Gulag History

I was just speaking to Anne Applebaum, author of the fascinating, horrifying Gulag: A History, for an upcoming interview in the magazine. I mentioned the L.A. Times editorial calling Guantanamo a gulag.

Her response: "That's just silly. It's not a right comparison. What the gulag was was a system of forced labor. While there may be many things wrong in Guantanamo Bay, it?s not a system of forced labor. They?re not working people to death."

Comments

[Anonymous]

anne applebaum rules! just sayin' 😀 look forward to the interview, thanks! and have a nice weekend all 😀

[Tuning Spork]

Anne is right, it's not a gulag.
But we do need a proper name for this monstrocity of indefinate holding cell for suspected international terrorists. Perhaps "Ghoul-ag" or "Stitch-In-Hard-Time-Fields" or "Panic-Prison" or "Better-Safe-Than-Sorry Cells" or "Indefinate Holding Cell for Suspected International Terrorists".

[Jew]

Why all the fuss? They're committing suicide left and right in that place. And isn't that a safer place for that to happen -- away from the crowded buses, restaurants, and shopping malls where they'd normally perform such dirty work?

Gitmo is simply facilitating their quest for those 72 virgins, without them having to take dozens of other innocents with them.

[Semanticist]

Go Anne! I'm really in favor of maintaining the semantic integrity of these kinds of terms. The Guantanomo Bay facility certainly deserves to be called a variety of nasty names, but "gulag" isn't one of them if we want the word to continue to mean anything at all aside from "a detention facility run by people I disagree with politically". It's kind of like the gradual erosion of the meaning of the word "genocide", to the point that certain Dutch magistrates are presently attempting to charge American military commanders with "genocide" over the war in Iraq. Illegal aggression, probably. Reckless disregard for human life, arguably. But genocide? Get serious, people!

[Anonymous]

Hey, that last comment isn't racist at all!

[omnibus bill]

I have a perfect solution for dealing with the parade of 'orribles locked up at Guantanamo.

I know it's a tough problem. They hate the U.S., they are sworn to oppose U.S. forces, and indeed, Americans, wherever they may find them. They are willing to fight to impose their will; after all, a little bloodshed is just politics by other means. Moreover, they hate Jews, and can't stand Christians either.

There's only one solution, and I'm surprised it took me this long to come up with it:

Resettle them in Berkeley.

They'd fit right in...

[Barton]

General Wesley Clark said that roughly 80% of the detainees were "small fish" - Taliban officials in charge of security, anti-Northern Alliance propaganda operatives, local platoon leaders, etc. Not suicide bombers or terrorists of any kind. And even if a lack common decency (as is evident in some of these posts) throttles motivation for fairness, remember, that many times in history when governments have have mistreated foreigners and ignored the rule of law in their regard, this same mistreatment has then been hastend to be visited upon its own citizens.

[R. Cross]

Chin up, Barton. Things are going your way now:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86022,00.html

So not to worry.

[Joao Vaz]

Gulag and Guantanamo have only two things in common. The initial G and the fact that both serve to intern people who dont know why are they there. If you put someone in jail you have to formally accuse, or you loose justice to some form of jungle law.
The US is fuelling anti-american feelings, as well as anti-semitic propaganda, by allowing Guantanamo prison to be what it is, an outlaw concentration camp.