TAGESSPIEGEL ON GUANTANAMO

Harald Martenstein rips into the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, Diego Garcia, and Bagram, in this Tagesspiegel article. Martenstein isn't presenting new facts, so the article is useful as a reflection of some sectors of German opinion. The word "Justizmord" pops up in his discussion of the possibility of the death penalty being applied against prisoners at Guantanamo. This is strong language with overtones of comparison to Nazi Germany. Whatever you think about the sincerity of those charged with implementing them (and I have no reason to doubt their sincerity), Martenstein's piece indicates the direction that foreign reactions might take in response to military tribunals, and that is something that the administration must take into consideration. We not only have to be fair in these tribunals; we should want the reputation of being fair. And it is most emphatically not unpatriotic to point out the dangers here.