Talk:Johnny Micheal Spann

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[edit] npov -- see talk

The article currently describes the riot at the prison as a prisoner uprising.

This interpretation is merely one interpretation. It is not supported by the accounts from the prisoners themselves.

Several dozen Guantanamo captives face continued detention, in part, because they were present at the prison, during the riot. The transcripts from a dozen or so of these captives offer different interpretations.

I know DoD spokesmen say we should discount anything the captives say that does not correspond to the official line from the Bush administration, because al Qaeda used a training manual that told captives to lie.

Several captives describe a prison that was bursting at its seams due to the policy of paying Afghan warlords $5,000 a pop for every captive they turned over. Several captives describe being rounded up, at gunpoint, at random, by a dragnet in Kunduz. They described being herded into trucks, that had a sprinkling of broken weapons on the floor, and driven to the prison, where they saw an American pay their captors money. They said the weapons were thrown into a big pile at the prison gate.

Several captives describe the being lead out of the dungeon, two at a time, where they were forced to strip to their underwear, shackled, and then lead to a fixed point in the fort's courtyard, where they were forced to kneel, silently, while the rest of the captives were processed. They describe sudden gunfire. They describe nearby companions being killed, as they fled for cover.

Several captives describe still being in the dungeon, as the captives were being lead out. They describe hearing an explosion, and gunfire, at the dungeon's doorway. They describe a wild panic as other captives trampled one another as they tried to escape. They describe avoiding the crush at the door, and seeking another exit, so they survived the grenade explosions that killed everyone trying to escape.

Several captives acknowledge being low level Taliban soldiers, buck privates, and conscripts, who were directed to go to Mazari Sharif to surrender.

Several captives describe themselves as refugees, who were told that the best way to get home was to proceed to Mazari Sharif, and surrender themselves to the Americans there.

One of the captives was a Pakistani truck driver. His account offers more details. He acknowledged working for the Taliban, as a driver, but denied being a member of the Taliban. He acknowledged that the Taliban had to fill the ranks of its civil service and support industries through involuntary conscription -- a press gang -- because decades of warfare had largely stripped Afghanistan of skilled workers, or even the minimum necessary workforce of literate and numerate workers. But the Taliban didn't press-gang truck drivers, because it would be impossible to keep them impressed when they were making a delivery, and could just drive away.

The truck driver said he was paid to deliver a truckload of prisoners to the prison at Mazari Sharif. He delivered the prisoners, but the approach to the prison was so crowded and chaotic that he ended up being directed to drive away before the weapons on his truck bed were removed.

He described being stopped by one truck full of armed men, who wanted to seize his truck, and the weapons it contained, when another truck with a different gang of armed men drove up, and got into a gun-battle over the weapons in his truck.

During the firing he was able to slip away. But the first villager he asked for help took him prisoner, kept him for several weeks, and eventually turned him in for a bounty.

So, was the riot at Mazari Sharif a prison uprising?

• Maybe the commandant was assembling the captives to give them a speech? But, if so, why bind their hands and strip them of their clothing?
• Maybe the shooting started when guards, who felt overwhelmed by the ratio of prisoners to guards paniced, and started shooting?
• Maybe the commandant wanted to cull the captives, because he had too many than could be handled by the number of guards?
  • If so maybe the cull, or massacre, wasn't authorized by the CIA, and Spann heroically tried to stop it?
  • Or maybe the cull was authorized by the CIA, and Spann was a victim of friendly fire?
  • Maybe a small group of desperate captives realized that they were being herded into a massacre, and rose up at the last minute.

    • THAT IS ALL SPECULATIVE UNLESS YOU WERE A PRISONER -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by Melissaky (talk • contribs) 22:18, 2008 February 13

There are accounts that Hazrat Ali, another warlord and drug kingpin, massacred his prisoners, without drawing publicity to the event

Stating any of the other possibilities as a fact, in article space, would be a violation of WP:NOR and WP:SYN. But, I believe, stating as a certain fact, that the riot was a prisoner uprising, does not comply with WP:NPOV.

Cheers! Geo Swan 15:21, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Forgive me for not shedding a tear because TERRORISTS were crowded in cells and handcuffed by rude guards. The people in the WTC probably would have traded places with any of them. -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by Melissaky (talk • contribs) 22:17, 2008 February 13

And you know they were terrorists how?

Look into the details and you will find that while the thousands of captives handed over to the USA did include some individuals who could meaningfully be described as terrorists, they amounted to dozens -- less than one hundred. Almost all the captives were innocent bystanders or Taliban footsoldiers -- who were generally monoglot, illiterate involuntary conscripts. Geo Swan (talk) 14:00, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] unexplained edit

I left a note on the talk page of a new user whose edit I reverted. Geo Swan (talk) 14:20, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Micheal or Michael ?

Can someone check wether its middle name is Micheal or Michael ? Both are written in the article. Rob1bureau (talk) 13:38, 7 June 2008 (UTC)