Our Nation Unhinged by Peter Jan Honigsberg

[student]

This book hasn't come out yet, but I am trying to preorder it on Amazon. If anyone is interested in the war on terrorism and 9/11 and Guantanamo Bay, I think this would be a good book to read. I have been following the news and doing some research on my own on these issues, and it's shocking to learn the things the government is doing.

 

[student]

Check out cubaniguana.net to find updates to the book, as well as, current issues and thoughts on creating a truth commission for Guantanamo. Please let me know what you all think.

 

[Xenophon]

Anytime the word 'truth' is used in something like this, you can bet truth will play no part and it will be dominated by ideology hostile to the topic.

 

[PubliusInfinitum]

Anytime the word 'truth' is used in something like this, you can bet truth will play no part and it will be dominated by ideology hostile to the topic.

MAN you're absolutely right... "Truth Commision" LOL... it's analogous to the Soviet Show Trials where the 'State' railroaded some individual that contested some policy or another... which were labled with the same title.

These idiots are the true believers and they're some creepy individuals...

 

[student]

Anytime the word 'truth' is used in something like this, you can bet truth will play no part and it will be dominated by ideology hostile to the topic.

I understand why you might be skeptical considering the things that have happened thus far. However, this is not the kind of truth commission you think. It is not the kind created by the government to investigate wrongdoings and prosecute those who abused and violated human rights.

This truth commission proposed by Professor Honigsberg is one that aims to collect stories from the survivors of Guantanamo, those who were imprisoned and tortured. It will interview habeas lawyers who represented the detainees, translators who worked at Guantanamo, guards, soldiers, and anyone else who has had the experience and can testify. The end is to have a collection of testimony from various sources to tell the whole story of Guantanamo. In this way, truth plays a major part, in fact, the only part.

You can read his article at the Huffington Post website. Just do a good search for Truth Commission and Honigsberg.

 

[Xenophon]

You just told us it will be one sided.

Where are the interviews and stories from guards and marines assigned to camp x-ray?

Naturally people held in Gitmo, which includes a number of hard core terrorists will claim they were abused, as for 'surviving' nobody was killed in camp X-ray.

 

[student]

You just told us it will be one sided.

Where are the interviews and stories from guards and marines assigned to camp x-ray?

Naturally people held in Gitmo, which includes a number of hard core terrorists will claim they were abused, as for 'surviving' nobody was killed in camp X-ray.

Hopefully it won't be too one-sided if we can find guards and soldiers or anyone else who was involved to testify. Also surviving does not have to mean not dead. Survive could mean to continue to function and live despite the torture. It is also debatable whether anyone has been killed because several people who died there were "reported" suicides.

 

[Xenophon]

There is no documented case of torture, this is what i mean about bias.

If you want to do it fairly you CANNOT have preconcieved notions.

By laiming there was 'torture' you end up trying to prove this rather then lokking for what really went on, it's why such things always turn out poorly.

 

[student]

Everyone has his bias. But I think at least trying to find out the truth is better than doing nothing at all, which is what most of us are doing - nothing.

 

[BrokenAngel]

student.. I don't think he is arguing with you at all. I'm reading your posts and watching you go from informative and hopeful to a little defensive. Xenophon is stating that you should put about as much faith in this book as a Michael Moore movie. Moore claims that his Columbine movie is a documentary when to anyone who has seen it there is obvious bias behind it.

Just because something claims to show proof isn't enough of a reason to believe in it until you read it. Take into account that for something to be true there should be 3 opinions that show up in the text. Those for the topic, those opposed, and the truth at the heart of the matter.

Facts... plain and blunt truth is very dull to read and chances are it wouldn't sell. Go into the book with an open mind and don't take everything in it as fact.

 

[student]

"On March 13, the Obama Administration announced that it would no longer use the term “enemy combatant” as justification for holding prisoners at Guantanamo. However, it still claimed the authority to hold the detainees based on the principles of the laws of war and on the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that was passed by Congress following 9/11. Consequently, unlike Bush, President Obama will no longer rely on the president’s authority as commander in chief. The chief difference between the policies of the past administration and the current administration is that under the Obama Administration’s definition of those it can hold, a person must have “substantially supported” Taliban or al Qaeda forces, while under the Bush Administration standard, any person who had “supported” Taliban or al Qaeda forces could have been detained."
from updates section on cubaniguana.net

 

[student]

This book hasn't come out yet, but I am trying to preorder it on Amazon. If anyone is interested in the war on terrorism and 9/11 and Guantanamo Bay, I think this would be a good book to read. I have been following the news and doing some research on my own on these issues, and it's shocking to learn the things the government is doing.

The book is finally out and it's as good as I thought it would be.