Tag: POWs

The POW Experience

AS a wonk on history and foreign policy especially on conflicts around the world….my granddaughter came to me and ask if there were any WW2 POWs in the US….if not where were they held.

She had watched the Hitler Channel with her father and saw all the German troops that had surrendered at Tunisia in 1943….her brain wanted to know where all these people were held since the war was still raging around Europe and other locations.

I told her that many were sent to the US and that there were even some held here in Mississippi…..okay she wanted to know where….so I did what I always do…I dropped some history on her….

Just about 60 miles up Highway 49 is Camp Shelby, today it is a training site for the Reserves and the Seabees but during WW2 it was a POW camp…..it held prisoners from the Africa Corps…….

World War II was truly a world war. All of the major countries and a large number of small nations were drawn into the fight. Even countries that tried to remain neutral found themselves in the conflict either by conquest or by being in the path of the campaigns of the major powers. For example, in 1940, more than a year before the United States entered the war, the major powers — Britain, Italy, and Germany — fought important battles in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya in North Africa.

Not until November 1942, almost a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, did American forces enter the fight in North Africa. U.S. forces made amphibious landings at the North African cities of Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers. German and Italian forces in Libya were then caught in a vise — Americans advanced from the west along the North African coast to Tunisia while British troops advanced from the east out of Egypt. The Germans and Italians had to defend on two fronts — the British front on the east and the American front on the west. (See the maps on the left.)

http://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/articles/233/german-prisoners-of-war-in-mississippi-1943-1946

After we talked about this situation I got to thinking…where else in the US were German POWs held?

So I went into full research mode and came up with a simple answer….

Internment camps themselves were a new concept for the U.S. government. Sure, there had been forcible relocations of Native Americans for centuries prior to World War II, but none of those horrific crimes involved strategically removing American citizens and their families from one area of the country to another until a war ended (when the removed citizens would then – in theory – be allowed to return home). The Roosevelt administration eventually created three types of camps for prisoners: temporary camps, internment camps, and detention centers. The detention centers, run by the Department of Justice, housed the most suspicious prisoners, and it is the detention centers that deserve the most focus. So, without further ado, here are the ten harshest WWII prison camps in the U.S.:

https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2018/07/20/ten_world_war_ii_prison_camps_in_america.html

The old professor hopes that this answered any question that my reader has about this subject……

I love it when my granddaughter visits!

What Goes Around, Comes Around

The most recent terrorists attacks have brought up all the rhetoric again….and we have even returned to the debate about torture……since the loudest proponent of this is the GOP front runner, Trump…..the rhetoric is even louder than normal….

It seems that thanx to the election rhetoric most Americans think the torturing of another human being is acceptable…….

Donald Trump made some waves in early March when he made pro-torture statements at a GOP debate (he walked that back somewhat the next day). But he likely wouldn’t have offended a good number of Americans, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. Per the poll of nearly 2,000 US adults (18 and over) between March 22 and March 28, almost two-thirds of respondents are OK with the US using torture methods to get info from terror suspects, Reuters reports. About one-quarter of those asked agreed torture is “often” justified “against suspected terrorists to obtain information about terrorism,” with another 38% saying it was “sometimes” justified; just 15% said it should never be employed.

And 64% of US citizens feel like a terror attack within the next six months is “very likely” or “somewhat likely,” the Hill notes. There’s a disparity, too, between political parties, with 82% of Republicans noting torturous methods are “often” or “sometimes” justified, while only 53% of Democrats feel this way. Trump himself may be exacerbating Americans’ fears due to recent attacks overseas (e.g., France, Belgium) and at home (San Bernardino); he’s said that techniques like waterboarding should be on the table, despite outcry from human rights groups, and that he’ll “bring back a hell of a lot worse” methods if he assumes the White House. “The public right now is coping with a host of negative emotions,” says a Vanderbilt University professor. “Fear, anger, general anxiety: [Trump] gives a certain credibility to these feelings.”

I am opposed to torture…..PERIOD!

But for the sake of this post I have one more thing yo say…….”Try it then we can talk”!

Torture is like war….those that are the strongest defenders are the ones that have tasted neither.

My opinion is that if you have not experienced a thing then there is NO way one can make a rational conclusion.

But this poll was taken after the latest attack in Brussels……so emotional responses kicked in.

A recent study by the U of Maryland found that the chances of an attack here in the US is low……

“In global terms, this is a relatively low level of activity,” according to the study, first reported by The Washington Times .

“North America is the least-likely region to be involved in a terrorist attack, though this is not the general impression among many of its residents,” says Steve Killelea with the Institute for Economics and Peace, which published the study using statistics and analysis from the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism .

Source: Study: U.S. at ‘Low’ Risk of Terror Attack – US News

This is a significant study but as usual the media did not report on this because it would not feed the fear that they want to perpetrate….without information Americans have kneejerk responses…..and kneejerk responses lead to disastrous decisions.

Why torture doesn’t work: A definitive guide – The Week

We are once again we are having the TORTURE talk……some think it was a huge success and others think it was cruel and unusual treatment……we can settle this very easily…..ASK SOMEONE WHO WAS TORTURED……..

On a side note….remember when the torture report was considered for release and all those hysterical dweebs that said there would be violence and death as a result?  I am still waiting!

Anyway this is a really good piece….maybe read it and learn…….

 

Why torture doesn’t work: A definitive guide – The Week.

A History of the C.I.A.’s Secret Interrogation Program – NYTimes.com

Years ago the subject of torture was a hot button issue and then like all other hot button issues it fell be the wayside to make room for something m,ore important….like the Kardashians or something equally as mind numbing….

And then the debate was resurrected with the torture report out of the Senate.

Just to help people catch up there is a historical timeline that can help those that want to understand….

 

A History of the C.I.A.’s Secret Interrogation Program – NYTimes.com.

ISIS offered to swap Foley for ‘Lady Al Qaeda’: Terrorists wanted return of MIT-graduate jailed in U.S. for planning ‘mass casualty strike’ with dirty bomb, ebola, and chemical weapon ‘that spared children’ | Mail Online

Remember when Bowe Bergdahl was traded for 5 Taleban leaders we had in prison?  Remember the outrage in some corners over the trade?  Wonder what would have been said if this trade had gone through?

 

ISIS offered to swap Foley for ‘Lady Al Qaeda’: Terrorists wanted return of MIT-graduate jailed in U.S. for planning ‘mass casualty strike’ with dirty bomb, ebola, and chemical weapon ‘that spared children’ | Mail Online.

Gitmo To Close

President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, shut down secret overseas CIA prisons, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

With his action, Obama started changing how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans — and overhauling America’s image abroad, battered by accusations of the use of torture and the indefinite detention of suspects at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba.

The centerpiece order would close the much-maligned Guantanamo facility within a year, a complicated process with many unanswered questions that was nonetheless a key campaign promise of Obama’s. The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.

In the other actions, Obama:

_Created a task force to recommend policies on handling terror suspects who are detained in the future. Specifically, the group would look at where those detainees should be housed since Guantanamo is closing.

_Required all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics. However, a Capitol Hill aide says that the administration also is planning a study of more aggressive interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual — which would create a significant loophole to Obama’s action Thursday.

A task force will study whether other interrogation guidelines — beyond what’s spelled out in the Army manual — are necessary for intelligence professionals in dealing with terror suspects.