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Home Front: WoT
Review Finds Gitmo Detainees' Treatment Legal
2009-02-21
It's good news; that's why Bambi had it released on a Friday afternoon.
A Pentagon review of conditions in the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the requirements of the Geneva Conventions but that prisoners in the highest-security camps should be allowed more religious and social interaction, according to a government official who has read the 85-page document.

The report, which was ordered by President Obama, was prepared by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, and has been delivered to the White House. Obama requested the review as part of an executive order on the planned closure of the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

Another aspect of the closure -- what to do with the approximately 245 detainees -- will be considered by an interagency task force, and the Justice Department yesterday announced the head of that group: Matthew G. Olsen, a 12-year career prosecutor and acting assistant attorney general for national security. Review teams will examine the case of each detainee and report to Olsen, who will make recommendations to senior officials from Justice and other agencies, including the Departments of State and Defense and the CIA. Those officials will make the final decision on each prisoner.
I'm guessing Mr. Olson will find it 'difficult' ...
"The Task Force will consider whether it is possible to transfer or release detained individuals consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States; evaluate whether the government should seek to prosecute detained individuals for crimes they may have committed; and, if none of those options are possible, the Task Force will recommend other lawful means for disposition of the detained individuals," the Justice Department said in a statement.

Defense lawyers for the detainees have complained bitterly about the isolation of some prisoners. They allege that over several years, it has led to mental problems for some detainees. The lawyers also have criticized the force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike. There are about 40 prisoners on hunger strike, according to Pentagon officials. Walsh concluded that force-feeding, which involves strapping prisoners to specialized chairs and forcing tubes down one nostril and into their stomachs, is in compliance with the Geneva Conventions' mandate that the lives of prisoners be preserved, according to the government official.
The defense lawyers would complain just as loudly if their clients succeeded in starving themselves to death.
Walsh also found that prisoners should be allowed more communal recreation and prayer time.
What's a Caribbean vacation without a little communal recreation?
Prisoners in Camp 6 and the highly secret Camp 7 -- which holds such high-value detainees as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed organizer of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- can be held in windowless cells for up to 22 hours a day. Walsh said the most isolated prisoners, including those in Camp 7, should be allowed to pray and have recess together in rotating groups of at least three for more extended periods of time.
Nope, sorry, they have to work themselves into our good graces. You want time out of your cells, start cooperating.
Walsh's report was a broad endorsement of the Pentagon's management of the prisoners at Guantanamo, and it urged prison authorities to continue efforts across the system to maximize the ability of the detainees to socialize and practice their religion, according to the government official. "Continue to avoid actions that are disrespectful to the detainees," Walsh wrote.

Civil liberties groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is about to issue a report on conditions at Guantanamo, challenged Walsh's findings. "We do think conditions are in violation of U.S. obligations to treat prisoners humanely, and prisoners are at a physical and mental breaking point," said Pardiss Kebriaei, a staff attorney at the center. "These are not the conclusions we had hoped for under Obama. It's very disappointing."
Pardiss, suppose for a moment you are convicted of a serious crime. Yes, yes, we all know you're innocent, but for the moment you're guilty. But the judge gives you a choice as to where you'll serve your time, from the following list:

A state maximum security pen
A Turkish prison
Gitmo

Guess which one you're going to take.
Attorneys representing detainees singled out force-feeding as particularly abusive.
Again, the prisoners can either eat or starve. And if they starve, we let them, and we don't tell a soul about it.
Ahmed Zaid Salem Zuhair, a Saudi who has been on a hunger strike since the summer of 2005, has lost so much weight during his time in Guantanamo that a federal judge has ordered an independent medical evaluation of him. Zuhair's attorney, Ramzi Kassem, said his client has been strapped to an uncomfortable chair for hours at a time during the feeding and described the procedure as very painful. "They deliberately use this brutal method that has no medical justification to put pressure on people like my client to give up the hunger strike," Kassem said.
So don't give up. Starve.
Kassem added that his client, who has been cleared for release, was recently moved to Camp 6, where he is on nearly round-the-clock lockdown in a frigid cell.
Most people in this world pay extra for air conditioning, Kassem ...
Walsh, however, found that the temperature in cells is comfortable and urged officials to continue to use climate controls correctly.

David Remes, another lawyer who represents a hunger striker, called the force-feeding methods "torture." The medical staff often uses tubes that are too big, Remes said, and does not provide lubrication and anesthetic to ease the process.

Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, dismissed Remes's allegations as "false," saying that tubes are appropriately sized and that detainees are offered a variety of lubricants, including olive oil, and a gel anesthetic.
I've put nasogastric tubes into literally hundreds of patients. It's just not a big deal.
The military prison at Guantanamo Bay has a series of facilities with differing levels of security. Prisoners deemed dangerous or not in compliance with prison rules are held in Camps 5 and 6, where recreation time is restricted and there is little or no opportunity for group activity. In Camp 4, by contrast, detainees can gather in dorms or a common area much of the day, and there are classes, including English and art, as well as a makeshift soccer pitch.

Little is known about Camp 7, which is at a secret location at Guantanamo and off limits even to military lawyers representing the men there. It houses those detainees who were formerly held at secret CIA prisons.
Posted by:Steve White

#6  Bah! Just like that sumbitch Bush to obey the law. Is there no end to his crimes? Er, I mean, non-crimes.
Posted by: SteveS   2009-02-21 09:51  

#5  Defense lawyers for the detainees have complained bitterly about the isolation of some prisoners. They allege that over several years, it has led to mental problems for some detainees.
I'd say they had mental problems before they were detained or they wouldn't be there.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2009-02-21 09:51  

#4   It houses those detainees who were formerly held at secret CIA prisons ...including the five aliens previously held at Area 51 after that incident at Roswell.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-02-21 08:50  

#3  Area 19 Alert!
Lulz, funny Jancy name is. I like.
Posted by: .5MT   2009-02-21 07:14  

#2  Very strange article with many new information covering the strange area.New infoemations were known through this read!.

Indian spammer.
Posted by: Jancy   2009-02-21 07:11  

#1  A Pentagon review of conditions in the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the requirements of the Geneva Conventions is just fine now that we're in charge.

There, fixed that for ya.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2009-02-21 06:11  

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