Friday, January 15, 2010
By George Russell
The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering a plan to ask governments to impose a global consumer tax on such things as Internet activity or everyday financial transactions like paying bills online.
Such a scheme could raise "tens of billions of dollars" on behalf of the United Nations' public health arm from a broad base of consumers, which would then be used to transfer drug-making research, development and manufacturing capabilities, among other things, to the developing world.
The multibillion-dollar "indirect consumer tax" is only one of a "suite of proposals" for financing the rapid transformation of the global medical industry that will go before WHO's 34-member supervisory Executive Board at its biannual meeting in Geneva.
The idea is the most lucrative — and probably the most controversial — of a number of schemes proposed by a 25-member panel of medical experts, academics and health care bureaucrats who have been working for the past 14 months at WHO's behest on "new and innovative sources of funding" to accomplish major shifts in the production of medical R&D.
WHO's so-called Expert Working Group has also suggested asking rich countries to set aside fixed portions of their gross domestic product to finance the shift in worldwide research and development, as well as asking cash-rich developing nations like China, India or Venezuela to pony up more of the money.
These would also add billions in additional funds to international health care for the future — as much as $7.4 billion yearly from rich countries, and as much as $12.1 billion from low- and middle-income nations.
But the taxation ideas draw the most interest. The expert panel cites a number of possible examples. Among them:
—a 10 per cent tax on the international arms trade, "which might net about $5 billion per annum";
—a "digital tax or 'hit' tax." The report says the levy "could yield tens of billions of U.S. dollars from a broad base of users";
—a financial transaction tax. The report approvingly cites a levy in Brazil that charged 0.38 percent on bills paid online and on unspecified "major withdrawals." The report says the Brazilian tax was raising an estimated $20 billion per year until it was cancelled for unspecified reasons.
The panel concludes that "taxes would provide greater certainty once in place than voluntary contributions," even as the report urges WHO's executive board to promote all of the alternatives, and more, to support creation of a "global health research and innovation coordination and funding mechanism" for the planned revolution in medical research, development and distribution.
The WHO scheme to transfer impressive amounts of money, technology, patents and manufacturing ability to the developing world in a global battle to conquer disease looks similar in many respects to the calls for huge transfers of wealth and technology that were at the heart of the just-failed U.N.-sponsored conference on lowering greenhouse gas emissions at Copenhagen.
Indeed, the volume of revenues that the experts foresee from their global indirect tax — if it should ever be approved by enough national governments — might well come close to the $30 billion annual wealth transfer that rich nations approved at Copenhagen to hand over to poor countries until 2012.
But a global health tax would go one big step further. And, as the experts point out, one trail-blazing version of their global consumer tax for medical research already exists: a germinating program known as UNITAID, which aims to battle against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
UNITAID, which began in 2006 and is also hosted by WHO, is financed in part by a "solidarity contribution" levy of anywhere from $1.20 to $58 on airline tickets among a group of nations led by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and Britain. According to the WHO experts report, it has raised around $1 billion since its inception, with 13 countries having already passed the airline tax legislation and "several" others in the process of doing so.
The idea, as with the "indirect" taxes that WHO is about to consider, is that a relatively small consumer levy, once implemented, is a low-profile and relatively painless way to create a global health-care tax system.
UNITAID's board chairman, Philippe Douste-Blazy, a former French Cabinet Minister and currently special advisor to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on "innovative financing for development," is also a member of the WHO expert working group.
The global financial mechanism that the experts have been exploring is the keystone to WHO's entire program for the transformation of the world's health industry, which was endorsed as a "global strategy and plan of action" by the health organization's World Assembly in May 2008.
The plan includes more than 100 specific actions across the areas of research and development, technology transfer and intellectual property rights, among others, according to an update that will also be presented to the executive board next week.
New regional and national networks for medical innovation and development are being planned in Asia, Latin America and Africa — where, for example, there will be "African-led product research and development innovation," including delivery of drugs based on traditional medicines.
Another major effort is the transfer of technology to poorer countries to produce vaccines. One example: H1N1 flu vaccine, which is being manufactured in China, India and Thailand under licensing arrangements created under WHO auspices.
After WHO issued repeated warnings of a serious H1N1 influenza pandemic over the past two years, countries such as Britain and France ordered hundreds of millions of dollars worth of vaccine, only to decide that they were unnecessary, leading to mass cancellations of orders. WHO is reviewing how it handled the crisis.
