Some days I just want to hit something

[ebonlock]

There are no words...:

New details have emerged of how the growing number of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay are being tied down and force-fed through tubes pushed down their nasal passages into their stomachs to keep them alive.

They routinely experience bleeding and nausea, according to a sworn statement by the camp's chief doctor, seen by The Observer.

[...]

Edmonson's affidavit, in response to a lawsuit on behalf of detainees on hunger strike since last August, was obtained last week by The Observer, as a Guantánamo spokesman confirmed that the number of hunger strikers has almost doubled since Christmas, to 81 of the 550 detainees. Many have been held since the camp opened four years ago this month, although they not been charged with any crime, nor been allowed to see any evidence justifying their detention.

[...]

This and other Guantánamo lawsuits now face extinction. Last week, President Bush signed into law a measure removing detainees' right to file habeas corpus petitions in the US federal courts. On Friday, the administration asked the Supreme Court to make this retroactive, so nullifying about 220 cases in which prisoners have contested the basis of their detention and the legality of pending trials by military commission.

via Hullabaloo

I wish I could believe that the American public would respond with more than a resounding, "So?" but I'm afraid I resolved to give up on political optimism in 2006.

Comments

[ebongreen.livejournal.com]

Can't let you starve yourself to death, no no. That would be bad. You're a prisoner of the United States, and you won't die until we kill you ourselves. You won't be released because we (intentionally) have no functional process to free you. Neither free nor prisoner, neither dead nor alive... they may as well be called "undead", because they're certainly enthralled.

Just remember: this is a "pro-life" administration, committed to "democracy at home and abroad" and "the rule of law". /B-,