Gitmo Is Killing Me

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Gitmo Is Killing Me

By SAMIR NAJI al HASAN MOQBEL
Published: April 14, 2013

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba

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.

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Last month, on March 15, I was sick in the prison hospital and refused to be fed. A team from the E.R.F. (Extreme Reaction Force), a squad of eight military police officers in riot gear, burst in. They tied my hands and feet to the bed. They forcibly inserted an IV into my hand. I spent 26 hours in this state, tied to the bed. During this time I was not permitted to go to the toilet. They inserted a catheter, which was painful, degrading and unnecessary. I was not even permitted to pray.

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

[jimmyolsenblues]

1. Obama has to keep is promise

When Obama ran in 2008 he promised to end the iraq and afgan war, he promised to close gitmo.
Please keep your promise Mr.President.
Bring All the troops home today.

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2. And we accuse them of being uncivilized and having no respect for human rights. nt

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3. Guantanamo camp burns through $900,000 a year per inmate

Think of the deficit!

(Reuters) - It's been dubbed the most expensive prison on Earth and President Barack Obama cited the cost this week as one of many reasons to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, which burns through some $900,000 per prisoner annually.

The Pentagon estimates it spends about $150 million each year to operate the prison and military court system at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, which was set up 11 years ago to house foreign terrorism suspects. With 166 inmates currently in custody, that amounts to an annual cost of $903,614 per prisoner.

By comparison, super-maximum security prisons in the United States spend about $60,000 to $70,000 at most to house their inmates, analysts say. And the average cost across all federal prisons is about $30,000, they say.

The high cost was just one reason Obama cited when he returned this week to an unfulfilled promise to close the prison and said he would try again. Obama also said that the prison, set up under his Republican predecessor George W. Bush and long the target of criticism by rights groups and foreign governments, is a stain on the reputation of the United States.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/03/us-usa-guantanamo-costs-idUSBRE94211N20130503