Throwing In Some Uighers

by digby

Here’s a good one:

A fight is brewing between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon over allegations that Chinese government agents were allowed to interrogate some detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

Jay Alan Liotta, principal director of the Defense Department office responsible for detainee policy, told a House subcommittee on Thursday that he would not publicly comment on whether officials from China or any other nation were granted access to foreign citizens held at the detention facility.

[…]

Three former Uighur detainees submitted testimony through legal counsel on Thursday alleging that all 22 detainees of the Chinese Muslim minority group were interrogated by Chinese government officials during a seven- to 10-day visit in 2002.

The former detainees testified that they were forced to provide their photographs and identities to the Chinese agents under the threat of torture and, under those agents’ orders, were denied food and water and isolated in a frigid room.

Maybe this isn’t true. But it sounds perfectly believable to me considering what else they did with those prisoners. Who knows, maybe they had some business deal on the line and threw in some Uighers to sweeten the pot. Or perhaps they wanted some tips from the Chinese on torture techniques. After all, the regime the administration designed was based in part upon Chinese torture techniques developed back in the 1950s. Maybe they had something more up to date.

Considering what’s happening to Uighers in China right now,if true, this is yet another in the long list of despicable, evil acts perpetrated by the Bush administration. Is anyone keeping score?

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