Guantanamo Uncovered

The Guantanamo Bay Prisons have long been under scrutiny by the Red Cross for violating international law. A new report by The New York Times uncovers the confidential reports filed by the UN in both January 2002 and January of 2003.

The report in 2002 shows that both physical and psychological treatment of prisoners in Guantanomo Bay have amounted to torture. The report in 2003 then again brought up the concern of torture.

New York Times states:

"The construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture," the report said. It said that in addition to the exposure to loud and persistent noise and music and to prolonged cold, detainees were subjected to "some beatings." The report did not say how many of the detainees were subjected to such treatment.

Asked about the accusations in the report, a Pentagon spokesman provided a statement saying, "The United States operates a safe, humane and professional detention operation at Guantánamo that is providing valuable information in the war on terrorism."

Although these were found by the Internation Red Cross inspectors, the concerns were neither brought public nor aggressively confronted towards President Bush.