Tough U.S. Steps in Hunger Strike at Camp in Cuba

[cal04]

United States military authorities have taken tougher measures to force feed detainees engaged in hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after concluding that some were determined to commit suicide to protest their indefinite confinement, military officials have said. In recent weeks, the officials said, guards have begun strapping recalcitrant detainees into "restraint chairs," sometimes for hours a day, to feed them through tubes and prevent them from deliberately vomiting afterward. Detainees who refuse to eat have also been placed in isolation for extended periods to keep them from being pressured by other hunger strikers, the officials said.

The measures appear to have had dramatic effects. The chief military spokesman at Guantánamo, Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin, said yesterday that the number of detainees on hunger strike had dropped, from 84 at the end of December to 4. Some officials said the new actions reflected concern at Guantánamo and the Pentagon that the protests were becoming difficult to control and that the death of one or more prisoners could intensify international criticism of the prison.

Colonel Martin said force feeding was carried out "in a humane and compassionate manner," and only when necessary to keep the prisoners alive. He said in a statement that "a restraint system to aid detainee feeding" was being used. He refused to answer detailed questions about the restraint chairs. Lawyers who have visited clients in recent weeks criticized the latest measures, particularly the use of the restraint chair, as abusive.

"It is clear that the government has ended the hunger strike through the use of force and through the most brutal and inhumane types of treatment," said Thomas B. Wilner, a lawyer at Shearman & Sterling in Washington, who last week visited the six Kuwaiti detainees he represents. "It is a disgrace."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/politics/09gitmo.html?hp&ex=1139461200&en=2800c00498318013&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[daleo]

1. Republicans have a thing for force-feeding people.

Prisoners on hunger strikes, people in vegetative states, the world (pro-war propaganda)...

[LizW]

2. The objective is to strip every shred of dignity from the detainees

It's a wonder some of the detainees haven't tried to commit suicide the way Hillary Swank's character tried to in Million Dollar Baby.

Look at what is being done in our names. They are strapping human beings into restraint chairs and forcing food into them, and leaving them there so they can't vomit it back up. And they ADMIT right up front that it's not being done to relieve their suffering, it's being done to protect the sadists from criticism.

This is appalling.

[grytpype]

3. a pic of the restraint chair

Sick and sadistic. If there's a God, strike down the Bushists and their evil regime!

[Massachusetts]

8. If there's a God, strike down the Bushists and their evil regime!

I'm still waiting....and I fear more and more that "the electoral process" will remain a JOKE for generations to come!

[LynnTheDem]

4. No charges. No trial. No nothing. Like hell US is the "good guy".

Like fucking hell.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Here's a sad, sad look at what they were doing to the hunger strikers

before they ever focused on using restraint chairs:

UNITED STATES: Guantanamo Bay prisoners tortured

Nicole Colson, Chicago

Force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is being used as a form of torture, says a lawyer for several detainees.

According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, Julia Tarver, a New York City-based lawyer who represents at least three hunger strikers, returned from an October 2 trip to Guantanamo Bay with detailed information about the US military’s brutal use of force-feeding.

The Pentagon claims that “only” 25 of the prison camp’s approximately 500 prisoners are on hunger strike — with 22 being force-fed. But legal advocates say the number is likely higher. In September, as many as 210 prisoners were on a hunger strike begun on August 8 to protest their lack of legal rights, indefinite detentions and the brutal conditions under which they are held.

On September 28, military spokesperson Major Jeffrey Weir explained to the New York Times that involuntary feedings were designed to ensure that prisoners could not “starve themselves to the point of causing harm to themselves”. He insisted that the feedings were not “forced”, but “assisted”.

But in notes of interviews Tarver conducted with her clients — which she successfully fought to have declassified — prisoners described the feedings as a nightmarish punishment, with US troops violently inserting dirty nasogastric (NG) tubes up detainees’ noses and into their stomachs.

This resulted in prisoners “vomiting up substantial amounts of blood”, says Tarver’s notes. “When they vomited up blood, the soldiers mocked and cursed at them, and taunted them with statements like ‘Look what your religion has brought you’.”