According to the WHO update, the U.N. organization is already promoting transfers of new medical products for vaccines against rabies, even though that disease is now something of a rarity in the West.
A significant aim of the WHO effort is expanding production and distribution of remedies for what it calls "neglected diseases," mainly meaning those that are more common in poor, underdeveloped countries than in richer ones. These include a variety of parasitic ailments, including trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness.
Behind all of the effort is the "persistent and growing concern," as the expert's paper puts it, that "the benefits of the advances in health technology are not reaching the poor," which the paper calls "one of the more egregious manifestations of inequity."
As with "climate change" at Copenhagen, the WHO's experts see that health inequity as a malady that innovative and permanent forms of global taxation are just the right thing to help cure.
George Russell is executive editor of Fox News.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Monday, September 21, 2009
Florida school officials won't go to jail for praying
CNN) -- A judge has ruled in favor of two Florida school administrators who faced contempt charges for saying a prayer at a school luncheon, according to a group that helped represent them.
Rep. Mike McIntyre is one of three members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus backing the school officials.
U.S. District Judge M.C. Rodgers ruled Thursday in favor of Frank Lay, principal of Pace High School in Pace, Florida, and school athletic director Robert Freeman, the Liberty Counsel said.
Lay and Freeman could have faced up to six months in prison and fines if convicted. They were accused of violating a consent decree banning county school employees from initiating prayers during school events.
Ahead of the court proceedings, hundreds of supporters lined the streets outside the federal courthouse in Pensacola, Florida. Many of them carried signs and some sang songs.
"It is ridiculous that these men even had to think twice about blessing a meal," Liberty Counsel founder Matthew Staver said in a written statement.
"To criminalize the prayer conflicts with our nation's founding and guiding principles and goes directly against our constitutionally protected rights."
But the American Civil Liberties Union, whose lawsuit led to the consent decree, has maintained students have a right to be free from administrators who foist their personal religious beliefs on them.
Still, an ACLU representative has said the organization "never suggested" people should go to jail for violating the decree, and the organization was not involved in the criminal proceedings.
The ACLU filed suit last year against the district on behalf of two Pace students who alleged that "school officials regularly promoted religion and led prayers at school events," according to an ACLU statement.
Lay was a party in the initial lawsuit, and his attorney was among those approving the consent decree, according to the organization. In addition, the court required that all district employees receive a copy.
But on January 28, "Lay asked Freeman to offer a prayer of blessing during a school-day luncheon for the dedication of a new field house at Pace High School," according to court documents.
"Freeman complied with the request and offered the prayer at the event. It appears this was a school-sponsored event attended by students, faculty and community members."
Attorneys from Liberty Counsel have said that attendees included booster club members and other adults who helped the field house project -- all "consenting adults."
The case caught the attention of members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, including the caucus' founder, Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Virginia.
He and two other lawmakers, Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-North Carolina, and Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, also members of the caucus, wrote a letter in support of the two school administrators, saying that "many of America's Founding Fathers were resolute in their faiths, and the impact of such is evident in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and many of their writings."
It added, "The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation's spiritual heritage that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such a practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious liberty."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/18/florida.school.prayer/
Rep. Mike McIntyre is one of three members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus backing the school officials.
U.S. District Judge M.C. Rodgers ruled Thursday in favor of Frank Lay, principal of Pace High School in Pace, Florida, and school athletic director Robert Freeman, the Liberty Counsel said.
Lay and Freeman could have faced up to six months in prison and fines if convicted. They were accused of violating a consent decree banning county school employees from initiating prayers during school events.
Ahead of the court proceedings, hundreds of supporters lined the streets outside the federal courthouse in Pensacola, Florida. Many of them carried signs and some sang songs.
"It is ridiculous that these men even had to think twice about blessing a meal," Liberty Counsel founder Matthew Staver said in a written statement.
"To criminalize the prayer conflicts with our nation's founding and guiding principles and goes directly against our constitutionally protected rights."
But the American Civil Liberties Union, whose lawsuit led to the consent decree, has maintained students have a right to be free from administrators who foist their personal religious beliefs on them.
