According to the Financial Times, the Red Cross has accused the US government of using torture methods at Guantanamo Bay:
The International Committee of the Red Cross has accused the US of using psychological and physical
pressure to interrogate prisoners at its detention centre in Guantánamo Bay in tactics tantamount to
torture.Following a June visit to Guantánamo, the ICRC raised concerns that interrogators were using harsh
techniques which were affecting the health of the detainees, according to a person familiar with the
situation.The ICRC report, which the Bush administration received in July, criticises the US military for allowing doctors at Guantánamo to facilitate interrogations by providing interrogators with detainees’ medical records. The report is also understood to criticise the military’s use of humiliation and solitary confinement for extracting information.
We already knew that this was going on from the moment the first detainees arrived at Guantanamo and even before, in Afghanistan itself. We even knew that medical personnell, like “doctor” Louis Louk were playing a less than savoury role. What I am wondering is why some people can support the US in their actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere knowing about this, yet can still call themselves leftists without feeling ashamed.
To me the Iraq war is a litmus test; if you are a true leftist, you oppose it. If you do not, you’re not.