Tarver was told that “detainees were verbally abused and insulted and were restrained from head to toe. They had shackles or other restraints on their arms, legs, waist, chest, knees, and head... With these restraints in place, they were given intravenous medication (often quite painfully, as inexperienced medical professionals seemed incapable of locating appropriate veins). Their arms were swollen from multiple attempts to stick them with IV needles... If detainees moved, they were hit in the chest/heart.”

According to what detainees told Tarver, “In front of Guantanamo physicians — including the head of the detainee hospital — the guards took NG tubes from one detainee, and with no sanitization whatsoever, reinserted it into the nose of a different detainee. When these tubes were reinserted, the detainees could see the blood and stomach bile from other detainees remaining on the tubes.”
(snip/...)

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/647/647p19b.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you know, we didn't hear too much about this from our own fabulous, hard-working, truth-seeking, professional news media.

[NoSunWithoutShadow]

7. Another form of torture. This article is more grizzly than the

NYT article. Thanks for the link.

[grasswire]

9. insertion of an NG tube is said to be extremely painful

...one of the worst procedures a person can endure. In these circumstances, it is undoubtedly being done roughly, with punitive intent. My god, they'll never be able to let these detainees go home. No wonder they want to kill us.

[Judi Lynn]

10. I'm sure you're right.If they were rough enough, their hunger strikers

might give up their strikes, simply to avoid the excruciating pain, and this would save the system the harsh scrutiny under an international spotlight.

[psychopomp]

24. Not to minimize the suffering of the prisoners

but I had such a tube stuck up my nose a few months ago. Admittedly, the nurse first squirted a gel-form local anesthetic up my nose to numb the sinus tissues, but I it was a procedure that was done in fifteen minutes with no pain in my sinuses once the anesthetic wore off an hour or so later. There is nothing comfortable about having a tube snaked through your head down to your belly but it is hyperbole to characterize this proceedure as "one of the worst." Having a q-tip pushed into my penis to swab for an std test was more unpleasant, for example.

I am sure the proceedure is painful and uncomfortable and by no means do I condone this practice by our military in Cuba...or anywhere.

[EFerrari]

6. As soon as we allowed that camp to be built, we lost

the last shred of decency we had as a nation. The very last one.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Kick!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Hissyspit]

12. NYT: Tough U.S. Steps in Gitmo Hunger Strike

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/politics/09gitmo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Tough U.S. Steps in Hunger Strike at Camp in Cuba
By TIM GOLDEN
United States military authorities have taken tougher measures to force-feed detainees engaged in hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after concluding that some were determined to commit suicide to protest their indefinite confinement, military officials have said.

In recent weeks, the officials said, guards have begun strapping recalcitrant detainees into "restraint chairs," sometimes for hours a day, to feed them through tubes and prevent them from deliberately vomiting afterward. Detainees who refuse to eat have also been placed in isolation for extended periods in what the officials said was an effort to keep them from being encouraged by other hunger strikers.

- snip -

Some officials said the new actions reflected concern at Guantánamo and the Pentagon that the protests were becoming difficult to control and that the death of one or more prisoners could intensify international criticism of the detention center. Colonel Martin said force-feeding was carried out "in a humane and compassionate manner" and only when necessary to keep the prisoners alive. He said in a statement that "a restraint system to aid detainee feeding" was being used but refused to answer questions about the restraint chairs.

- snip -

The lawyers said other measures used to dissuade the hunger strikers included placing them in uncomfortably cold air-conditioned isolation cells, depriving them of "comfort items" like blankets and books and sometimes using riot-control soldiers to compel the prisoners to sit still while long plastic tubes were threaded down their nasal passages and into their stomachs.

MORE

[twaddler01]

13. Are these guys

doing any good there now?

[Atman]

14. They're setting up some grills and making Kebab Mashwi

"Hehehehe...they'll be begging to eat! In fact, I'm gittin' a bit hungry myself." - General Tommy Pace

[EFerrari]

15. Look at this headline. Why doesn't it say:

"Continuing Torture and Abuse of Illegally Held Foreign Nationals"

Tough steps, my remote.

They don't even know who these poor people are except they know 80% of them never fired a shot at an American soldier.

