I think it was in 1972 that General Westmoreland, the Commander of American forces in Vietnam, stood on the lawn of the nation's capital and gave the folks watching at home the benefit of the wisdom he'd gleaned through years of experience in southeast Asia:"The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does the Westerner. Life is plentiful. Life is cheap in the Orient. And as the philosophy of the Orient expresses it, life is not important."
Throughout the national disgrace the neocons call "the war on terror," there have been many Westmoreland moments, and we're now being treated to another one after three Guantanamo prisoners managed to commit suicide by hanging themselves with sheets and clothing.
From the TimesOnline:
Yesterday, Colleen Graffy, a senior State Department official, dismissed the suicides as a “good PR move to draw attention” and “a tactic to further the jihadi cause." The camp commander described the men as dangerous extremists who would go to any lengths to become martyrs. “They are smart, they are creative, they are committed,” Rear Admiral Harry Harris said. "They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."
A total of 350 'self-harm' incidents were reported at Guantanamo in 2003, including 120 'hanging gestures'.
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