The AMA supports the 1975 World Medical Association's Tokyo Declaration that forbids doctors to use their medical knowledge to facilitate torture. If a prisoner makes an unimpaired and rational judgment to refuse nourishment he should not be fed artificially."
While in fact the U.S. military policy states "It can and should preserve the life of the detainee by forcing him to eat if necessary." President Obama supports this military policy, (even the British wouldn't dare stop Mahatma Gandhi from conducting his hunger strikes against British colonialism prior to their granting India its independence in 1947).
But let's get to the bitter nitty gritty of Guantanamo, the detainees held indefinitely without charges and due process and their hunger strike that is forcing the president to confront the horror that is Guantanamo.
The Bush mob believed since Guantanamo was not on U.S. soil along with their contrived "war on terror" gave them the authority to hold suspects indefinitely "until the end of hostilities, it could keep these men in stir, out of site and out of mind, similar to the Soviet gulags that kept political prisoners locked away without charges or a trial.
But Guantanamo flew in the face of the American justice system where indefinite detention of suspects was clearly illegal and the subterfuge of the "war on terror" (which is and never was a war) could never legally justify Guantanamo's existence.
Now the hunger strike is clearly embarrassing Obama. It makes hollow his declaration in 2009 to close the facility within a year.
Obama's hand wringing and anguish over Guantanamo and the plight of the detainees is commensurate with his rhetorical ability.
But action on his part is what is needed. He could issue an executive order to close Guantanamo, charge and try the detainees in civilian courts or release them.
Some in Congress would bemoan their being bypassed in the decision process but in this instance it would be the right thing for the president to do.
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