Pentagon Plans Huge Prison in Afghanistan

Pentagon Plans Huge Prison in Afghanistan

www.nytimes.com

The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.

The Pentagon is planning to use $60 million in emergency construction funds this fiscal year to build a complex of 6 to 10 semi-permanent structures resembling Quonset huts, each the size of a football field. Some detainees have been held without charge for more than five years, officials said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

How does it go?

Oh yes--"We must jail them over there so we don't have to imprison them over here."

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Its hard to know how to feel about this story. Reading about the existing conditions for Afghan prisoners, the faster they get the new thing built the better. On the other hand, it is a sad reminder of how much the U.S. relies on prisons to hide or hold its problems rather than working to solve the problems in the first place. There is mention in the article of how in Iraq they are apparently making an attempt to work within the existing social system of community leaders to deal with things. That would be the ideal approach in my mind.
The operation of inhumane prison/detention/torture centres in foreign lands by the American government should be one of our greatest concerns as a civil society.