February 28, 2006: The latest attack on Guantanamo Bay has come from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, after an 18-month investigation. It is also the least credible, since the investigators never even bothered to visit the facility that they were investigating. But this is just the latest attack on Guantanamo Bay. The United Nations has decided to rehash allegations of torture and mistreatment that have been largely disproved time and time again.

In essence, the same old torture charges have been revived, albeit from the United Nations as opposed to a United States Senator and human rights groups. This is despite a U.S. Department of Defense investigation that proved that a number of such charges (some leveled by FBI agents) were unfounded (in at least one of the cases that was found to have merit, the detainee spat on an interrogator, who retaliated on the spot). When lines have been crossed (such as threatening a detainee), those responsible for mistreatment of detainees have been prosecuted. As of November, the number of incidents where guidelines were violated was 32. Out of the 10,000 troops at Guantanamo Bay, only ten were disciplined. It seems that human rights groups get the notion that listening to Britney Spears and Metallica is torture.

Guantanamo Bay has been targeted and distorted by human rights groups, the media, and even the entertainment industry (via one of the series in the "Law and Order" franchise). This has often led to a large number of lawsuits. This distortion, of course, comes with a complete absence of alternatives to dealing with terrorists who have been captured on the battlefield. These are people who are violating the Geneva Convention (not wearing uniforms readily comes to mind).

The other issue the UN ignores is what the detainees have been doing, and what has happened when some have been released. At least a dozen people who have been released from Guantanamo Bay are known to have returned to fighting against Coalition forces. Another person, Rasul Kudayev released in Russia, planned a terrorist attack in the Kabardino-Balkariya region in the Northern Caucasus that killed 45 people. Another detainee (from Iraq) was part of a planned chemical mortar attack on the American and British embassies in Pakistan, and traveled to Pakistan with an Iraqi intelligence agent for purposes of carrying out that attack. Another detainee killed an Army medic. There's a chance that there is a misunderstanding in all of this, but it's more likely that PETA will serve veal parmesan at their next awards banquet. - Harold C. Hutchison ( [email protected])