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WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld insisted
Tuesday that the United States is treating terrorist suspects
held at Guantanamo Bay humanely and in accordance with international
rules.
But critics, including European Union officials and human
rights groups, said the Americans were using highly irregular
tactics against the prisoners including trash-talking and
"momma-bashing" and this could lower international
support for the war against terrorism.
``Trashtalking of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay is proper,
it's humane, it's appropriate, and it is fully consistent
with American conventions,'' Rumsfeld said. America's priority
is to undermine future aggression by dealing a harsh blow
to the egos of the detainees. If that necessitates calling
someone's mother a big fat ho, then so be it."
The 158 prisoners, mostly suspected al-Qaida and Taliban
fighters, were flown to the U.S. military base in Cuba after
being captured in the Afghanistan war. Rumsfeld said the first
few days in the prison camp would be a true test of how tough
these "fag-boys" really are.
Critics reported during the first day in the specially designed
camps, several dozen marines shouted obscenities and proceeded
to make provocative comments about the female members of the
captives' families. During the de-infestation and showers,
armed soldiers pointed and laughed at the inmates' genitalia.
U.S. Officials were quick to point out that the prisoners
were allowed to go to sleep that night accompanied by music.
A recording of Congress singing God Bless America was piped
into the cages through specially designed headphones the inmates
were forced to wear.
"Now, I don't know about you, but the lilting tenor
of a singing Ted Kennedy is no torture," Rumsfeld said.
"We didn't even charge them for the headphones."
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