THE HUNGER GAMES
AT GUANTANAMO
the practice for years. One detainee
at Guantanamo has been force-fed
daily since 2005.
But force-feeding — while in line
with the practices of civilian penitentiaries controlled by the federal
Bureau of Prisons — puts the U.S.
government at odds with much of
the medical and international community. Force-feeding, the American Medical Association wrote in a
letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck
Hagel in late April, “violates core
ethical values of the medical profession” because every “competent patient has the right to refuse medical
intervention, including life-sustaining interventions.” The International Committee of the Red Cross also
disagrees with force-feedings.
Neither side seems to have an
easy solution for ending the hunger
strike. Military officials at Guantanamo nearly universally dismiss the
complaints of detainees. “They’ll
protest a variety of things, from
what time the rec yard needs to
be sanitized... to how many calories was in the yogurt they got that
day,” said Capt. John, the officer in
charge of Camp Six.
“They were asking to be released from Gitmo,” said Bogdan.
“I can’t do that.”
Bogdan said he still wants to shift
HUFFINGTON
06.09.13
Camp Six back to communal living.
It will be a slow process.
“Communal’s not gone,” Bogdan
said. “It’ll be a while before we’re
back in a communal environment
again, because I see this as a vetting, screening process to determine exactly who we think can go
into a communal environment, and
follow the rules and be compliant.
And that’s not a short process.”
But Carlos Warner warned that
no amount of limited freedoms —
books, DVDs, video games and outdoor soccer — would satisfy men
whose true desire is a resolution of
their indefinite detention.
“If you think keeping them in
those conditions and proceeding in
the way that you are is going to cause
the strike to end, you’re wrong,”
Warner said. “You’re driving
their resolve deeper.”
Ryan J. Reilly is The Huffington
Post’s justice reporter based in
Washington, D.C.
HuffPost
reporter
Ryan J. Reilly
discusses
the problem
of young
guards at
Guantanamo.
Tap here
for the full
interview
on HuffPost
Live.