"Obama is running the biggest terrorist operation that exists, maybe in history." - Noam Chomsky A letter from one of the Hunger Strikers protesting the unlawful detention and torturing of prisoners at Guantanamo, Tarak Kauff writes: "The conditions at Guantanamo continue to be horrifying and barbaric. On June 8th I began an open-ended 300-calorie, liquid-only hunger strike in solidarity with the more than 100 prisoners at Guantanamo who are on hunger strike, many of whom are being violently force-fed - a practice that amounts to torture. I was inspired by 3 other Veterans For Peace who have been on the hunger strike before me. Brian Willson from Portland, Oregon, Elliott Adams from Sharon Springs, NY and Diane Wilson, from Seadrift, Texas. You can read their moving statements and find out more at closegitmo.net/about/ President Obama, who once said "under my administration the United States does not torture," could stop this with one phone call - immediately. Instead, the President, the U.S. military establishment, and Congress continue to display more inhumanity, more cruelty and indifference to human suffering with each passing day. Noam Chomsky recently wrote, “the Obama administration is dedicated to increasing terrorism; it’s doing it all over the world . . . Obama is running the biggest terrorist operation that exists, maybe in history." This is the same man who promised he would close Guantanamo in a year. Eighty-six of the men who are being tortured and held indefinitely have never been charged with a crime, have been cleared for release years ago and yet they continue to remain in that dark hell-hole without hope, with an indefinite, black future ahead of them. Of course Donald Rumsfeld once said of the Guantanamo prisoners, they are the “worst of the worst.” My response to that is - consider the source. They are human beings with families, who once had lives, hopes and dreams. Many of them were simply turned over to U.S. forces for a bounty. Shaker Aamer, a British citizen, a decent and courageous man, just recently had a feeding tube pushed into his lungs. He said, "The administration is getting ever more angry and doing everything they can to break our hunger strike. Honestly, I wish I was dead." He has been cleared for release since 2006. Of course under these unbearable circumstances they would rather be dead. So would I, so would you. I wonder how many lies, how many deceptions, from how many successive administrations, the U.S. American public will put up with. In the meantime innocent people suffer unimaginable tortures while the corporate media and the public remain for the most part either unforgivably ignorant or coldly indifferent. The U.S. has become a country that condones and practices the most inhuman torture, not only in Guantanamo but also widespread in prisons right here in the U,S. June 26th is International Day of Support for Torture Victims proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1987. I ask all people of conscience to do something on that day and everyday to stop the barbarism. Elliott Adams, Diane Wilson, myself and others will be at the White House on that day to pressure President Obama to for once keep his word. Nationwide vigils to demand we close Guantanamo will happen on that day. It would be nice to see one in Woodstock. " Tarak Kauff
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 02:03:14 +0000
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