ROGUE STATE USA

Minnesota Daily: U.S. becoming the monster it fears

Recently, the International Committee of the Red Cross publicly criticized the U.S. government for the prolonged and seemingly indefinite detention of 600 people in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The committee’s action illuminates two distinct but related problems: Current U.S. policy offends common human decency and violates international law.
The committee delegates are the only outsiders with access to the detainees captured in Afghanistan, Bosnia and possibly elsewhere. The committee normally visits under strict confidentiality — they usually reveal findings only to the detaining government. They prefer quiet diplomacy because governments are more likely to give them access. Accordingly, the committee’s public announcement was extraordinary.