Bush denounces report against American treatment of detainees as 'absurd'
Regional-USA, Politics, 6/1/2005

The US President George W. Bush was asked yesterday at a press conference: about the Amnesty International that the US has established "a new gulag" of prisons around the world, beyond the reach of the law and decency. I'd like your reaction to that, and also your assessment of how it came to this, that that is a view not just held by extremists and anti-Americans, but by groups that have allied themselves with the United States government in the past -- and what the strategic impact is that in many places of the world, the United States these days, under your leadership, is no longer seen as the good guy.

Bush answered "I'm aware of the Amnesty International report, and it's absurd. It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that is -- promotes freedom around the world. When there's accusations made about certain actions by our people, they're fully investigated in a transparent way. It's just an absurd allegation."

Bush added "In terms of the detainees, we've had thousands of people detained. We've investigated every single complaint against the detainees. It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of -- and the allegations -- by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth. And so it was an absurd report."

Meantime, the Associated Press has obtained a government report that sheds light on the treatment of detainees and what they faced. Here are what the Associated Press revelations of testimonies of prisoners, obtained through the freedom of information act, as published in the New York Times:

''I kept telling him, no I didn't receive training. I was crying and finally I told him I did receive the training. My hands were tied behind my back and my knees were on the ground and my head was bleeding. I was in a lot of pain, so I said I had (military) training. At that point, with all my suffering, if he had asked me if I was Osama bin Laden, I would have said yes. What is my crime? Because of the United States, my hand is handicapped. I can't work. I can't do anything because of my hand. Am I an enemy of the United States?'' -- One prisoner complaining he was allegedly abused and forced into confessing.

^------
''My understanding (is) that since you captured me, you have to present some kind of proof for holding me but it looks like it's working out the other way around; I'm giving you the statements.'' -- A prisoner complaining about the process.

^------

'All the rules in the United States and in the world, the person is innocent until you prove he is guilty not innocent. But here, with Americans, the detainees are guilty until proven innocent.'' -- A prisoner who demanded the tribunal provide evidence of his guilt.

^------

''What I know, all the interrogators ... these people, the Americans, are just trying to tie some people to the incident of 9/11, and to have someone pay for that.'' -- A detainee who said the tribunal process was unfair.

^------

''Just because someone stays at someone's house, who may not be the best person in the world, does that make the people who stay at the house bad people?'' -- A detainee who acknowledged being a Taliban member and staying at the house of an al-Qaida official, questioning the tribunal's assumption of guilt by association.

^------

''My personal representative told me that if I am innocent I'll go back to my home country. If I'm guilty and come back an enemy, I will stay. I was going to ask you about this. If I go back to (censored country) they will kill me, but if I wanted to stay here, do I have to make myself guilty?'' -- An apparent ethnic Chinese Muslim unwilling to go home. (end of excerpt from the New York Times).

Previous Stories:
  A United States historic admission: we did not support freedom and democracy; decided to change this policy   (5/28/2005)
  Amnesty International depicts US as great human rights violator   (5/28/2005)
  US interim report into Quran desecration investigation   (5/27/2005)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search