U.S. military cancels Gitmo general’s assignment to Pakistan
Send him there
bare-handed.
When the Pentagon announced in March that Major
General Jay Hood would become the senior officer based in Pakistan, it reflected
the military’s aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a
pivotal time in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan’s
tribal areas.
But nearly two months later, the military has quietly canceled Hood’s assignment after the 33-year army officer was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
During Hood’s command from 2004 to 2006, military authorities force-fed with tubes detainees who were engaging in hunger strikes at the prison, a step they described as necessary to prevent the prisoners from committing suicide to protest their indefinite confinement. Also during Hood’s tenure, reports that an American guard may have desecrated a Koran incited wide protests in the Islamic world.
The decision to withdraw Hood’s assignment has not been announced, but it appears to reflect the widening shadow that the military prison at Guantánamo is casting over U.S. foreign policy.
Might be interesting, someday, to try a foreign policy that included a reluctance to torture, invade and bully the rest of the world.
But nearly two months later, the military has quietly canceled Hood’s assignment after the 33-year army officer was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
During Hood’s command from 2004 to 2006, military authorities force-fed with tubes detainees who were engaging in hunger strikes at the prison, a step they described as necessary to prevent the prisoners from committing suicide to protest their indefinite confinement. Also during Hood’s tenure, reports that an American guard may have desecrated a Koran incited wide protests in the Islamic world.
The decision to withdraw Hood’s assignment has not been announced, but it appears to reflect the widening shadow that the military prison at Guantánamo is casting over U.S. foreign policy.
Might be interesting, someday, to try a foreign policy that included a reluctance to torture, invade and bully the rest of the world.
Posted: Sat - May 10, 2008 at 08:08 AM