according to newspaper reports.

Shortly after Murat Kurnaz was released from the United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay and returned to Germany in late August, the Bremen resident went public with the accusation that he was physically abused by two unknown German soldiers. Officials in Berlin were quick to denounce the claims made by the Turkish national, who was born and raised in Germany, as unfounded.

But a different picture began to emerge on Wednesday, when the Defense Ministry was forced to admit that German Special Forces -- the so-called KSK -- had in fact been guarding the US prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan five years ago, and that they had contact with Kurnaz during the time of the alleged abuses. However, the ministry claims there is no evidence of any abuse against Kurnaz.


The parliamentary committee investigating the German military's activities during the war in Iraq has also been unable to find evidence to substantiate Kurnaz's claim that the soldiers had pulled him by the hair and thrown his head against the ground.

Ummm well ... it happened over 4 years ago but it seems like something I'd remember - why not allow Murat the dignity of having one person finally believe him? Oh that's right, he was telling the truth all along.

Dear Parliamentary committee ...why not try adding up what we know of conditions in Guantanamo and I quote 'conditions at the American prison at Guantanamo Bay recall the "torture chambers of a dictator", the shameful treatment your country has so far afforded Murat and then move on from there ... think 'human' as opposed to 'committee'.

Dank u wel.

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