Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Koran Story True After All?

According to Reuters, an FBI memo from 2002 and made public today reports that detainee held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had accused American jailers there of flushing the Koran down a toilet.

Is this proof that the story is true?

Not necessarily, though I wrote last Friday that I suspected it would turn out to be true. This document further solidifies the case. On the other hand, some say stories like this have been around since the early 1980s, and acquired the status of urban legend.

Given what we do know occurred, and is occuring, at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, I would see it is incumbent on the military to get to bottom of this, with no stonewalling.

Apparently in two interviews with an FBI special agent, whose name also is withheld, at the Guantanamo prison for foreign terrorism suspects, the detainee described what happened.

The agent wrote about the detainee:

"Personally, he has nothing against the United States. The guards in the detention facility do not treat him well. Their behavior is bad. About five months ago, the guards beat the detainees. They flushed a Koran in the toilet."

"The guards dance around when the detainees are trying to pray. The guards still do these things," the agent wrote.

No comments: