Back in a more innocent age — that would be about two months ago — I wrote a post (UK's Released Detainees Allege Torture) quoting but doubting claims of bizzare forms of abuse reported by recently releasted Gitmo detainees. I said then:
I do not believe the US would starve detainees or feed them spoiled food. Would it? And the stuff the Mirror repeats about the use of prostitutes to shock sensitive Muslims with naked bodies and menstral blood sounds just too weird — more like the propaganda of a person who has been held illegally in hard conditions for two years and wants his revenge.
My conclusion then was that,
Outside independent review — ideally judicial review — is essential either to rebut these claims convincingly or to root out and punish those responsbile if the uglier charges are at all true.
Have to say that those charges seem less impossible today. And I'm still not exactly clear on who's going to be doing that independent review…
