20%: Gitmo Prisoners Treated Unfairly

[theearthisround]

http://rasmussenreports.com/2005/Gitmo.htm

June 22, 2005--A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 20% of Americans believe prisoners at Guantanomo Bay have been treated unfairly. Seven-out-of-ten adults believe the prisoners are being treated "better than they deserve" (36%) or "about right" (34%).

The survey also found that just 14% agree with people who say that prisoner treatment at Guantanomo Bay is similar to Nazi tactics. Sixty-nine percent disagree with that comparison. This helps explain why Illinois Senator Dick Durbin apologized for making such a comparison.

Partisan differences concerning prisoner treatment are huge. Only 7% of Republicans believe Guantanomo prisoners are treated unfairly. Thirty percent (30%) of Democrats hold that view along with 22% of those not affiliated with either major party.

Forty-five percent (45%) of Republicans say the prisoners are treated better than they deserve. That view is shared by 28% of Democrats.

[JuniperLea]

1. i'm beginning to think

that all this hoopla was started by w's peeps so cheney's old firm could make more money. seems halliburton is the one who will benefit from all this... we complain about the facility, someone has to make it better. guess who that someone will be.

[politicaholic]

2. Its not torture, just deep tissue massage...very, very, very deep tissue..

And they're getting served chicken every other night, sure it's not Coq au Vin, but what people don't realize is that beaks and feet are a great source of protien.

:sarcasm:

[gumby]

5. Don't forget the 'lemon fish.'

Hahahaha, torture is so funny. We 'Murikans know right from wrong! Don't tell us 'bout freedom 'cause we know all 'bout it! :puke:

[u2spirit]

3. Well this surely correct poll says it's ok

I guess it's ok then. Nothing to see here. This just continues to prove that this country is already fucked immeasurably

[Up2Late]

4. This IS going to change as soon as the NEW GTMO Photo & Video

are released on Friday. I don't know that they WILL be released Friday, but it almost has to be. The WH always releases these types of things on Friday after 5:00pm.

I think they have until the end of the month to release these, but the end of the month is on a Thursday, so if will have to be Friday.

[Auntie Bush]

8. I think that poll will change when the new photos come out...but

BushCo will find a way to delay their release. I'll believe them when I see them.

[LibDemAlways]

6. Since these people are being held

indefinitely and without access to the legal system, how can anyone say they are being treated "better than they deserve" or "about right"?

We have no way of knowing who these people are or what crimes they are alleged to have committed. What's obvious is that our government is guilty of human rights violations in the abhorant treatment of these prisoners, and our standing in the world community is suffering for it.

[warsager]

7. it's disgusting that

Probably the vast majority of these prisoners are just average people caught up in our horrible war and thrown in prison. Even if they WEREN'T tortured, being thrown in prison is a horrible, terrible nightmare that NO innocent person deserves, yup even IRAQI'S. Jesus its so infuriating. And on top of that some (what %?) have been tortured and these soulless people say they are treated *better than they deserve*!!!

How would THEY like being in prison? Even if they are fed gourmet food and have great 'living' quarters, being in prison when you are innocent is way way worse treatment that anyone deserves. What kind of people are these that have such low standards for human rights?

I am disgusted. Yet again.

:banghead:

[Benhurst]

9. We have met the Evil Empire and

it is us.

[LynnTheDem]

10. So beating a chained man to death until his legs are a mashed mess, that's

"better than they deserve" even though we don't have a clue what they do or don't deserve because they've not even been charged with anything.

NOT MY PRESIDENT.
NOT MY COUNTRY.

And no longer my countrymen.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. We have a lot of work to do to re-humanize America

Much of this is again due to neglect of the truth in the corporate media. Right wing pundits spreading the lie that these people are not prisoners of war (under the Third Geneva Convention, each individual detainee is a POW until a court, not the President, rules otherwise) or that there is any standing to the category "illegal combatant" (it is found nowhere in the Geneva Conventions or any other body of international law).

Whether they are followers of Osama or not (and at least some, no doubt, are), they are entitled to have their rights respected and not abridged by sadistic torturers in the White House and Pentagon.

Those who have abridged those rights and have approved of torture or humiliating treatment (aka "aggressive interrogation techniques") are guilty of crimes against humanity.

[warsager]

12. and also

We are only fueling hatred of the US by everyone over there who has a loved one in prison. Or a loved one killed.

Jesus these poeple (Bu$hCO) are SOOOOO freakin STUPID!! evil.

[VegasWolf]

13. 80% of Murkins think that because Bush says they are guilty, they are!nt

[Cocoa]

14. leaders against Gitmo and torture are WAY ahead of the public

to say anything about torture carries a political cost, let alone pushing the issue persistently like Carl Levin and a few others have been doing. Too many people simply don't understand the meaning of it.

And the leaders paying the cost know they're paying it of course. But they're leaders and that's what leaders do.

Edit to add Patrick Leahy, he belongs up there with Levin.

[Jack Rabbit]

15. That's no doubt true

Much of this has to do with the MSM not properly covering this issue (shocking, no?) Too many people think that Abu Ghraib was a few bad apples (case closed!) and that if the President says that AI is right, then AI must be wrong. And then there was that little squall about flushing the Koran down the toilet at Gitmo. Perhaps that didn't happen, but, even assuming it didn't, that doesn't allow us to conclude that everything is fine and well.

Even if one is offended at comparisons to Nazis, one should be aware that Senator Durbin was reading an FBI report of goings-on at Guantanamo. He wasn't making it up. Something is seriously wrong.

And then there are the torture memos, which written or approved by then-White Counsel Alberto Gonzales. These used (pardon the term) tortured logic to justify the presumed right of the President to abrogate the Geneva Convention and the Convention against Torture. And all Bush has to do to keep it from being torture is to say it isn't torture. How quaint.

Gonzales should be charged with crimes against humanity just for drawing up those memos.

[truthisfreedom]

16. and just how do these people know?

it's like asking average Americans what's happening right now at the Earth's core. pure speculation.

[KansDem]

17. "Forty-five percent (45%) of Republicans say ...

...the prisoners are treated better than they deserve."

What's up with this?!?! After reading this I now fully expect someone in the public eye to step forward and say something like, "Hangin's too good for 'em!"

[stickdog]

18. DLC says: If Dems would just take the lead when it comes to torturing

random Muslims, just think of all those critical swing votes we could attract!

[Solly Mack]

19. "better than they deserve" -how Bush is treating those

Democrats who think the same thing about prisoners at Gitmo.
So those 28% of Democrats are getting exactly the government they deserve.

It goes without saying that Republicans are getting the government they wanted.


On a less sarcastic note, there is something seriously wrong with people who approve of the treatment at Gitmo.