Reactions inside and outside the US have been markedly different. In America, politicians invoked the events of September 11 and their apparent connection with Al Qaeda to justify their isolation and exposing them to penal conditions considerably harsher than are acceptable under the constitution or international law.
Internationally, however, there were doubts about how a conflict which began with talk of the rule of law and the inherent value of human rights, could end with such a show of contempt for both.
