*US Military Calls in 'Force-Feeding Teams' as Guantanamo Hunger Strike Continues*
But because the procedure of "force-feeding" is widely held as a form of torture, critics of the practice may well view the medical teams as nothing more than 'torture reinforcements' as the number of those approved for the painful process continues to grow and their conditions deteriorate.
Military authorities repeatedly claim that force-feedings are somehow necessary, but experts are unequivocal when they declare that the procedure is torture.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission considers the practice of force-feeding—in which detainees are strapped to a restraining chair, have tubes pushed up their nostrils and liquids pumped down their throats—a clear form of torture. In addition, the World Medical Association prohibits its physicians from participating in force-feeding and the American Medical Association has just sent a letter to the Pentagon calling the practice an affront to accepted medical ethics.
One detainee, speaking recently through his lawyer David Remes, described the process by saying it felt a "razor blade [going] down through your nose and into your throat."
In an interview with the Guardian, Remes discussed the treatment of those at Guantanamo as he pushed back against the US military's claims that it is safeguarding the prisoners by torturing them. "It's like the way you would treat an animal," he said. Watch:
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Despite testimony like this and the many objections by human rights advocates, reports indicate that at least 21 men have been approved for force feeding at the US prison.
US Military Calls in 'Force-Feeding Teams' as Guantanamo Hunger Strike Continues
- Jon Queally, staff writer
As The Guardian reports:
Authorities said that the "influx" of medical reinforcements had been weeks in the planning. But the news will fuel speculation that the condition of hunger-striking prisoners at Guantánamo Bay is deteriorating. Shaker Aamer, the last British resident being kept at the centre, told his lawyer earlier this month that authorities will soon see fatalities as a result of the current action.
"I cannot give you numbers and names, but people are dying here," said Aamer, who is refusing food.
The action is a protest against conditions at the centre, as well as the indefinite nature of the remaining prisoners' confinement. Aamer has been cleared for release twice, but is still behind bars after 11 years. He has never been charged or faced trial but the US refuses to allow him to return to the UK, despite official protests by the British government.
Late last week, president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, sent a letter to US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in order to remind the Pentagon that the AMA's long-held view is that force feeding is both an unethical and inhumane practic practice.
More at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/29/guantanamo-bay-hunger-strike-reinforcements
= new reply since forum marked as read
I was sooooo glad he brought it up today at the news conference.
Its a horror. What I can't understand is how any US medical personnel - especially on this scale - are agreeing to do this.
Obama's answer was good but I wish he'd been MUCH more forceful in actually defining WHO is keeping this horror going - Congress!! "We have problems in Guantanamo It needs to be closed. Congress won't let us close it... I"m going to go back at this."
K&R
and he doesn't want them to die...so that must be why they sent a crew into force-feed more of them? How is that not torture? 
If he waits for more people to be concerned or congress to act then some of those detainees are going to die because of the bodily and mental trauma of extended force feeding...
From Today's Presser:
-- the idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried -- that is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop.
Now, it's a hard case to make because, you know, I think for a lot of Americans, the notion is out of sight, out of mind, and it's easy to demagogue the issue. That's what happened the first time this came up. I'm going to go back at it because I think it's important.
Q: (Off mic) -- continue to force-feed these folks -- (inaudible) --
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I don't -- I don't want these individuals to die. Obviously, the Pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can. But I think all of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this. Why are we doing this?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obamas-april-30-2013-news-conference-transcript/2013/04/30/0edc67b0-b1a3-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_story_4.html
If he doesn't figure this out, quick, sooner or later these guys are going to start dying. Force feeding isn't entirely without complications and patients have died from severe bleeding and other problems.
What are they going to do then?
The plight of Samir Haji al Hasan Moqbel and others seems to be one of basic human dignity imho. “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,” Samir said. I take them at their word.
So if we declare that someone like say, Terri Schiavo is allowed to have her wishes carried out - to NOT be force fed and allowed to die with dignity - AND realistically the men at Guantanamo are in a similar hopeless suspended state, they should be allowed to choose to die.
Of course Obama doesn't want a "Bobby Sands" type of episode to tarnish his legacy.
But I fear he's going to have it. And maybe he should have it. Maybe its only right and just that he suffers that consequence.
