I have had a great deal of respect for Mos Def or quite a few years now, but that respect has gone up ten fold.
It is way past time that Gitmo was closed down for good and that those prisoners are given their day in court.
Of course though the President has promised repeatedly to do just that, the Republicans have blocked him at every turn.
Interesting and very dramatic. I have done many tube feedings and have had a tube put into my stomach and never saw anyone react like that. Number one, the end of the tube is put in a glass of water to be sure it did not go into the lung. They are instructed to swallow normally so it will go into the stomach. It will trigger the gag reflex but if they swallow it will go away. Granted, sick or comatose patients aren't in shackles and refusing to eat. It was a tad dramatic. This will set off a rash of problems if any of you need to go in for this procedure or have an ulcer and they need to put a camera inside your stomach to find a lesion. That guy was a big baby! Why are the big babies the ones who think they are the most macho! Men complain the most about colonoscopies too! That is why women have babies. We are the stronger sex!
ReplyDeleteIt must be nice to feel so superior.
DeleteSo, not only does the US continue to hold prisoners indefinitely who have been cleared for release. But, we force feed them in order to 'prove' that we are humane because they didn't starve to death? The very existence of Gitmo should cause distress to any American who still believes in the Constitution i.e., the real patriots among us.
Are you from the Guantanamo School of Medical Ethics?
Deletehttp://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/18/a_medical_ethics_free_zone_guantnamo
Please most times they give you medication to relax you. I have done feeding tubes in the neck. They don't do those anymore that I know of. Even that hurts if you don't do it right. If you force the tube down before the person swallows it is painful.
DeleteAlthough both GOP and Dem members of congress have been against closing the horrendous torture facility at Gitmo, today U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler, in an opinion on the force feeding, wrote:
ReplyDelete"Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that “[t]he President shall be the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States … ” It would seem to follow, therefore, that the President of the United States, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority–and power–to directly address the issue of force-feeding of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay."
She also wrote:
"Even though this Court is obligated to dismiss the Application for lack of jurisdiction, and therefore lacks any authority to rule on Petitioner’s request, there is an individual who does have the authority to address the issue. In a speech on May 23,2013, President Barack Obama stated “Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are holding a hunger strike. . . Is that who we are? Is that something that our founders foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave to our children? Our sense of justice is stronger than that.”"
She also wrote:
"[I]t is perfectly clear from the statements of detainees, as well as the statements from the organizations just cited, that force-feeding is a painful, humiliating, and degrading process."
Judge Kessler is not addressing Congress. She is addressing President Obama.
He's too busy hanging with his buddy George W.
Deletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/president-george-w-bush-praises-president-obama-counterterrorism-immigration-reform-article-1.1392276
This bit is certainly dramatic. Nasogastric tubes aren't fun, but they aren't as bad as he pretends. You're supposed to swallow it when it hits the back of your throat.
ReplyDeleteGood theater, but I'm not sure it advances the cause of righting the wrongs of Gitmo.
Apparently the people in those comments have never seen someone try to force-feed someone with anorexia, or pump someone's stomach after an attempted suicide, or hey, insert a tube down the nose of someone WHO DOES NOT WANT IT.
ReplyDeleteOh wait, that's what the video was supposed to be for. #idiots