Guantanamo suicides “acts of war?”
This is one of the more bizarre reports I've heard in quite a while:
The suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amount to acts of war, the US military says.You know, I'm trying really hard to give Rear Admiral Harris the benefit of the doubt here.The camp commander said the two Saudis and a Yemeni were "committed" and had killed themselves in "an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us".
Lawyers said the men who hanged themselves had been driven by despair.
But the best historical precedent I can come up with doesn't reflect well on the current situation.
Those of you who are of a certain age will remember this story. I was 10 years old and it was pretty shocking. I've never forgotten it:
On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon, Vietnam.As I said, I'm trying to give Rear Admiral Harris the benefit of the doubt -- maybe the suicides really were a political act. But if so, things are far worse than we thought (if that's even remotely possible) and, if history is any guide, there doesn't seem to be any hope for a good outcome from the USA's perspective.Eyewitness accounts state that Thich Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes. David Halberstam, a reporter for the New York Times covering the war in Vietnam, gave the following account:
"I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think…. As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."Thich Quang Duc had prepared himself for his self-immolation through several weeks of meditation and had explained his motivation in letters to members of his Buddhist community as well as to the government of South Vietnam in the weeks prior to his self-immolation. In these letters he described his desire to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Prior to the self-immolation, the South Vietnamese Buddhists had made the following requests to the Diem regime, asking it to:When these requests were not addressed by the Deim regime, Thich Quang Duc carried out his self-immolation.
- Lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag;
- Grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism;
- Stop detaining Buddhists;
- Give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion; and
- Pay fair compensations to the victim’s families and punish those responsible for their deaths.
Following his death, Thich Quang Duc was cremated and legend has it that his heart would not burn. As a result, his heart is considered Holy and is in the custody of the Reserve Bank of Vietnam.
Comments
"As I said, I'm trying to give Rear Admiral Harris the benefit of the doubt -- maybe the suicides really were a political act."
I'm willing to go as far as saying Harris's insanity is not his fault. It's the predictable outcome of being in charge of the inhumanity that is Guantanamo.
This is what God-fearin’ Christians like Bush completely miss about what Jesus taught. Jesus didn’t teach us to be excellent to each other for the sake of the other. He was trying to teach us how to save our own souls.
On the other hand, you can’t beat the short-term earthly reward of believing you’re doing God’s work (and getting others to believe it) just for saying you’ve given your life to Jesus. Looking what Bush and his ilk have done, talk just doesn’t get any cheaper than that; as long as you don’t include the cost of lost souls.
Posted by: shep | June 12, 2006 12:57 PM
Broken record: don't watch what they say, watch what they do.
Posted by: Ara Rubyan | June 12, 2006 04:54 PM