Still, an ACLU representative has said the organization "never suggested" people should go to jail for violating the decree, and the organization was not involved in the criminal proceedings.
The ACLU filed suit last year against the district on behalf of two Pace students who alleged that "school officials regularly promoted religion and led prayers at school events," according to an ACLU statement.
Lay was a party in the initial lawsuit, and his attorney was among those approving the consent decree, according to the organization. In addition, the court required that all district employees receive a copy.
But on January 28, "Lay asked Freeman to offer a prayer of blessing during a school-day luncheon for the dedication of a new field house at Pace High School," according to court documents.
"Freeman complied with the request and offered the prayer at the event. It appears this was a school-sponsored event attended by students, faculty and community members."
Attorneys from Liberty Counsel have said that attendees included booster club members and other adults who helped the field house project -- all "consenting adults."
The case caught the attention of members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, including the caucus' founder, Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Virginia.
He and two other lawmakers, Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-North Carolina, and Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, also members of the caucus, wrote a letter in support of the two school administrators, saying that "many of America's Founding Fathers were resolute in their faiths, and the impact of such is evident in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and many of their writings."
It added, "The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation's spiritual heritage that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such a practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious liberty."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/18/florida.school.prayer/
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Acorn 75
Yesterday the House voted 345-75 to ban all federal funding for the scandal-plagued advocacy group Acorn. Coming on the heels of the Census Bureau's dissociation with Acorn last week and the Senate's Monday vote denying it housing funds, this is a welcome decision.
But the fact that there were 75 "no" votes is shocking, even for this Congress. All of the nays came from Democrats. Along with far-left backbenchers, they included Charles Rangel, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and Henry Waxman, who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee. Both are key leaders in the ObamaCare effort.
One of Acorn's leading Congressional enablers has been Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Last year Mr. Frank appeared in a promotional video for "Acorn's Grassroots Democracy Campaign," and this year he led the effort to repeal a year-old legal provision barring groups from receiving housing subsidies while under indictment for voter fraud. This he called "a violation of the basic principles of due process." Mr. Frank was absent yesterday when the House voted to defund Acorn, although he had been on the House floor for another vote just half an hour earlier.
The House vote came a day after the release of the latest video by freelance investigators James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who crisscrossed the country posing as a pimp and prostitute. Employees in at least five different Acorn offices offered them help in setting up a child-prostitution business. If that isn't enough to persuade 75 Democrats to stop supporting Acorn with taxpayer money, one can only conclude that the only way they'd defund the outfit is if it endorsed the war in Iraq or Afghanistan.
But the fact that there were 75 "no" votes is shocking, even for this Congress. All of the nays came from Democrats. Along with far-left backbenchers, they included Charles Rangel, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and Henry Waxman, who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee. Both are key leaders in the ObamaCare effort.
One of Acorn's leading Congressional enablers has been Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Last year Mr. Frank appeared in a promotional video for "Acorn's Grassroots Democracy Campaign," and this year he led the effort to repeal a year-old legal provision barring groups from receiving housing subsidies while under indictment for voter fraud. This he called "a violation of the basic principles of due process." Mr. Frank was absent yesterday when the House voted to defund Acorn, although he had been on the House floor for another vote just half an hour earlier.
The House vote came a day after the release of the latest video by freelance investigators James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who crisscrossed the country posing as a pimp and prostitute. Employees in at least five different Acorn offices offered them help in setting up a child-prostitution business. If that isn't enough to persuade 75 Democrats to stop supporting Acorn with taxpayer money, one can only conclude that the only way they'd defund the outfit is if it endorsed the war in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Florida school officials in prayer case could get jail time
(CNN) -- Two Florida school administrators were due to appear in federal court Thursday to face contempt charges for saying a prayer at a school luncheon.
Rep. Mike McIntyre is one of three members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus backing the school officials.
Frank Lay, principal of Pace High School in Pace, Florida, and school athletic director Robert Freeman are accused of violating a consent decree banning employees of Santa Rosa County schools from endorsing religion.
Rep. Mike McIntyre is one of three members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus backing the school officials.
Frank Lay, principal of Pace High School in Pace, Florida, and school athletic director Robert Freeman are accused of violating a consent decree banning employees of Santa Rosa County schools from endorsing religion.
They face a nonjury trial before U.S. District Judge M.C. Rodgers. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to six months in prison and fined, subject to sentencing guidelines.
