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Guantanamo Bay is like the witch hunts in the medieval ages in the sense that when somebody was accused of being a witch there was no meaningful recourse. Gitm
by linuxhansl 14y ago
Guantanamo Bay is like the witch hunts in the medieval ages in the sense that when somebody was accused of being a witch there was no meaningful recourse.
Gitmo is the same. Most inmates have not been tried, some have been tortured (and are hence considered "untriable").
For a country that claims to follow the "rule of law" this is a strange affair to be in.
The "rule of law" way of out this is to bring these people to the US, and try them. If they cannot be convicted they are free. I believe that the long term cost/risk of not doing this is higher than any potential damage the inmates could do.
- elliptic 14y agoWitch hunts were primarily a phenomenon of the early modern period, not the middle ages, during which both the political authorities and the Church repeatedly cautioned against blaming e.g poor crops on supposed witches. Also, I believe about half of witchcraft trials ended in execution - I'm not sure what the comparable rate is for Gitmo (although obviously there are no trials).
- eric-hu 14y agoPerhaps witch hunts were just performed under a different name. See also: the Medieval Inquisition (1184–16th century) the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834) the Portuguese Inquisition (1536–1821) the Roman Inquisition (1542 – c. 1860) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition
- jeltz 14y agoThe medieval inquisition was indeed a witch hunt in the figurative sense but it did not hunt witches. It was primary occupied with hunting heretics (particularly Cathars). Its involvement in hunting witches started in the late 15th century at the very end of the middle ages.