1, November 2014 Response to NYT
op ed RE: Force feeding of prisoners at
Guantánamo
According to the New England Journal of Medicine the practice of force
feeding prisoners at Guantánamo is not the practice of
medicine; it is “aggravated assault”. The practice of force feeding has
triggered world-wide revulsion at the despicable, barbaric practice. How
are the prisoners force-fed? They are strapped to electric chairs, and then
have a tube manually inserted up their nose, down the esophagus, while they’re
restrained, often for up to two hours. The same unwashed tube is then
forcefully rammed down the noses of the remaining prisoners, often spewing
blood – a practice that is in complete violation of
medical ethics, protocol and the Geneva Conventions. The American Medical
Association has joined the World Medical Association in condemning the practice.
Why are these prisoners being held in indefinite detention?
This defies basic common sense and fairness. Are we no longer a nation of
laws that respect basic rights to fair trial?
If the prisoners are so dangerous the presumption must be that we have
evidence to make such a determination or was the evidence obtained under
torture and therefore inadmissible. America the beautiful is rapidly morphing
into America the ugly. It is time to close this gulag.
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