Hard to feel sorry for terrorist prisoners

So why are human rights activists and European elites whining about how the terrorists' "rights" are being violated by American camp guards? It's a good question that reveals the naivete of the human rights advocates and the Europeans' continuing loveDhate relationship with the United States.

"Tortured!" screamed a headline last Sunday in The Mail, a British tabloid, over a U.S. military photo of shackled, blindfolded detainees at Camp X-Ray. And on Monday another London tabloid, "The Daily Mirror," published a front-page editorial charging that American treatment of the prisoners was "barbarism backed by our government." British Prime Minister Tony Blair denied the charge by announcing that a government fact-finding mission had detected "no signs of mistreatment" of three British nationals detained at the camp.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles last week, a federal judge heard a petition from U.S. civil rights advocates led by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark challenging detention of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters at the American naval base in Cuba. The petition also alleges that the prisoners are being held in violation of the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Constitution. On Tuesday, however, the judge expressed "grave doubts" about whether he has jurisdiction over prisoners being held in Cuba.

Wherever enemies of the United States congregate, that's where you'll find Ramsey Clark, a prominent member of the "Blame America First" gang. He showed up in Grenada in 1983 when I was the spokesman for the U.S. Mission there, accusing us of mistreating Cuban and Grenadian prisoners even though more than 80 percent of the island's population supported the U.S.-led military operation.

In the debate over Camp X-Ray, the Bush administration fired back immediately, rejecting the charges as "outrageous." President Bush told congressmen they "should be proud" of how we're treating the suspected terrorists and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer added that Bush is "perfectly satisfied" that Camp X-Ray conditions are humane. Fleischer described the detainees as suicidal fanatics who would "engage in murder" again if set free. Let's remember that the declared goals of these bloodthirsty terrorists -- who are linked to an organization that has already murdered more than 3,000 innocent office workers in Africa, the Middle East and the U.S. -- are to kill Americans and destroy the United States.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld vigorously defended the way the detainees are being treated in Cuba. Calling them "the hardest of the hard core," Rumsfeld said the prisoners' treatment "is proper, it's humane, it's appropriate, and it's fully consistent with international conventions.... No detainee has been harmed or mistreated in any way." He said the American troops who are running Camp X-Ray must take appropriate precautions to defend themselves against combatants who are sworn to kill them. Eventually, Rumsfeld said, detainees will either be charged or released; those who are charged will probably be tried by military tribunals.

Nevertheless, the Blame America Firsters and some European intellectuals, including a few public officials, never miss an opportunity to criticize the United States.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher demanded that the prisoners be given humane treatment and accorded their rights as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. And before Prime Minister Blair contradicted him, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw wanted to know why the U.S. was treating the detainees in an "inhuman and degrading" manner.

But representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (IRC) are on the scene in Cuba and a U.S. military spokesman reported that "the IRC has been pleased with what they've seen." Moreover, the IRC has decided to station a doctor and a linguist at the camp to attend to the detainees' needs.

The prisoners are detained in individual 8-by-8-foot chain link enclosures with concrete floors and corrugated metal roofs, provided with mats and blankets upon which to sleep and pray along with three meals per day and medical care, as needed. In reality, these accommodations in sunny Cuba sound better than frigid mountain caves or what the U.S. Marines are putting up with in Afghanistan. And if conditions are good enough for the Marines, they're certainly good enough for the people who are trying to kill them.

As Washington Times editorial page editor Helle Dale wrote last week, "Let us not forget that the 158 men being held there (in Cuba) and the 275 held by U.S. forces in Afghanistan are terrorists for whom killing as many Americans as possible is considered an honorable goal. If they have suffered the indignity of having their heads shaved, been made to wear leg irons, and get rained on a bit, it won't be worth losing sleep over." If the detainees are unhappy in Cuba, Ms. Dale suggested, they could always be sent back to their home countries -- China, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia etc. -- where Guantanamo Bay would "seem like a holiday paradise" by comparison.

And, as Michael Elliott noted in Time magazine, the prisoners haven't suffered the ultimate torture in Cuba -- being forced to listen to Fidel Castro's long-winded speeches. Now that would truly constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

SO LONG, JEFF! I'll miss Appeal publisher Jeff Ackerman when he moves to nearby Grass Valley, Calif., at the end of the month. Jeff took over the Appeal about the time I began writing this column five years ago, and we've had a cordial professional relationship. Thanks Jeff, and good luck in your future endeavors.

Guy W. Farmer, a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat, resides in Carson City.