Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Suicide bombers try a new suicide tactic

I'd find this AP story a whole lot more upsetting if it was about prisoners other than those connected with Al Qaeda-type terrorism:

Twenty-three terror suspects tried to hang or strangle themselves at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay during a mass protest in 2003, the military confirmed Monday. The incidents came during the same year the camp suffered a rash of suicide attempts after Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller took command of the prison with a mandate to get more information from prisoners accused of links to al-Qaida or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered it. Between Aug. 18 and Aug. 26, the 23 detainees tried to hang or strangle themselves with pieces of clothing and other items in their cells, demonstrating 'self-injurious behavior,' the U.S. Southern Command in Miami said in a statement. Ten detainees made a mass attempt on Aug. 22 alone. U.S. Southern Command described it as 'a coordinated effort to disrupt camp operations and challenge a new group of security guards from the just-completed unit rotation.'
Considering that this is a group that embraces suicide as a political tactic, I simply can't get upset and blame prison guards when a bunch of them get together and clearly attempt to use suicide as, yes, a political tactic.