Defense attorneys have said it is it outrageous Lay and Freeman are facing prosecution for "a simple prayer." But the American Civil Liberties Union, whose lawsuit led to the consent decree, maintains students have a right to be free from administrators who foist their personal religious beliefs on them.
However, an ACLU representative said the organization "never suggested" people should go to jail for violating the decree, and the organization is not involved in the criminal proceedings.
The ACLU filed suit last year against the school district in northwest Florida on behalf of two Pace students who alleged that "officials regularly promoted religion and led prayers at school events," according to an ACLU statement.
Both parties approved the consent decree put in place January 9 under which district and school officials are "permanently prohibited from promoting, advancing, endorsing, participating in or causing prayers during or in conjunction with school events," the ACLU said.
Lay was a party in the initial lawsuit, and his attorney was among those approving the consent decree, according to the organization. In addition, the court required that all district employees receive a copy.
But on January 28, "Lay asked Freeman to offer a prayer of blessing during a school-day luncheon for the dedication of a new field house at Pace High School," according to court documents.
"Freeman complied with the request and offered the prayer at the event. It appears this was a school-sponsored event attended by students, faculty and community members."
Attorneys from Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal group helping defend Lay and Freeman, have said that attendees included booster club members and other adults who helped the field house project -- all "consenting adults."
Three U.S. lawmakers who are members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus have written a letter in support of the two school administrators, saying that "many of America's Founding Fathers were resolute in their faiths, and the impact of such is evident in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and many of their writings."
The letter from Reps. J. Randy Forbes, R-Virginia; Mike McIntyre, D-North Carolina; and Jeff Miller, R-Florida, said the congressmen were writing as members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus.
"The tradition of offering prayer in America has become so interwoven into our nation's spiritual heritage that to charge someone criminally for engaging in such a practice would astonish the men who founded this country on religious liberty," the lawmakers wrote.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Ahmadinejad's Imam: Islam Allows Raping, Torturing Prisoners
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
(IsraelNN.com) A highly influential Shi'a religious leader, with whom Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regularly consults, apparently told followers last month that coercion by means of rape, torture and drugs is acceptable against all opponents of the Islamic regime.
The gathered crowd heard from Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad.
Warning: The imam's question-and-answer session, partially reproduced here, contains disturbing descriptions of the sanctioned brutality.
In the wake of a series of publications worldwide regarding the rape and torture of dissident prisoners in Iran's jails, supporters of Ahmadinejad gathered with him in Jamkaran, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims on the outskirts of Qom, on August 11, 2009. According to Iranian pro-democracy sources, the gathered crowd heard from Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad himself regarding the issue.
According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), an independent Israeli intelligence analysis organization, Mesbah-Yazdi is considered Ahmadinejad's personal spiritual guide. A radical totalitarian even in Iranian terms, he holds messianic views, supports increasing Islamization, calls for violent suppression of domestic political opponents, and, according to the ITIC, "declared that obeying a president supported by the Supreme Leader was tantamount to obeying God."
At the Jamkaran gathering, Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad answered questions about the rape and torture charges. The following text is from a transcript alleged by Iranian dissidents to be a series of questions and answers exchanged between the ayatollah and some of his supporters.
Asked if a confession obtained "by applying psychological, emotional and physical pressure" was "valid and considered credible according to Islam," Mesbah-Yazdi replied: "Getting a confession from any person who is against the Velayat-e Faqih ("Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists", or the regime of Iran's mullahs) is permissible under any condition." The ayatollah gave the identical answer when asked about confessions obtained through drugging the prisoner with opiates or addictive substances.
"Can an interrogator rape the prisoner in order to obtain a confession?" was the follow-up question posed to the Islamic cleric.
Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The necessary precaution is for the interrogator to perform a ritual washing first and say prayers while raping the prisoner. If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present. If it is a male prisoner, then it's acceptable for someone else to watch while the rape is committed."
This reply, and reports of the rape of teen male prisoners in Iranian jails, may have prompted the following question: "Is the rape of men and young boys considered sodomy?"
One aspect of these permitted rapes troubled certain questioners.
Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi: "No, because it is not consensual. Of course, if the prisoner is aroused and enjoys the rape, then caution must be taken not to repeat the rape."
