If chronically online liberals thought the United States dealt with suspected terrorists harshly, then the leaked videos depicting Russia’s treatment of Islamic State suspects just might give them a heart attack.
Remember when, during the administration of President George W. Bush, liberals clutched their pearls about the conditions at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba?
Well, as the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported Monday Guantanamo Bay (or Club Gitmo, as the late, great Rush Limbaugh jokingly called it) was a night at the Four Seasons compared with how Russia has treated the four men suspected in the attack on the Crocus City Hall venue near Moscow on March 22.
According to the report, four suspected terrorists — Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32; Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30; Shamsidin Fariduni, 25; and Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19 — have been subject to brutal treatment since their arrest.
In their first court appearance, the quartet sported bruised, battered and swollen faces.
In addition, a leaked video showed Rachabalizoda screaming in pain as Russian soldiers beat him with the butts of their rifles, the Daily Mail reported. Another video showed soldiers cutting off his ear and making him eat it.
Indeed, the men’s treatment has been so severe that, as the Daily Mail reported, the Islamic State group threatened to “massacre” Russian President Vladimir Putin and his countrymen in response.
“Torture of captured Mujahideen in your name and publication of their videos increases your bloodlust for thousands of their brothers,” said the terrorist group, which has claimed responsibility for the March 22 shooting and bombing attack that claimed the lives of at least 137 people.
Unfortunately for the four suspected terrorists, their potential conviction will bring only further and uglier torture.
Is the United States too soft on terrorists?
A separate piece from the Daily Mail described what the publication called Russia’s “conveyer belt of torture” for prisoners, complete with video and photographic evidence.
It said such brutal treatment was a matter of routine in Russian prisons, with inmates enduring beatings, humiliation rituals and even sexual assault on a daily basis.
One prisoner, referred to in the report only as Bochorishvili, was beaten so severely that he ended up perishing from his wounds.
The Russian government returned his body to his family for burial — but not before removing his internal organs.
The Daily Mail described in graphic detail the humiliating treatment Russian soldiers have inflicted on their prisoners, but, suffice to say, the suspected terrorists have not received the smallest crumb of mercy so far and almost certainly have a grim road ahead of them.
By inflicting this brutality on prisoners and filming it, the Russian government wanted to send a message to the world in hopes of dissuading anyone who might consider attacking Russia.
Now, what were liberals’ main complaints about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay?
Seeing as the detention camp was established by Bush specifically to hold terrorists following 9/11, it certainly should not have been a fun place to stay.
Again, compared with the standard practices in Russian prisons, Gitmo’s detainees had it easy.
The worst treatment documented at Guantanamo was that guards forced prisoners to stand in uncomfortable positions and force-fed prisoners on hunger strikes.
While Christian teaching has never condoned the use of torture, liberals clearly were driven by either ignorance or an agenda when they accused the U.S. of egregious human rights abuses at Guantanamo.
The world was, and is, rough and brutal.
Looking outside the United States — at Russia, at China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslims or just about anywhere else outside of the West — any observer can see how incredibly gentle the U.S. has been by comparison.
