"An Obligation to not the men, but to the dead rabbit...'
America and our Foreign Prison Problems
Abu Ghraib was once a prison under Saddam Hussein control near Baghdad, and was known for its infamous conditions, and brutal mistreatments of its prisoners. During the American invasion of Iraq, when Hussein’s regime collapsed, the prison was taken over by US operatives. Allegedly our soldiers had bettered the conditions so that they would be more suitable for holding inmates (even though it had been deserted by then) and by the fall we had once more crammed the cells with thousands of prisoners, most of which simply had the unfortunate luck of being near our military in the wrong place at the wrong time. The events which took place under our occupation of the jail would forever remind us of our shortcomings as a nation. Brutal mistreatment of prisoners, rape, assault, murder, and torture, all at the hands of our own people. Photographs have been leaked to illustrate the grisly account. While Abu Ghraib has been under scrutiny and is no longer operative, its Cuban counterpart, Guantanamo Bay is still very much so still open, and is racking up in unpopularity by the day. The prison itself should be considered an act of human rights violations, as its purpose is to house inmates away from the mainland so that they are not entitled to the rights of an American judicial system. Originally holding mainly Haitians and Cubans, it was already beginning to build a reputation of misconduct and foul treatment among the prisoners. While not quite on the level of Abu, when several British prisoners were freed, they reported being abused and beaten. A Swede was held in interrogation, and lost feeling in their foot after being subjected to several hours of refrigerator-like temperatures. As time went on it became a facility for which America could toss prisoners of the ‘War on Terror’, and escape having to give them trials to prove their innocence. With reports of waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and beatings, GTMO has begun to receive backlash from the international community, and Americans themselves. To make matters worse, many, if not most of the prisoners in Guantanamo are innocent. Over a hundred have been cleared, the majority never charged with a crime, are still being held in the prisons. While this may be shorter than I intended, I believe a final paragraph should be the sum of all our numbers. My point is not to shame, or belittle our government, policies, or our overall message. As a nation we mean well, and we do try to support others. But there’s a problem when it comes to our Prison systems, and not just overseas. We rank the highest when it comes to crime rates, the fifth in total when it comes to the death penalty, and our prison population is the second largest. The problem stems from our age old hero obsession where we are always good and noble, and we fight for freedom; blinding us from our own wrong doings as we supposedly venture in the name of progress throughout the world. If we are to be the world’s policemen and if we are to keep this world safe, then we must learn restraint when it comes to others. We must not shove people into overcrowded jails, torture and mock them, and then hide with our tails between our legs in shameful denial when we are criticized for doing so. When we abolish places like GITMO and allow people the freedom to a trial to prove innocence or guilt, and when we make sure that Abu Ghraib never occurs again, then we can police the world and point us all on the right path. Even now as reports of cruelty and mistreatment of others surface, can we still call ourselves the land of the free and brave?
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