A related issue, in the eyes of the questioners, was the rape of virgin female prisoners. In this instance, Mesbah-Yazdi went beyond the permissibility issue and described the Allah-sanctioned rewards accorded the rapist-in-the-name-of-Islam:
"If the judgment for the [female] prisoner is execution, then rape before execution brings the interrogator a spiritual reward equivalent to making the mandated Haj pilgrimage [to Mecca], but if there is no execution decreed, then the reward would be equivalent to making a pilgrimage to [the Shi'ite holy city of] Karbala."
One aspect of these permitted rapes troubled certain questioners: "What if the female prisoner gets pregnant? Is the child considered illegitimate?"
Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The child borne to any weakling [a denigrating term for women - ed.] who is against the Supreme Leader is considered illegitimate, be it a result of rape by her interrogator or through intercourse with her husband, according to the written word in the Koran. However, if the child is raised by the jailer, then the child is considered a legitimate Shi'a Muslim."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133214
(IsraelNN.com) A highly influential Shi'a religious leader, with whom Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regularly consults, apparently told followers last month that coercion by means of rape, torture and drugs is acceptable against all opponents of the Islamic regime.
The gathered crowd heard from Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad.
Warning: The imam's question-and-answer session, partially reproduced here, contains disturbing descriptions of the sanctioned brutality.
In the wake of a series of publications worldwide regarding the rape and torture of dissident prisoners in Iran's jails, supporters of Ahmadinejad gathered with him in Jamkaran, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims on the outskirts of Qom, on August 11, 2009. According to Iranian pro-democracy sources, the gathered crowd heard from Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad himself regarding the issue.
According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), an independent Israeli intelligence analysis organization, Mesbah-Yazdi is considered Ahmadinejad's personal spiritual guide. A radical totalitarian even in Iranian terms, he holds messianic views, supports increasing Islamization, calls for violent suppression of domestic political opponents, and, according to the ITIC, "declared that obeying a president supported by the Supreme Leader was tantamount to obeying God."
At the Jamkaran gathering, Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad answered questions about the rape and torture charges. The following text is from a transcript alleged by Iranian dissidents to be a series of questions and answers exchanged between the ayatollah and some of his supporters.
Asked if a confession obtained "by applying psychological, emotional and physical pressure" was "valid and considered credible according to Islam," Mesbah-Yazdi replied: "Getting a confession from any person who is against the Velayat-e Faqih ("Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists", or the regime of Iran's mullahs) is permissible under any condition." The ayatollah gave the identical answer when asked about confessions obtained through drugging the prisoner with opiates or addictive substances.
"Can an interrogator rape the prisoner in order to obtain a confession?" was the follow-up question posed to the Islamic cleric.
Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The necessary precaution is for the interrogator to perform a ritual washing first and say prayers while raping the prisoner. If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present. If it is a male prisoner, then it's acceptable for someone else to watch while the rape is committed."
This reply, and reports of the rape of teen male prisoners in Iranian jails, may have prompted the following question: "Is the rape of men and young boys considered sodomy?"
One aspect of these permitted rapes troubled certain questioners.
Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi: "No, because it is not consensual. Of course, if the prisoner is aroused and enjoys the rape, then caution must be taken not to repeat the rape."
A related issue, in the eyes of the questioners, was the rape of virgin female prisoners. In this instance, Mesbah-Yazdi went beyond the permissibility issue and described the Allah-sanctioned rewards accorded the rapist-in-the-name-of-Islam:
"If the judgment for the [female] prisoner is execution, then rape before execution brings the interrogator a spiritual reward equivalent to making the mandated Haj pilgrimage [to Mecca], but if there is no execution decreed, then the reward would be equivalent to making a pilgrimage to [the Shi'ite holy city of] Karbala."
One aspect of these permitted rapes troubled certain questioners: "What if the female prisoner gets pregnant? Is the child considered illegitimate?"
Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The child borne to any weakling [a denigrating term for women - ed.] who is against the Supreme Leader is considered illegitimate, be it a result of rape by her interrogator or through intercourse with her husband, according to the written word in the Koran. However, if the child is raised by the jailer, then the child is considered a legitimate Shi'a Muslim."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133214
Monday, August 31, 2009
The Truth About How We Treat Prisoners In Iraq
Mallory Factor
At a time when stories and rumors about the treatment of detainees captured in the global War on terror dominate the headlines, it's important to separate facts from sensationalist fictions. I had a chance to do just that on a recent trip to Iraq when I got an inside look at our detention and interrogation facility at our huge military base Camp Cropper near the airport in Baghdad.The good (and completely unsurprising) news is this: the men and women of our military detention unit in Baghdad treat Iraqi detainees with the highest standards of professionalism and human decency. But perhaps the standards are even toohigh; there is a war on after all.
