Amnesty International recently compared the U.S.
Guantanamo prison to the Soviet Gulags under Stalin.
Here are the facts that they used to draw their
conclusion:
Individuals Detained:
Gulag
-- 20 million.
Guantanamo -- 750 total.
Number of Camps:
Gulag -- 476 separate camp
complexes comprising thousands of individual camps.
Guantanamo -- five small camps on the U.S. military
base in Cuba.
Reasons for Imprisonment:
Gulag -- hiding grain; owning too many cows; need
for slave labor; being Jewish; being Finnish; being
religious; being middle class; having had contact
with foreigners; refusing to sleep with the head
of Soviet counterintelligence; telling a joke about
Stalin.
Guantanamo -- fighting for the Taliban
in Afghanistan; being suspected of links to Al Qaeda
and other terrorist groups.
Red Cross Visits:
Gulag -- none on record.
Guantanamo -- regular
visits since January 2002.
Deaths as a Result
of Poor Treatment:
Gulag -- multiple millions.
Guantanamo -- no reports of prisoner deaths.
Daily Diet:
Gulag -- meager portions of swill.
Guantanamo -- two hot religiously correct meals
per day with constant supply of snacks.
Work
Requirements:
Gulag -- forced labor.
Guantanamo
-- none.
Medical Treatment:
Gulag -- none.
Guantanamo -- better than the 20 million report
"uninsured" American citizens.
Torture Methods:
Gulag -- starvation, beatings, exposure to elements,
slave labor.
Guantanamo -- humiliation, standing
on the koran.
Get the picture?
JR
