The Geneva Convention provides for prisoners' humanity, not their comfort.
Though the United States is not an official signatory of the 1949 treatise outlining fair treatment for prisoners of war, the government likes to pride itself on treating its detainees fairly, as it well should. But it should keep the security of its citizens in mind.
European politicians have recently raised an uproar over the United States' alleged civil rights abuses of Al Qaida prisoners at Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray.
True, this country has committed its share of civil rights violations. But the United States has generally had a good record in its treatment of prisoners of war. During WWII, German soldiers detained in this country were known to gain weight. But those were actually people who gave a damn whether they lived or died. In this war, we're dealing with individuals to whom death means the glories of paradise. In such a situation, the Geneva Convention and politics in general are little more than formalities.
Carelessness in dealing with such prisoners resulted in a bloody prison riot in November when a group of 300 captured Taliban fighters smuggled their weapons into a Mazar-e-Sharif prison compound. The incident became so violent that U.S. fighter jets had to be called in. Almost all of the Taliban ended up being killed and more than 100 Northern Alliance fighters were lost trying to put down the uprising.
The Al-Qaida prisoners are housed at a U.S. military base 90 miles off the U.S. mainland. Much of the controversy swirling around the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay involves claims that the prisoners were shackled, drugged, gagged and blindfolded. Recent photographs showing the soldiers in chains and goggles have fueled the fire.
These are extremely dangerous individuals, however, a fact echoed by the gun fire that erupted as the transport plane carrying the first load of detainees departed from Kandahar two weeks ago. Judging by the behavior of their counterparts at Mazar-e-Sharif such security measures make perfect sense. If it is all right to sedate energetic children with Ritalin, then it should be no problem to sedate members of one of the world's most feared terrorist organizations.
Keeping the fighters in open-air cages may be questionable, but they are well-fed (receiving three meals a day, made to conform to the Islamic diet), have access to medical facilities and wear their shackles only when they are moved. According to British officials who visited the camp last weekend, the prisoners had no complaints about their treatment.
"None complained of any ill treatment, none said they had any medical condition requiring treatment," said British Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw, as cited on CNN.com.
Making a big issue out of the detainees' treatment is little more than a waste of time, especially when there are so many other legitimate threats to civil rights in this country and abroad. After 50 years of relative peace and prosperity in the West, many have forgotten that war is hell. Various human rights declarations lay out the ground rules for war, but in reality we have to be practical. The Al-Qaida prisoners aren't typical conscripts who'll reason with their captors' commanding officer and are eager to go home. They reason mainly with those who share their extremist religious views and are happy to die as long as they take a few people down with them.
That's not to say the government should go out of its way to treat the prisoners brutally or neglect their needs. We should still respect their basic human decency, but we should also take a common-sense approach that respects our safety and the safety of their jailers.
Write to Robert at rclopez@bsu.edu
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