Suicide as PR

So, it turns out that one of the three detainees who committed suicide at Guantanamo over the weekend was due to be released but had not been told. But if that seems a poignant comment on the whole system of holding prisoners entirely beyond the reach of the law, one can’t help but notice the nonsense it makes of the spin from Karen Hughes’s office on the sorry affair: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy told the BBC that the suicides were a “good PR move to draw attention” and “a tactic to further the jihadi cause.” Don’t go believing that mushy human-rights hype about people driven to despair — after all, hard-core terrorists are more than happy to give their lives to strike a blow for the cause, aren’t they?

Nice try Colleen — you’re certainly no worse at this stuff than your boss. But do you really expect us to believe that a man who the U.S. had decided to release was also someone who would hang himself to strike a PR blow for the jihadi cause?