Closing Abu Ghraib a Hollow Victory

Stardate Unknown

The US military is saying they will close down Abu Ghraib prison within months. Hoorah you say. But it is a hollow victory for human rights. The prisoners, many of whom are held for months or years without charges, lawyers or trials and of which less than 20% are actually convicted, will be transferred to a much nicer sounding facility called Camp Cropper.

The abuses at Abu Ghraib have raised the eyebrows of many people and groups around the world, including the United Nations, the Iraqi government and many US Senators. Eventually, the US wants to hand over control of the detainees to Iraqi Officials (who want control of them now), when they are deemed ready to deal with them properly. Let's hope they don't follow the example set by the "bad apples" as King George called the soldiers responsible for the torture of Iraqi prisoners, even though instances of abuse by Iraqi forces have already been documented.

Either way, they are in for rough times. It would be nice if they either tried them or released them. Holding them indefinately without charge or council is wrong period...