American Soldier Victim At Guantanamo

You haven't heard too much about it over the media, if anything, but this could be the story that ends up blowing the lid off the Bush administrations insistence that all is well at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Try telling that to Sean Baker, a former soldier from Georgetown, Ky. During the course of a training exercise with military reservists from a Michigan Unit at Camp Delta, Baker was given the assignment of pretending to be a detainee. He was beaten severely, in fact his head was slammed to the floor multiple times, and he was stangled. When the code word "Red" didn't bring the proper response, he somehow managed to blurt out "I'm an American soldier. I'm an American soldier."

After a brief leave, he returned to light duty, but had to be heavily medicated. He began to suffer from severe seizures, and was eventually hospitalized at Walter Reed. Baker was eventually given a medical discharge, but it was denied that the incident had anything to do with it. Still, Baker is currently involved in the course of trying to file a lawsuit. The problem is, evidently it is in the military contract that the government cannot be sued for injuries resulting from the course of one's duties. Still, it looks as though Baker might get the green light to go ahead with his suit.

I wish him luck. Regardless of the legitimacy of the suit, this needs to be brought out into the open, into the light of day. After all, if we are to insist on transparency and humane treatments for suspected terrorists, whose rights to them are questionable, to say the least, then how much more so should we be on behalf of our young men and women who serve for the far greater part with honor, distinction, and a kind of bravery I can only wonder at.