OpEd: Gitmo is killing me

[Winehole23]

ONE man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago.


I’ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not eat until they restore my dignity.


I’ve been detained at Guantánamo (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/guantanamobaynavalbasecuba/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) for 11 years and three months. I have never been charged with any crime. I have never received a trial.


I could have been home years ago — no one seriously thinks I am a threat — but still I am here. Years ago the military said I was a “guard” for Osama bin Laden, but this was nonsense, like something out of the American movies I used to watch. They don’t even seem to believe it anymore. But they don’t seem to care how long I sit here, either.


The only reason I am still here is that President Obama refuses to send any detainees back to Yemen. This makes no sense. I am a human being, not a passport, and I deserve to be treated like one.


I do not want to die here, but until President Obama and Yemen’s president do something, that is what I risk every day.


Where is my government? I will submit to any “security measures” they want in order to go home, even though they are totally unnecessary. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html

[Drachen]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html

Close this bitch. Damn!

[Wild Cobra]

Close this bitch. Damn!

Another broken promise by Obomba.

[ChumpDumper]

Another broken promise by Obomba.Do you want it closed?

[Drachen]

Another broken promise by Obomba.

I agree, even if I am not some 1st grader throwing out clearly not clever nicknames.

[Wild Cobra]

I agree, even if I am not some 1st grader throwing out clearly not clever nicknames.
Well, not that clever. He sure does have a lot of missiles from drones fired off now, doesn't he?

[Drachen]

Yes he does, now, next year when you get to middle school this type of name calling starts to get embarrassing.

[ChumpDumper]

Well, not that clever. He sure does have a lot of missiles from drones fired off now, doesn't he?What was your nickname for Bush?

[boutons_deux]

If these guys were geese, we'd have some foie gras

America the beautiful

It was chicken shit repugs who blocked closing of gitmo

Just like they block their own policies when proposed by barry

[Winehole23]

If Barry had a spine, he'd stand up to those nasty Republicans.




Is Guantánamo falling? The Navy sent reinforcements to the prison there on Monday—forty medics (http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/29/3371012/medical-reinforcements-arrive.html), added to the cohort guarding a hundred and sixty-six prisoners, watching them in their cells, and, increasingly, pulling them into rooms where they are strapped to chairs and have rubber tubes stuck into their noses and snaked down to their stomachs, then pumping in a can’s worth of a liquid nutritional supplement. That is what our sailors are assigned to do now. Two weeks ago, according to press reports, guards in riot gear were sent into what had been a cell block for compliant prisoners—a raid on our own jail—to transfer more than sixty of them into single-cell lockdown. It took five hours (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/us/politics/detainees-hit-guards-in-weekend-raid-officials-say.html). The guards ended up firing what the military called “less-than-lethal rounds (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/13/us-usa-guantanamo-idUSBRE93C0A620130413)”—rubber bullets and pellets—while the prisoners threw “improvised weapons” at them. But mostly the prisoners have been starving themselves.


A hundred prisoners are taking part in the hunger strike at Guantánamo now—a hundred angry men, or ones who are in a state of despair. There may be more, since that is the military’s count, and the lawyers for the prisoners have been saying for some time that the number is higher. There are not, it should be said, a hundred prisoners at Guantánamo who even the United States government considers dangerous enemy combatants; that means it’s a mathematical necessity that there are hunger-strikers who shouldn’t be there, either. Eighty-six prisoners have been cleared for release, one way or the other, many of them years ago now, but have not been released. (For many, the problem is that they are from Yemen.) That leaves just eighty. They are roughly divided between those the Administration says it might bestir itself to bring a case against someday, and those it acknowledges it doesn’t have enough evidence against, but finds somehow unsettling, and so is locking up anyway. There are only six prisoners who are now facing military commissions. A month ago, there were only thirty-one hunger strikers (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/03/guantanamos-hunger-strike-by-the-numbers.html) by the military’s count, or five times as many as those being tried. Now the ratio is more than sixteen to one (http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/26/3366805/some-force-fed-captives-are-cleared.html).



http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/05/guantanamo-hunger-strikes-hundred-hungry-men.html

[boutons_deux]

We elect the first black as Pres, but he's dickless and ball-less.

all he does is "have a conversation", that goes nowhere.

Then add in the hyper-weak fool Reid who didn't have the balls to change Senate's un-Constitutional rule of 60 votes.

[DMC]

Once they all die problem will be solved.

[Winehole23]

No man, no problem

[Winehole23]

really, you think they should all die just for being from Yemen? That's cold, man.

[Winehole23]

We elect the first black as Pres, but he's dickless and ball-less.

all he does is "have a conversation", that goes nowhere.

Then add in the hyper-weak fool Reid who didn't have the balls to change Senate's un-Constitutional rule of 60 votes.The spineless, nutless Dems have no chance, it would appear, despite holding the US Senate and the Presidency.

Pity.






What's the use of being on the right side if you won't fight for it?

Or wait: has it occurred to you, Boutons, that the Dems are only paying lip service to "the right side," whatever you define that to be?

[Winehole23]

or yet still, is that enough for you?

[ChumpDumper]

Past time to close it.

[The Reckoning]

obama is nothing more or less than bush part II

[boutons_deux]

obama is nothing more or less than bush part II

the chickshit Repugs blocked Barry's initial attempt to close GITMO, claiming they were too fucking scared of these handfuld of broken men who couldn't be held in domestic supermax prisons.

Barry's trying again, the Repugs will block him again.

