Media Falling Down on Gitmo ‘Suicides’

I hope that anyone who has not already done so will read Scott Horton’s important piece in Harper’s investigating the cover-up of the 2006 deaths of three Guantanamo detainees, deaths which were publicly reported as suicides. (Or, in the Strangelovian language of the base’s commander, as acts of “asymmetrical warfare against us.”) Based on the testimony of several former Guantanamo military personnel, Horton provides strong evidence suggesting that the three detainees — none of whom had been charged with any crime — may in fact have been killed while being interrogated at a secret “black site” outside the main Guantanamo base.

It is not terribly surprising that the leading apologists for the Bush-Cheney torture regime — the likes of Marc Thiessen, Thomas Joscelyn, and so on — have refused to respond to Horton’s piece. What is more surprising, however, is that the major U.S. papers have paid little attention as well. After remaining silent all day, the New York Times and Washington Post finally posted an AP wire story on the revelations this evening, but it is nowhere to be found on their main pages. The Los Angeles Times still appears to have nothing whatsoever on the story.

By contrast, the major British papers (with the exception of Rupert Murdoch’s Times) have all followed up on Horton’s piece. It is by now a depressingly familiar pattern that the British media exhibit far more interest in the abuses of the Bush/Blair years than their American counterparts. Still, one would think that a possible triple homicide of detainees in U.S. custody, and the subsequent cover-up by both the Bush and Obama administrations, would merit some U.S. news coverage — even given the almost exclusive focus on Haiti and Massachusetts at the moment.

19 thoughts on “Media Falling Down on Gitmo ‘Suicides’”

  1. What is more surprising, however, is that the major U.S. papers have paid little attention as well.

    Good grief, come on now, that's about as surprising a revelation as a sunrise in the East! Is it not obvious to EVERYONE by now that the Amerikan MSM, especially as represented by the two publications you cite (the NYT and WaPo) are nothing by propagandist apologists for the status quo? Why on earth would they acknowledge an impolitic truth like that which Scott Horton exposes, especially if such a revelation shatters the carefully crafted illusions of the righteousness of the WoT that they've fabricated, on behalf of their Establishment handlers, for mass consumption by the always clueless and ever-gullible sheeple? If they admit to anything at all, it is in the form of grudging back-page acknowledgments without any amplifying detail, just as you've described above. And why should these assume any other form? No one who seeks honest and accurate reporting of government crimes goes to an MSM source for the truth, and it's becoming clear that the MSM themselves are well aware of this fact. Thus the absence of even a pretense of accurate and honest reporting.

  2. After Iraq was violeted by the US and the lies were exposed for what they really were ,the justification that the Bush junta and its suporters used was that Sadam was an “evil person” who tortured people.

  3. MSM in all totalitarian regimes have/had the same duties and obligations to those in power.
    Denying that one lives in a totalitarian state is understandable too.

  4. FOX, CNN, and MSNBC are with the warcons (neocons). Notice how many of their news reports they call sad,terrible or awful, while failing to even report on the war crimes of the WARCONS.

  5. The MSM doesn’t care because the avarage American doesn’t care. Our Establishment is corrupt, our government is corrupt and we are corrupt. We are oblivious to the dignity and human rights of others. Trying to stir up the conscience of America is like blowing a bugle at a can of dog food – waste of effort – it may have been a horse once but now it is just a can of meat.
    I, personally, will shrug my shoulders when the blowback of all blowbacks occurrs.

    1. I used to rant and rail at "ignorant" Americans all the time but then it hit me that that's like blaming kids for being ignorant and holding them accountable when they've never been told the truth in the first place. They're ignorant because they've been made so by people who do know better and also know damn full well what they're doing. Just like your can of dog food metaphor, which is great, you can blow your horn at them forever but it doesn't make them wiser for it. Point them to the truth and if they still refuse to accept it then shake off the dust from your shoes and move on. From there on out they're responsible for themselves.

  6. Anthor exmpel of media failling and silence:

    “While president Obama was addressing a potential threat, he did not say a word about a cold blooded crime committed on Christmas, when Israel killed six young Palestinians in Nablus and three in Gaza, some of them in front of their wives and children; and they were all unarmed. Neither did he condemn the crimes Israel committed last year in Gaza. He has not heard of the Holocaust survivor and the demonstrators in Western countries who came to support the besieged people of Gaza but were prevented from entering Gaza. Centuries ago, Arabs said that “Justice is the foundation of all government” because the feeling of injustice and humiliation and the disregard for life and dignity will certainly generate anger and discontent. The right approach should be to focus on lifting the injustice resulting from occupation, colonial settlement and war.

    How would Muslims feel when they sees one and a half million civilians besieged without food and medicine in a humiliating prison called Gaza and shelled daily by American-made warplanes, prevented from dignified life by Israel with Western support and armament. When Israel’s rulers and generals face trouble because of their crimes, the American veto is used to protect them; and sometimes or laws are changed in order to protect war criminals. ”

    http://www.counterpunch.org/shaaban01202010.html

  7. I'm surprised anyone is surprised by the American media's lack of coverage of this story.

  8. Wow! The folks in the comments section are now so pissed off that they will even rag on the author and the republisher of this article because it is trivial and obvious and a waste of bandwidth. The Dems are spineless, clueless, and corrupt; the Repubs vicious, clueless, and corrupt. We're all on flight ninety-three now. The rich will survive, but the rest have nowhere to go and are at the end of their hope. Anger and darkness await.

  9. My departed father told me long ago that if you ever wanted to know the truth about your country that you have to read the foreign press. Guess dad knew more than I thought at the time.

  10. Who fucking cares if they kill themselves the only sad part is there robbing us of being able to do it ourselves.there fucking subhuman pieces of shit and dont deserve to live.

  11. The US was aleardy bankrut when Bush left.And since you’re so much lusting for the blood of people no matter to you if they were innocent ,you should join the fighting in Afghnistan ,or Iraq and get your wishes.

  12. Thus, before installing a video surveillance system on campus it is best to look at what areas are the most susceptible to safety dangers and decide precisely the place cameras are needed. The use of video surveillance may help reduce down on crime, thus making the city safer and more enticing each for brand spanking new residents and for new companies. This means it'll solely come on when someone walks up to the ATM machine. Duplex BCN

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