PressEthic

Guantanamo Bay is one of those places where life is a pattern of psychological and verbal abuse. Basic human rights are non-existent. To the inmates that serve there, their future is uncertain. With no other alternative in sight, hundred of inmates have entered the second month of a hunger strike to protest their conditions and illegal detainment. According to yesterday’s Los Angelas Times article, 128 Guantanamo Prisoners Go On Hunger Strike, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-091305gitmo_lat,0,4469413.story?coll=la-tot-promo&track=morenews an inmate vowed “not to stop until [he] either died or is respected”.

Because these men are enemy combatants, they are not protected by the Geneva Convention. There is no outside review (not even the International Red Cross) for the practices that go on within this camp. If and when testimonies are given, they are done through torture. So the horror stories that periodically make it into mainstream media should be no surprise. And despite these revelations, the policies that have allowed military officials to violate human right standards go unchanged. We have over 500 hundred inmates in Cuba, and only 4 of them have been charged. If that is the case, charge the rest of the inmates, give them a fair trial, convict them, or let them go.

I support the war on extremism and terror, but I am gravely concerned with at the way those alleged (keep in mind not proven) to be terrorists are treated. These unnecessary detentions undermine our message of freedom and democracy to the rest of the world. Do we want to go on record in modern day history as a people that allowed these men to go on strike until they died just because they could not get humane treatment or a court date? Because in the end, justice delayed for these inmates is justice denied.