Our Baghdad detention facility holds security detainees (mostly suspected terrorists) and is operated by the United States Army. It currently holds about 2,000 detainees--Saddam Hussein was detained there after his capture. From accounts in the news media, you might think we detain suspected terrorists in dank cells and accord them cruel treatment. But instead of a series of "torture chambers" that would horrify Stephen King, I saw pleasant interrogation facilities that would make your grandmother feel comfortable.
The detainees are treated very gently -- some of the interrogation rooms even have soft couches and artificial flowers. Detainees may be offered soft drinks and biscuits during their interrogation. Treating detainees gently during interrogation is, of course, an interrogation technique in itself--to encourage the less hard-bitten ones to talk. And some claim that this gentle treatment prevents us from making more terrorists in our detention facilities.
But detainees quickly learn that they have nothing to fear from the Americans -- unlike their counterparts in Saddam's Iraq or other countries in the region today. And our interrogators may find it difficult to extract information if the detainees themselves are aware that the interrogators' only tool is gentle treatment. And when the facility is handed over the Iraqis in the near future, surely the gentle policies will leave with the Americans.
The rights given to detainees at our Baghdad detention facility are specific, extensive and clearly spelled out to the detainees themselves. Detainees receive a medical exam before every interrogation and another when it is finished. There is an officer present for each interrogation and observers watch through a two-way mirror. All interrogations are recorded and reviewed.Camp Cropper reminds me of a community college, with the detainees able to take English lessons, receive job training, and engage in sports and games. Cell blocks elect their leaders -- kind of like student government. Detainees are even entitled to receive cigarettes after every meal. Some might call that torture, of a kind -- and you can't do that in America!
And as Congress debates universal health care, the detainees in Iraq receive medical care that would be the envy of most of the world -- and the uninsured in America. The detainees receive the same medical care that our troops receive, including dental and vision care, all free and on demand. In fact, the doctors, treatments, and high-tech equipment are the same for our soldiers and for suspected terrorists. That's unprecedented in wartime -- and America is still at war.Many detainees from poor backgrounds have never had access to medical or dental care in their lives. Some families have even asked our military to keep holding their sons until they can complete their free medical and dental treatments.
A dental plan for terrorists? Is America going soft? I am reminded of Jack Nicholson's character in "A Few Good Men," when he says, "You can't handle the truth." The American people may say they want the truth -- but they just can't handle the truth about war anymore and what it takes to win a war, and I think it will get us in a heap of trouble.
There's a military custom of posts and units issuing souvenir coins to give to visitors. Camp Cropper's is instructive and sums up the whole philosophy behind detainee operations. At the edge of the coin, around a montage of the Iraqi and U.S flags, appear these words: "Respect," "Care," "Custody," "Dignity," and, at the bottom, "Return with Honor."
Make no mistake -- our soldiers in the detention unit at Camp Cropper have a job to do, and they do it professionally. Now it's up to the brass and the politicians to be sure they have all the tools they need as they play their important part in protecting America.
It's no joking matter that our current political leaders have severely limited the tools that our military and the CIA can use to obtain valuable information from suspected (or actual) terrorists and protect our nation. We need effective interrogation tools to protect Americans and others around the world, such as the citizens of London, Madrid, Mumbai, Istanbul, and Jakarta who have suffered so much from terrorist attacks.
America should think twice before we let politicians sitting in Washington hamper our military interrogators and the CIA so severely in war zones. It's past time to have a real debate on these issues, void of sensationalism and partisan attacks, and to ask: How do we best protect our country?
Mallory Factor is the co-chairman and co-founder of the Monday Meeting, an influential meeting of economic conservatives, journalists and corporate leaders in New York City. Mr. Factor is a well-known merchant banker and speaks and writes frequently on economic and fiscal topics for news stations, leading newspapers and other print and online publications.
