"It's possible to get stuck there if you don't have a state"

Unfortunately, the quote in the headline refers to Guantanamo Bay, and comes from this Washington Post/Franz Kafka co-production about what might be one of the most egregious wrongful imprisonment cases you'll read about this week. (Thanks to H&R commenter "thoreau" for the link.)

Comments

[Jason O.]

thoreau's getting kudos now from reason staff?

As Slim Pickens says in Blazing Saddles: "I am depressed..."

[Warren]

I hate to see you this-a-way Jason. What if I was to make an ad hominem attack on this egghead. Would that pep you up some?

[thoreau]

Thanks for posting this, Matt!

So, here's what I don't get: He's an enemy of the Taliban. They imprisoned him for trying to kill Bin Laden. Why the hell is he in one of our prisons!?!?!?!?

I'd set him loose and encourage him to take up his prior endeavor. Or at least help him find a country with a history of assimilating immigrants, and bonus points if that country doesn't like Bin Laden.

[jive miguel]

good find thoreau.

now, where can the U.S. find a country that hates bin laden and has a history of assimilating immigrants...

hmmm, that's a tough one....

[Warren]

thoreau,
Thanks to H&R commenter "thoreau" for the link

So how exactly did you provide the link, if you don't mind me asking. Did you send an unsolicited email. Or do you have an ongoing correspondence with the Reason staff. Perhaps you posted it in a comment I missed.

[thoreau]

I just sent Matt Welch an unsolicited email.

[joe]

Spit it out, Warren: what's eating you?

[VM]

ran out of booze, prob'ly.

or out of culture down there 🙂

[thoreau]

Another interesting story about somebody held prisoner without trial or charges:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/03/AR2005120301476.html

This guy was eventually released, but it's interesting that he could have been released much, much sooner if they had actually waited on a background check before sending him to a secret prison. And once the truth came out, rather than flying his ass home ASAP, they spent at least a month trying to work out a release that would cause them the fewest legal and diplomatic hassles. (Him being kept in a secret prison without his family even knowing if he was alive was not considered a hassle, of course.)

[eric mattingly]

This is my favorite part:

"Like a group of five Chinese Uighurs (pronounced wee-gurs) , Turkistani remains incarcerated because the United States simply does not know what to do with him."

Amazing what great minds can do when they have massive firepower and dungheap prisons. I'm sure I'll be deeply morally offended about this later, but right now I'm just rejoicing having put my first semester in graduate school to bed (that, alas, is the only thing that's been to bed). I wonder how many other people get on H&R at around 3:30-5:00 when they're suppose to be doing something else.

[Warren]

Spit it out, Warren: what's eating you?

Kudos envy?

[joe]

OK.

Great job with that thing you did yesterday, W. Attaboy.

[Jason O.]

Warren:

that might help...

[VM]

yeah - but it was thoreau that taught W's girlfriend that thing he, W, likes...

[Warren]

thoreau,
Um sorry for my part in the threadjack. Those are excellent links. Definitely worthy of our attention. I'd like to say something relevant to get us back on topic, but I can't find anything here that needs expanding on. Best I can come up with is:
Asshats

No wait,
Mother fucking asshats.

[Larry A]

He clearly opposed al Qaeda and the Taliban, and he still feels that way. He's not a huge fan of the U.S. anymore.

Ya think?

For all the apologists for warrantless detainments, suspension of habeas corpus, and torture, this is how you lose the moral high ground in a war.

And, "If you didn't do anything wrong, what are you worried about?"

[thoreau]

Amen to Larry A!

Sing it brother!

[Stevo Darkly]

IMO, the best way to pass along a tip to the Reason staff would be to whisper it in Kerry Howley's ear just before she falls asleep.

(I didn't say "most effecive." I said "best.")

[Stevo Darkly]

I hope that wasn't an inappropriate comment.

PS: "EFFECTIVE." Dammit!

[thoreau]

Stevo-

Gee, and we were all scratching our heads trying to figure out why they didn't attend our gathering in November.

[Handsome Pete]

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/

[p0rnst4r]

"Like a group of five Chinese Uighurs (pronounced wee-gurs) , Turkistani remains incarcerated because the United States simply does not know what to do with him."

Find him a house and a job in north jersey and bring his family over.

[wayne]

Put him on a plane to Miami, then shoot his ass on the tarmac when he gets off... Hey, it worked once.

[Jadagul]

Eric Mattingly:
*raises hand*
Pulled two allnighters in the past week or so. Both would have been much shorter if this site weren't here.

[Stevo Darkly]

Handsome Pete:

This is the coolest thing I found at the site you linked:
------------ QUOTE -------------------

Tinseltown Looks to '06 Rebound

Los Angeles - As the box office closes on the US film industry's worst year since 1990, showbiz insiders are looking to a strong slate of 2006 releases to help the industry snap back from the financial doldrums.

"If we've learned anything this year, it's that the market is really hungry for more good, slow, imponderable stories and dim lighting," and industry analyst Tim Jarrard of the trade journal Hollywood Reporter. "The industry has listened, and I think the public will be pleased with the direction it will be taking in 2006."

Anticipated major theatrical releases from Hollywood include:

...Silenced Wood: George Clooney stars and directs in this drama about the climate of fear among ventriloquists during radio's notorious Charlie McCarthy era...

Angel Soft This: In a shocking and sometimes humorous indictment of the toilet paper industry, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock documents the ravages he suffers after 30 straight days of non-stop buttwiping...

Fearful Deadly Fear: Blacklisted 1950's screenwriter Damon Runyan (Tim Robbins) writes a secret screenplay about the the McCarthy-era blacklists, in this 1950's blacklist drama set against the background of the McCarthy era blacklists...

Cold Humpcrack Creekwater: Two retarded Gay cowgirl sisters (Rene Zellweger, Jenna Jameson) defy a fundamentalist sherriff (Hovercraft Phoenix) and discover love in this 1930's period piece set in the Appalachian outback of Nebraskansaw...

The Girl is Fabulous: Totally straight New Yorker Ted (Tom Cruise) falls head over heels in hetero love with Marcy (Katie Holmes) in this completely ungay romantic comedy set against the backdrop of New York's glamorous West Village...

Silence 1984: Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris interviews the survivors of Hollywood's notorious Reagan era 'Year of Fear,' when only three McCarthy-themed movies were released.