Powerful and frightening NYT OpEd piece: Gitmo Is Killing Me

[cali]

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 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.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html?hp&_r=3&

[Brickbat]

1. K&R. This is a goddamn shame.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. The gov'ts deep shame, it will be a long lasting legacy.

I cringe whenever I hear the worlds"freedom" coming from any gov't official.

[xiamiam]

3. i feel the same way when i hear " war on terror "

[Moostache]

5. This is Obama's lasting shame...

He took the coward's way out and the politically expedient path of least resistance.

The man campaigned on ENDING Gitmo, closing it down. He made a big show of it early in term 1 and then.....he backed down once the right started waving the "terrorism" flag at him. It was bullshit then, its bullshit now and it will be bullshit every day until he follows through on his pledge and provides trials and ends the illegal internment camp or slinks out of DC in 3 years to make a fortune with his Wall Street pals and speaking engagements.

Barack Obama will be a flawed and complex ex-president, but he and he alone can ensure that at the very least he addresses this issue and resolves it before then...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. The Right won't be satisfied unless everyone at Gitmo is executed....

It's their death camp.

[Paul E Ester]

4. Bump..nt

[malthaussen]

7. I can't even look at stuff like this anymore

It sends my blood pressure through the roof. This shit is being done in *my* name, by *my* country, and is contrary to every principle of justice under which this country was founded and has stood for since its inception. There is not enough bad that can be said about it.

-- Mal

[AnotherMcIntosh]

8. Is the forced insertion of a plastic tube through the nose a painless process?

I will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube up my nose. I can’t describe how painful it is to be force-fed this way. As it was thrust in, it made me feel like throwing up. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn’t. There was agony in my chest, throat and stomach. I had never experienced such pain before. I would not wish this cruel punishment upon anyone.

I am still being force-fed. Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. I never know when they will come. Sometimes they come during the night, as late as 11 p.m., when I’m sleeping.

There are so many of us on hunger strike now that there aren’t enough qualified medical staff members to carry out the force-feedings; nothing is happening at regular intervals. They are feeding people around the clock just to keep up.
...
I will agree to whatever it takes in order to be free. I am now 35. All I want is to see my family again and to start a family of my own.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html?hp&_r=4&

[sabrina 1]

9. This is outrageous! Shameful, disgusting, unacceptable, a crime against humanity!!

Is there anyone in this country who will end this nightmare, even speak out against it among our courageous leaders??

I can only imagine if this was from some place we view as a 'dictatorship'. The screams and threats and moral outrage would be heard around the world. This man would be rescued and brought to the next State of the Union address to show what 'humanitarians' we are.

Is anyone in Congress or the WH ASHAMED as they should be, by this crime they are 'moving forward' from?

There are no enough words to express the hatred I feel for those responsible for that hell hole that OUR tax dollars are paying for.

I wouldn't even do this to the war criminals responsible, but it would be tempting.

[cali]

10. all of the above. At least the NYT is speaking out by publishing this

As for congress: phtt.

[City Lights]

11. Disgraceful!

[AngryAmish]

12. These are all lies

Our President swore he would close Gitmo when if he was elected.

[redqueen]

13. K&R

This has to end.

[Rex]

14. Gitmo is an embarrassment and shameful.

It is the way WE would be treated if the GOP had it's way.

[Solly Mack]

15. K&R