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Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

theguardian.com

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Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#71

Post by shapefrog »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #70
blunte wrote: post #2

Key figures in US military and US leadership need to be held accountable. Same as with CEOs, if you only punish the organization and not specifically the leaders, there is no disincentive to doing it again. Clearly the US is exempt from the war crimes laws, and that needs to change. But it would require leaders of other major powers/countries to push for this. But… this will never happen because almost no leader want…

Which war crimes were committed? Be specific.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes

You cant be too shocked about stuff that has an actual wikipedia article ...

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#72

Post by mdp2021 »

mrtksn wrote: post #11

This implies the US population being held responsible because the US is a democratic nation. The idea is, every 4 years the highest position of governance is put on a trial and the population votes if they approve or disprove the way things are done and reconsider alternatives. Besides the 4 year period for the evaluation of the highest ranking officers, there is an ample opportunity for direct intervention through o…

> This implies the US population being held responsible because the US is a democratic nation

Such "proposal" is completely irrational. Proposals must be defensible, irrational ideas are not universally defensible.

One is not responsible for other people's choices, and cannot be held responsible for other people's (or coinhabiting peoples') choices, nor for the barbaric systemic faults that hinder the ideal implementation of a political system.

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#73

Post by BLKNSLVR »

md_ wrote: post #66
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "War on Terror" line runs directly through Guantanamo and Assange, and I see a definite a consistency of US foreign policy across all the administrations involved throughout. The biggest change I've seen in the last 20 years is the recent (sudden?) withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. To be clear, I don't think you're wrong, I think we're just coming in at different angles of subjectivity, and the above is just…

Thanks for the polite reply. :)

Thanks for clearly explaining your perspective. I appreciate clearly explained counter-arguments to my, sometimes backed by overly-dramatic language, opinions :)

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#74

Post by [deleted] »

beckman466 wrote: post #50
La1n wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a link, but I've noticed that quite a few videos in the similar corner of topics need an "age check" (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2khAmMTAjI , the creator of which was (according to them) visited by DHS for "anti-american sentiments" [1] ) [1] https://twitter.com/_secondthought/status/133274615894763520...

So glad you mentioned this, I've also noticed this. Agreed, it's scary and crazy what happened to JT Chapman/Second Thought. This 'age check' is also a pretty convenient way for Google to 'passively' create a list of people who watch "anti-american sentiment" videos.

[deleted]

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#75

Post by platz »

> He had just been conducting research in Afghanistan, and was expecting to begin college at the end of the year. Instead, he was accused of being an al-Qaida leader, kidnapped by Afghan warlords and handed over to the CIA

this is the only information information in the whole arricle about why he was sent there, and it is pretty sparse information.

If i were to put on my critical thinking media hat, this gives the impression that its not the whole story, or at least an idealized version of it.

Also its not explained his connection between Yemen and afganistan.

(this isnt to validate the practices at guantanamo, however)

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#76

Post by bayesian_horse »

You also shouldn't forget to hold the other powers to account that made it impossible to have peace in Afghanistan.

Russia put out bounties on US soldiers, Iran armed the Taliban, Pakistan sheltered them and I'm sure China had their fingers in there just as well.

The Taliban have never been the legitimate, much less the benevolent government of the Afghan people. If you've seen "The Handmaid's Tale" you have a general idea of what happened in the 90's and is going to happen there again.

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#78

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

shapefrog wrote: post #71
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which war crimes were committed? Be specific.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes You cant be too shocked about stuff that has an actual wikipedia article ...

>Panjwai massacre,[1] occurred in the early hours of 11 March 2012, when United States Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales murdered sixteen civilians and wounded six others in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan

He was sentenced to life without parole.

>The Maywand District murders were the murders of at least three Afghan civilians perpetrated by a group of U.S. Army soldiers from June 2009 to June 2010

Five of the Army soldiers faced murder charges while seven others were charged with participating in a coverup.

War is waged by people. War crimes are inevitable but it seems to me the US has done a fairly decent job of holding themselves accountable. How should the "US" be held accountable?

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#79

Post by zozbot234 »

bayesian_horse wrote: post #76

You also shouldn't forget to hold the other powers to account that made it impossible to have peace in Afghanistan. Russia put out bounties on US soldiers, Iran armed the Taliban, Pakistan sheltered them and I'm sure China had their fingers in there just as well. The Taliban have never been the legitimate, much less the benevolent government of the Afghan people. If you've seen "The Handmaid's Tale" you have a genera…

Has there been any legitimate, benevolent government there in living memory? Perhaps they're simply better off with a king, much like the frogs in Aesop's tale.

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#80

Post by bayesian_horse »

ordiel wrote: post #63

Why not ask Obama instead of Biden? ... It was his campaign promise... Twice... I mean Trump was an idiot and all but at least a part of the wall he promissed was build

Obama held a lot of his promises and he cleaned up much of what went wrong in the war on terror.

He was kept from closing Guantanamo Bay by factors beyond his control.

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