[vyper]

The suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amount to acts of war, the US military says.

The camp commander said the two Saudis and a Yemeni were "committed" and had killed themselves in "an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5068606.stm

Seriously, they can whine that it draws negative publicity but declaring a prisoner suicide an act of war is the height of orwellian thinking...

[aldo_14]

I'd piss myself laughing if it wasn't all rather tragic and a disgrace to humanitarian law.

[Rictor]

"Those bastards! How dare they remove themselves from our highly engaging and widely respcted company. Why just last week, Khalid bin Mohammed al Zahar over in Block C said we were great conversationalists and emmited a pleasant smell! Oh this is it, now we begin the war in earnest!"

I guess some people would rather leave this Earth rather than be forced to suffer Americans every day. 

[NGTM-1R]

Seriously, they can whine that it draws negative publicity but declaring a prisoner suicide an act of war is the height of orwellian thinking...

He's right, though, you realize. It's exactly what the camp commander said it is.

[AlphaOne]

actualy who knows the exact reasons they comited suicide. For all we know it was a much better alternative then what they posibly could of endured there.

[aldo_14]

It's probably a bluff.  They're hoping Bin Ladin will say "Ah!  I'll show those infidel bastards what real sucide is!".

actualy who knows the exact reasons they comited suicide. For all we know it was a much better alternative then what they posibly could of endured there.

No ****, sherlock?

He's right, though, you realize. It's exactly what the camp commander said it is.

Does that mean every prisoner who commits suicide in a normal prison is also declaring war on the state?  Even the clinically depressed ones?

[AlphaOne]

umm does that actualy mean that if say a prisoner comited suicide a couple of months ago in a romanian prison (it was a romanian prisoner) he was declaring war on the country? Doubt it.

[NGTM-1R]

He's right, though, you realize. It's exactly what the camp commander said it is.

Does that mean every prisoner who commits suicide in a normal prison is also declaring war on the state?  Even the clinically depressed ones?

But these aren't normal prisoners in a normal prison, now, are they? It was a ****ty public relations move to say it up front, but the camp commander is right.

[Mefustae]

This smells like conspiracy. Think about it, torture isn't yeilding results fast enough, so they 'suicide' a few inmates they know not to hold any valuable information [or that have already been milked] to show the other less talkative inmates they really mean business.

[aldo_14]

But these aren't normal prisoners in a normal prison, now, are they? It was a ****ty public relations move to say it up front, but the camp commander is right.

Yes, that's true.  none have the prospect of a fair trial, none have any legal rights, and more than a few will have been kidnapped and sold-for-bounty by the Northern Alliance.

Oh, and they're routinely tortured.

[Janos]

He's right, though, you realize. It's exactly what the camp commander said it is.

Does that mean every prisoner who commits suicide in a normal prison is also declaring war on the state?  Even the clinically depressed ones?

But these aren't normal prisoners in a normal prison, now, are they?

So what?

It was a ****ty public relations move to say it up front, but the camp commander is right.

Prove it.

[Roanoke]

"They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

lol, "asymmetrical warfare" 

[Mars]

Lesson #1551210230021:  If you make people want to die, they will find a way to make it happen.

(And these are just the ones we know about.)

[an0n]

The point you all seem to be failing to grasp is that it was neither a purely emotional decision, nor a strategic one.

They ****ing hated being there, saw no way out and figured they might as well score some points. So they killed themselves hoping to draw more negative press against the US Govt.

Basically, they acted out of hopeless spite.

[vyper]

Or perhaps just out of sheer hopelessness? Doesn't suicide mean no afterlife-paradise in their religion?

[aldo_14]

Or perhaps just out of sheer hopelessness? Doesn't suicide mean no afterlife-paradise in their religion?

I think so.  I'm pretty sure I've seen a lot of people citing that the Koran ranks suicide as an unforgiveable sin, regardless of the cause or manner.

[aldo_14]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5069230.stm

A top US official has described the suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a "good PR move to draw attention".

Colleen Graffy told the BBC the deaths were part of a strategy and "a tactic to further the jihadi cause", but taking their own lives was unnecessary

Well, I guess know we know - again - the US doesn't regard these people as actual innocent-until-proven-guilty humans.

[achtung]

The point you all seem to be failing to grasp is that it was neither a purely emotional decision, nor a strategic one.

They ****ing hated being there, saw no way out and figured they might as well score some points. So they killed themselves hoping to draw more negative press against the US Govt.

Basically, they acted out of hopeless spite.

I was going to say something like that.

[Deepblue]

Do we really have proof of torture at Gitmo? If there was, I think we would see something similar to Abu Ghraib, which we have'nt.

[an0n]

I find it terrifyingly amusing that they're ascribing negative, pro-terrorism connotation to actions which are at 'worst' mere suicide and at 'best' the very foundations of the American Revolution.

The whole reason for America breaking from the Empire was they figured they'd rather fight and die than be subjugated by a system of governance they could never hope to influence.

Gotta love the parallels.