Left I on the News

[First posted 6/10/06, 12:18 p.m.; bumped and updated]

If an Administration spokesperson or media pundit describes this as an "attempt to get attention" I'm going to spit:

Three detainees at Guantanamo Bay committed suicide in what apparently was a joint pact to protest the U.S. military prison that holds suspected terrorists.

If only the media would pay a little more attention to this and the countless other outrageous violations of human rights being committed by the U.S. and its allies on a daily basis, maybe this kind of thing wouldn't happen. When's the last time you saw someone from the Center for Constitutional Rights on a mainstream news program?

Update: Not to my surprise, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy (!) Colleen Graffy has described the suicides as "a good PR move to draw attention." Here's my attempt to draw attention: fuck you, Ms. Graffy.

(Hat tip to Politics in the Zeros)

Second update: An even more bizarre assertion via CNN:

"I believe this was not an act of desperation, rather an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us."

- Rear Adm. Harry Harris, commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo

The man has a seriously warped idea of the concept of warfare. Also decency.

Update 3: We're told via a spokesperson that "[George Bush] stressed the importance of treating the bodies in a humane and culturally sensitive manner." Wouldn't it have been nicer to treat them in a humane and culturally sensitive manner while they were alive? There's still a chance to do so for the hundreds of remaining prisoners before they too give in to despair.