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"Lawyers say prisoners' lives are at risk. Three were hospitalized last week." Defense attorney Carlos Warner called today's strike action the largest in Guantanamo's history.
Searching Korans is its proximate cause. Hopelessness and despair best explain it. Obama's blanket ban prevents two-thirds of the men being released. All are denied due process and judicial fairness.
Since early 2011, three prisoners died. Four others alone were released. Congressional legislation restricts it. It requires the Defense Secretary to assure anti-American activities won't follow. Doing so is impossible.
In mid-March congressional testimony, SOUTHCOM commander General John Kelly said:
Detainees "had great optimism that Guantanamo would be closed. They were devastated".when the president backed off - at least their perception - of closing the facility.""He said nothing about it in his inauguration speech. He said nothing about it in his State of the Union speech. He has said nothing about it (since). He's not restaffing the office that looks at closing the facility."
Detainees know their only escape route is death. Other possibilities are denied. They're condemned to perpetual harshness. They'd rather die than endure it.
Official reports downplay conditions. Lies substitute for truth. Joint Task Force Guantanamo calls them "Safe," "Humane," "Legal," and "Transparent."
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