[Winehole23]

you mean, Barry's talking about doing something about it.

if last time is any indication, his own party won't support him this time either.

[The Reckoning]

presidents have used powers of persuasion to start wars and drastically change policies that really define the office.

obama may say that he's trying, but in reality...he's not. as acting commander and chief of the military, you'd think he'd have more leverage with military affairs.

he's having a nice leisure presidency.

[boutons_deux]

Republicans Are Resisting Obama’s Renewed Attempt To Close Gitmo (http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/07/1974601/republicans-vow-to-block-obamas-renewed-attempt-to-close-gitmo/)

rown (http://thinkprogress.org/author/hbrown/) on May 7, 2013 at 5:00 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AP090514047134-e13679548515451.jpg (http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AP090514047134-e13679548515451.jpg)(Credit: AP)


President Obama’s renewed calls to close the military prison (http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/04/30/1941371/obama-gitmo-try-again/) at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are already being met with promises of further stonewalling from Republicans in Congress, before a new plan can even be put forward.
It’s not new that Republicans oppose the idea that closing a prison that has been for years now a symbol of U.S. disregard for human rights would be in the interests of the United States, having blocked administration proposals (http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/senate-republicans-vow-to-keep-guantanamo-bay-open.php) several times. And now, Republicans are already shooting down Obama’s renewed push, mostly based on previous proposals (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/us/politics/24gitmo.html?pagewanted=all) to transport detainees to “supermax” prisons in the United States:


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “There is wide, bipartisan opposition in Congress (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/us/guantanamo-adds-medical-staff-amid-hunger-strike.html?pagewanted=all) to the president’s goal of moving those terrorists to American cities and towns.”
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC): “[The detainees are] individuals hell-bent on our destruction (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/guantanamo-bay-closure-a-tough-sell-to-congress-so-obama-looks-to-possibly-reduce-population/2013/05/01/9efe6812-b29c-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html) and destroying our way of life.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL): “All of the prisoners housed at Guantanamo are terrorists. They pose an obvious threat (http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/may/07/barack-obama-gop-at-odds-over-prison/) to our national security, and they should not be allowed to set foot on our soil.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN): “The American people expect us to keep them safe. I have yet to hear (http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/may/07/barack-obama-gop-at-odds-over-prison/) one good reason why moving these terrorists from off our shores right into the heart of our country makes us safer.”
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “The president needs to realize that the Global War on Terrorism (http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/may/07/barack-obama-gop-at-odds-over-prison/) did not end with the killing of Osama bin Laden. The Boston bombing is a sharp reminder that there is still a clear and present threat to our American way of life from those that mean us harm.”
Rep. Jimmy Duncan (R-TN): “[Detainees] are not U.S. citizens and should not be given (http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/may/07/barack-obama-gop-at-odds-over-prison/) the same rights and privileges as if they were. [...] I do not support any plan for these prisoners that puts them on U.S. soil.”




http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/07/1974601/republicans-vow-to-block-obamas-renewed-attempt-to-close-gitmo/

[TeyshaBlue]

.....

[SA210]

"In his press conference Tuesday, President Obama repeated that he wanted to shut Guantanamo Bay but blamed Congress for stopping him. "They would not let us close it," he said. But that's wrong. President Obama can lawfully release the detainees if he wants to. Congress has made it difficult, but not impossible. Whatever he's saying, the president does not want to close the detention center—at least not yet."*

Obama has repeatedly said he wants to close Guantanamo, but he took no action. Now, are people who previously opposed the inhumane treatment inside changing their tune because it's what Obama "wants?" Why won't he close it and let the detainees who have been CLEARED out of Gitmo's walls? Cenk Uygur breaks it down.


TYT News: Is Guantanamo Obama's Greatest Disgrace?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQdmeYUyxg

[Winehole23]

oh wait, maybe Obama can do something about Gitmo all on his own:


The US attorney general Eric Holder hinted on Wednesday that the Obama administration may be planning to act on Yemeni prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/guantanamo-bay).


The release of the Yemenis back to their home country would make a big dent in the overall number of Guantánamo detainees. The failure to free Guantánamo prisoners who have been cleared for release is one of the main reasons for the continuing hunger strike.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/15/eric-holder-yemenis-guantanamo?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

[SA210]

lol scandal deflection

[Th'Pusher]

lol scandal deflection
Would it upset you if Obama release the Yemeni detainees in an effort to deflect a scandal?

[Jacob1983]

Obama has been a lying bitch on this from day one. If he wants to close Gitmo so badly, then just use an executive order and close that shithole down. Stop being a pussy, Barry. You're supposed to be different from Bush, remember? Oh wait a minute, that was only when you were candidate Obama right?

[Nbadan]

He could close gitmo, but the problem is what happens to the prisoners who are still there..can't bring them to the States, Congress won't let you...can't send them home...they will be killed..

[Winehole23]

lol scandal deflectiondude, I started the thread, in no way does it deflect.

Particularly if you acquaint yourself with my pattern of posting, which clearly you haven't done.

I only post under one name; can you say the same?

[Winehole23]

(disclosure: in the early days of vmoney on ST I did register other names to get more vmoney for blackjack, Texas hold em and driving contests, but those days are gone.)

[SA210]

dude, I started the thread, in no way does it deflect.

Particularly if you acquaint yourself with my pattern of posting, which clearly you haven't done.

I only post under one name; can you say the same?

I wasn't saying that YOU were doing that. I was talking about the war criminal. Chill dude.