Are we still detaining children at gitmo?

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,941876,00.html

The US military has admitted that children aged 16 years and younger are among the detainees being interrogated at its prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (from 2003)

[peacebird]

1. i thought we had at least three kids aged 12 and 13 originally

but I guess it sounds better to say "16 and younger"

:grr:

Don't know if they are still there or not tho...

[w8liftinglady]

2. From the Chinese press

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/29/content_4615298.htm

Up to 24 children may have been held up at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and many of them face the same conditions and interrogations as adult inmates, the Time magazine reported Sunday.

The number of prisoners under 18 could have been higher as date-of-birth data are imprecise, Time said.

"Many of these youths were subject to the same conditions and interrogations as the adults," it said

[wakeme2008]

3. Grrr the "children" are ready to collect Social Security now

:grr:

[w8liftinglady]

4. even abc reported it in 2003...nothing since

http://www.prisonplanet.com/children_held_at_camp_x_ray_us_admits.htm

[w8liftinglady]

5. also at Abu Ghraib

http://www.sundayherald.com/43796

A Sunday Herald investigation has discovered that coalition forces are holding more than 100 children in jails such as Abu Ghraib. Witnesses claim that the detainees – some as young as 10 – are also being subjected to rape and torture(from 2004)

[w8liftinglady]

6. a few more examples of what they have done in our name to fucking CHILDREN

http://mindprod.com/politics/iraqtortures.html

'There were 13 year old kids in with us,' Fadi said. 'Sometimes they would throw candies from their humvees, shouting 'Bark like a dog, and I'll throw you the candy'..Some of the small children were crying in the night, asking to go home to their families. We were trying to get them quiet.'

"'Some of the prisoners were criminals, thieves. They put the children with them. Some of them tried to abuse children. We told the guards, they started laughing. One prisoner tried to rape a kid and he refused, so they made a cut on his face
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=2490

Abuse of a high school student detainee: Commander's report of inquiry into broken jaw of a high-school boy (such that the boy required his mouth to be wired shut and could eat only through a straw). The victim was told "to say that I've fallen down and no one beat me."
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/17559prs20050325.html

I'll end with the words of Rudolph Hoess,commandant of Auscwitz-
“These so-called ill-treatments and this torturing in concentration camps, stories of which were spread everywhere among the people, and later by the prisoners that were liberated by the occupying armies, were not, as assumed, inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual leaders, subleaders, and men who laid violent hands on internees.”
What has this evil administration REALLY done?

[w8liftinglady]

7. Aid Organizations denied access to children

Access to child detainees is difficult and human rights groups are concerned about their welfare, particularly following the release of photos in late April showing US troops apparently forcing prisoners to simulate sex acts and abusing prisoners.

Amnesty International (AI) complained that it had been "refused access" to enter Coalition detention centres, except for a brief visit to one in Mosul, in northern Iraq. A researcher at the international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said workers did not have access to detained children. Clarisa Bencomo, the researcher, wondered if the children were being kept in poor or unsafe conditions.

In addition, earlier this year the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued a statement raising concern over child detainees: "UNICEF is profoundly disturbed by news reports alleging that children may have been among those abused in detention centres and prisons in Iraq. Although the news reports have not been independently substantiated, they are alarming nonetheless," the statement said.

The statement went on to say that "any mistreatment, sexual abuse, exploitation or torture of children in detention is a violation of international law - including the Convention on the Rights of the Child."
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42192&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis&SelectCountry=IRAQ

[w8liftinglady]

8. I can't find any info beyond 2004.It has been erased.

[mmonk]

9. I believe Barbara Olshansky said as young as 7 years old

were taken to Gitmo (Camp Iguana). She is representing 300 detainees concerning Habeus Corpus. Correct me if someone has different information.

[w8liftinglady]

10. not for the weak...transcript of testimony re rape of teenagers at abu ghr

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/abughraib/151108.pdf

[w8liftinglady]

11. US Silent on Torture of Children

Just as the U.S.-led forces refused to release thousands of adult prisoners after the June 28 handover of partial sovereignty to Iraq, U.S. and UK authorities continue to incarcerate children.

The Pentagon says around 60 teens, "primarily aged 16 and 17," are still being detained, though unnamed sources at the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command (CentCom) said some prisoners are as young as 14 years old, according to Scotland's Sunday Herald. The British Ministry of Defense also admitted that it had interned minors, and that one was still in custody.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) documented the imprisonment of up to 107 children as of this May and revealed mistreatment of some young prisoners, according to German television show Report Mainz.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/croke.php?articleid=3286

[w8liftinglady]

12. Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11488.htm

John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.

This came out in response to a question in a December 1st debate in Chicago with Notre Dame professor and international human rights scholar Doug Cassel.

What is particularly chilling and revealing about this is that John Yoo was a key architect post-9/11 Bush Administration legal policy. As a deputy assistant to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, John Yoo authored a number of legal memos arguing for unlimited presidential powers to order torture of captive suspects, and to declare war anytime, any where, and on anyone the President deemed a threat.