At a time when stories and rumors about the treatment of detainees captured in the global War on terror dominate the headlines, it's important to separate facts from sensationalist fictions. I had a chance to do just that on a recent trip to Iraq when I got an inside look at our detention and interrogation facility at our huge military base Camp Cropper near the airport in Baghdad.The good (and completely unsurprising) news is this: the men and women of our military detention unit in Baghdad treat Iraqi detainees with the highest standards of professionalism and human decency. But perhaps the standards are even toohigh; there is a war on after all.
Our Baghdad detention facility holds security detainees (mostly suspected terrorists) and is operated by the United States Army. It currently holds about 2,000 detainees--Saddam Hussein was detained there after his capture. From accounts in the news media, you might think we detain suspected terrorists in dank cells and accord them cruel treatment. But instead of a series of "torture chambers" that would horrify Stephen King, I saw pleasant interrogation facilities that would make your grandmother feel comfortable.
The detainees are treated very gently -- some of the interrogation rooms even have soft couches and artificial flowers. Detainees may be offered soft drinks and biscuits during their interrogation. Treating detainees gently during interrogation is, of course, an interrogation technique in itself--to encourage the less hard-bitten ones to talk. And some claim that this gentle treatment prevents us from making more terrorists in our detention facilities.
But detainees quickly learn that they have nothing to fear from the Americans -- unlike their counterparts in Saddam's Iraq or other countries in the region today. And our interrogators may find it difficult to extract information if the detainees themselves are aware that the interrogators' only tool is gentle treatment. And when the facility is handed over the Iraqis in the near future, surely the gentle policies will leave with the Americans.
The rights given to detainees at our Baghdad detention facility are specific, extensive and clearly spelled out to the detainees themselves. Detainees receive a medical exam before every interrogation and another when it is finished. There is an officer present for each interrogation and observers watch through a two-way mirror. All interrogations are recorded and reviewed.Camp Cropper reminds me of a community college, with the detainees able to take English lessons, receive job training, and engage in sports and games. Cell blocks elect their leaders -- kind of like student government. Detainees are even entitled to receive cigarettes after every meal. Some might call that torture, of a kind -- and you can't do that in America!
And as Congress debates universal health care, the detainees in Iraq receive medical care that would be the envy of most of the world -- and the uninsured in America. The detainees receive the same medical care that our troops receive, including dental and vision care, all free and on demand. In fact, the doctors, treatments, and high-tech equipment are the same for our soldiers and for suspected terrorists. That's unprecedented in wartime -- and America is still at war.Many detainees from poor backgrounds have never had access to medical or dental care in their lives. Some families have even asked our military to keep holding their sons until they can complete their free medical and dental treatments.
A dental plan for terrorists? Is America going soft? I am reminded of Jack Nicholson's character in "A Few Good Men," when he says, "You can't handle the truth." The American people may say they want the truth -- but they just can't handle the truth about war anymore and what it takes to win a war, and I think it will get us in a heap of trouble.
There's a military custom of posts and units issuing souvenir coins to give to visitors. Camp Cropper's is instructive and sums up the whole philosophy behind detainee operations. At the edge of the coin, around a montage of the Iraqi and U.S flags, appear these words: "Respect," "Care," "Custody," "Dignity," and, at the bottom, "Return with Honor."
Make no mistake -- our soldiers in the detention unit at Camp Cropper have a job to do, and they do it professionally. Now it's up to the brass and the politicians to be sure they have all the tools they need as they play their important part in protecting America.
It's no joking matter that our current political leaders have severely limited the tools that our military and the CIA can use to obtain valuable information from suspected (or actual) terrorists and protect our nation. We need effective interrogation tools to protect Americans and others around the world, such as the citizens of London, Madrid, Mumbai, Istanbul, and Jakarta who have suffered so much from terrorist attacks.
America should think twice before we let politicians sitting in Washington hamper our military interrogators and the CIA so severely in war zones. It's past time to have a real debate on these issues, void of sensationalism and partisan attacks, and to ask: How do we best protect our country?
Mallory Factor is the co-chairman and co-founder of the Monday Meeting, an influential meeting of economic conservatives, journalists and corporate leaders in New York City. Mr. Factor is a well-known merchant banker and speaks and writes frequently on economic and fiscal topics for news stations, leading newspapers and other print and online publications.
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