The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Bush on "Humane" Treatment of POWs

Mar 31, 2003

After Iraqi TV showed four U.S. POWs, Bush demanded that Iraq treat U.S. prisoners of war "humanely, just like we’ll treat any Iraqi prisoners."

That’s quite a joke. Look at the record the U.S. rolled up with prisoners of war it took in Afghanistan.

Six hundred fifty Afghan prisoners were taken to Guantánamo, Cuba, brought in front of TV cameras blindfolded, put on their knees and shackled, without knowing where they were.

Thousands more were taken to Bagram U.S. Air Force base in Afghanistan. U.S. officials admit that prisoners there were being kept in a hangar which is lit 24 hours a day, making sleep impossible. The Afghan prisoners are routinely "softened up" by beatings given by U.S. Army Special Forces, thrown against walls and bound in painful positions with duct tape. They are forced to kneel or stand in uncomfortable positions in extreme heat or cold down to 10 degrees. The prisoners are left naked most of the time with their hands and feet often bound. Food and water are withheld, as is access to sunlight and medical attention. Some who have been shot were not given pain killers. An American pathologist ruled that the death of two prisoners at the hands of U.S. guards last December was homicide.

All this has been admitted by U.S. officials. Their only excuse is that they say the war in Afghanistan is not a war.

U.S. soldiers had better hope that Iraq does NOT follow the U.S. example.