:puke:

[wtmusic]

16. "If they kill themselves, who are we going to have to pee on?"

If torture doesn't work on the living, it certainly doesn't work on the dead. Apparently what these monkeys think.

[MrPrax]

17. Over half aren't even...

charged with anything!

Nazi fuckers...shit, why not do some medical experiments while they are tied up...

[Nutmegger]

18. Tough U.S. Steps in Hunger Strike at Camp in Cuba

United States military authorities have taken tougher measures to force-feed detainees engaged in hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after concluding that some were determined to commit suicide to protest their indefinite confinement, military officials have said.

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

In recent weeks, the officials said, guards have begun strapping recalcitrant detainees into "restraint chairs," sometimes for hours a day, to feed them through tubes and prevent them from deliberately vomiting afterward. Detainees who refuse to eat have also been placed in isolation for extended periods in what the officials said was an effort to keep them from being encouraged by other hunger strikers.

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

The measures appear to have had dramatic effects. The chief military spokesman at Guantánamo, Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin, said yesterday that the number of detainees on hunger strike had dropped to 4 from 84 at the end of December.

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

"It is clear that the government has ended the hunger strike through the use of force and through the most brutal and inhumane types of treatment," said Thomas B. Wilner, a lawyer at Shearman & Sterling in Washington, who last week visited the six Kuwaiti detainees he represents. "It is a disgrace."

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

The lawyers said other measures used to dissuade the hunger strikers included placing them in uncomfortably cold air-conditioned isolation cells, depriving them of "comfort items" like blankets and books and sometimes using riot-control soldiers to compel the prisoners to sit still while long plastic tubes were threaded down their nasal passages and into their stomachs.

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

Some international medical associations and human rights groups, including the World Medical Association, oppose the involuntary feeding of hunger strikers as coercive

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

The Guantánamo prison, which is holding some 500 detainees, has been beset by periodic hunger strikes almost since it was established in January 2002 to hold foreign terror suspects. At least one detainee who went on a prolonged hunger strike was involuntarily fed through a nasal tube in 2002, military officials said.

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

Until yesterday, Guantánamo officials had acknowledged only having forcibly restrained detainees to feed them a handful of times. In those cases, the officials said, doctors had restrained detainees on hospital beds using Velcro straps.

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

Two military officials, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the question, said that the use of restraint chairs started after it was found that some hunger strikers were deliberately vomiting in their cells after having been tube-fed and that their health was growing precarious.

~~~Snippy-Snip~~~

Mr. Odah said he heard "screams of pain" from a hunger striker in the next cell as a thick tube was inserted into his nose. At the other detainee's urging, Mr. Odah told his lawyers that he planned to end his hunger strike the next day.

Oh what’s that Rummy? They’re just on a diet? Okay then.

Read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/politics/09gitmo.html?hp&ex=1139461200&en=2800c00498318013&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[MadMaddie]

19. When I read this I don't know what to think anymore...

Nothing good can come of this...if the hunger strike participants live through the force feeding they will be more bitter and angry if they are released. These prisons are enforcing their hate by the abuse that's going on.


<snip>
Two military officials, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the question, said that the use of restraint chairs started after it was found that some hunger strikers were deliberately vomiting in their cells after having been tube-fed and that their health was growing precarious. <snip>

Perhaps their health is becoming precarious because they are being tortured, they are in a prison, stress and the list goes on...

Something is terribly wrong with the process...if they aren't being charged for anything why are they there...they have released several hundred people they held for a couple of years...no charges...This whole rendention program and the illegal laws that * has implemented was a failure from the gitgo and will continue to be a disaster that will play out over the next 20 years!!

[libodem]

20. I wonder if limbaugh will have any of the hilarious t-shirts

with pictures of detainees being tube fed? He seems to think Gitmo gear is so funny. Maybe all Republicans think it is something to laugh about. They are such compassionate conservatives, remember?

[High Plains]

21. "I fear for my country when I reflect that God is just."

said Thomas Jefferson. He must be in a total blind panic by now.

[Rex]

22. I'd do the same thing if I had no rights and was confined forever.

nt

[Up2Late]

23. They went into more detail on NPR, sounded worst that what is...

...discribed here.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5199188>