‘Men Live in Guantanamo Animal Cages, Will Never Get Trials’
By RT
March 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House"-"RT" - The Guantanamo Bay hunger strike has entered its 47th day, with no end in sight. According to the prison’s Director of Public Affairs, 26 inmates are refusing food, with eight detainees receiving enteral sustenance.
The situation has alarmed Lt. Col Barry Wingard, a US military attorney who advocates for Guantanamo detainees.
Wingard spoke to RT about the future of Guantanamo Bay’s 166 detainees.
RT: I understand you have access to your clients in Guantanamo – when was the last time you saw them and what state were they in?
Wingard spoke to RT about the future of Guantanamo Bay’s 166 detainees.
RT: I understand you have access to your clients in Guantanamo – when was the last time you saw them and what state were they in?
Lt. Col Barry Wingard: The last time I saw my clients was between the February 25 and March 8. I visited with them multiple times. I was shocked at the condition they were in. In fact, we were the first people who broke the story that the hunger strike had begun around February 6 or 7 and had continued on. My client at that point had lost 26 pounds (12kg) and at this point it’s official that he’s lost almost 40 pounds (18kg) – one third of his body weight from 147 pounds (67kg).
RT:How long can they go on like that?
BW: I can imagine we’re getting near to the end when something serious is going to happen. The administration down in Guantanamo Bay initially denied the report that the hunger strike was occurring. They then said it was seven, then 14, then 21 people. They then said it wasn’t the largest hunger strike in history. Then they came out and said it’s 24, 25, and today 26 people. So the story is getting more accurate as we go, but we’re running out of time.
RT:Do you think it really will take that?
BW: Well I’m here to tell you that after 11-and-a-half years, these men that live in animal cages in America’s offshore prison in Guantanamo Bay, they ask for justice. They’ve been there 11-and-a-half years. Ninety per cent of them have no charges [against them]. I can tell you having looked at my clients’ cases, they will never get a trial based upon the evidence that is against them, so if their home countries are not willing to intervene and do something, I don’t see it coming from Washington. Washington seems to take the position that we don’t have time to deal with these 166 condemned men in our offshore prison.
RT:How’s Washington going to deal with the PR if someone does die?
BW: Well you’re going to have to answer that as a political question. I’m a lawyer. I’m here to look at the facts and tell you that I’ve reviewed these cases and these guys will never get trials. If they’re never getting trials, then we have to go by what the president said in March 2011, when he said indefinite detention will be implemented in Guantanamo Bay and will be the law of the United States. Forty-eight men will be condemned to die never being given a trial or given an opportunity to defend themselves. They are essentially dead men who just happen to breathe.
RT:For the people you’ve spoken to there – including your clients – what was their mindset? Is it the same as when they started 45/46 days ago, as it is now? Did they think they’d have to take this through to the bitter end, or did they think something would give beforehand?
BW: I can’t speak for what every man down there thought, but what I can tell you is that the vast majority of people in Guantanamo Bay are cleared for release. They’re cleared to go home. The United States acknowledges that they’ve committed no crime, yet we still continue to house them in a penal colony in Guantanamo Bay. Imagine if the situation was reversed and the US had 166 citizens held in some other country’s offshore prison. I don’t want to go into what happened in the early years as far as enhanced interrogation, but the situation isn’t getting any better. These men have figured out that probably the only way for them to go home – cleared or not – is in a wooden box.
RT:Do you take any comfort at all in this US military plan to spend $49 million on the facility, supposedly making it more comfortable for the inmates?
BW: This is not about soccer fields or food or anything else. This is about justice and freedom. This is a bigger concept. This is what the US stands for. Not more servings of food or more soccer fields to play on. This is a matter of getting these men home or giving them trials.
RT:How long can they go on like that?
BW: I can imagine we’re getting near to the end when something serious is going to happen. The administration down in Guantanamo Bay initially denied the report that the hunger strike was occurring. They then said it was seven, then 14, then 21 people. They then said it wasn’t the largest hunger strike in history. Then they came out and said it’s 24, 25, and today 26 people. So the story is getting more accurate as we go, but we’re running out of time.
RT:Do you think it really will take that?
BW: Well I’m here to tell you that after 11-and-a-half years, these men that live in animal cages in America’s offshore prison in Guantanamo Bay, they ask for justice. They’ve been there 11-and-a-half years. Ninety per cent of them have no charges [against them]. I can tell you having looked at my clients’ cases, they will never get a trial based upon the evidence that is against them, so if their home countries are not willing to intervene and do something, I don’t see it coming from Washington. Washington seems to take the position that we don’t have time to deal with these 166 condemned men in our offshore prison.
RT:How’s Washington going to deal with the PR if someone does die?
BW: Well you’re going to have to answer that as a political question. I’m a lawyer. I’m here to look at the facts and tell you that I’ve reviewed these cases and these guys will never get trials. If they’re never getting trials, then we have to go by what the president said in March 2011, when he said indefinite detention will be implemented in Guantanamo Bay and will be the law of the United States. Forty-eight men will be condemned to die never being given a trial or given an opportunity to defend themselves. They are essentially dead men who just happen to breathe.
RT:For the people you’ve spoken to there – including your clients – what was their mindset? Is it the same as when they started 45/46 days ago, as it is now? Did they think they’d have to take this through to the bitter end, or did they think something would give beforehand?
BW: I can’t speak for what every man down there thought, but what I can tell you is that the vast majority of people in Guantanamo Bay are cleared for release. They’re cleared to go home. The United States acknowledges that they’ve committed no crime, yet we still continue to house them in a penal colony in Guantanamo Bay. Imagine if the situation was reversed and the US had 166 citizens held in some other country’s offshore prison. I don’t want to go into what happened in the early years as far as enhanced interrogation, but the situation isn’t getting any better. These men have figured out that probably the only way for them to go home – cleared or not – is in a wooden box.
RT:Do you take any comfort at all in this US military plan to spend $49 million on the facility, supposedly making it more comfortable for the inmates?
BW: This is not about soccer fields or food or anything else. This is about justice and freedom. This is a bigger concept. This is what the US stands for. Not more servings of food or more soccer fields to play on. This is a matter of getting these men home or giving them trials.
Attorney: Guantanamo Detainee "Skin and Bones"
By PHIL HIRSCHKORN March 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House" -"CBS News" - NEW YORK - The U.S. military now counts 26 men detained in the prison at a Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as active hunger strikers, while one defense attorney described one of those meal-refusing detainees as "skin and bones."
Eight of the acknowledged hunger strikers have refused meals for so long and lost so much weight that the military is force-feeding them liquid nutrients through a tube down their nose. Two of those men receiving tube feedings are also hospitalized for rehydration and observation, said Capt. Robert Durand, a Navy spokesman at the base.
Carlos Werner, a federal public defender from Ohio who visited Guantanamo this week, said a detainee he represents, Fayiz Muhammad Ahmad Al-Kandari, from Yemen, appeared to have lost 20 percent of his body weight due to a hunger strike that began six weeks ago.
"Fayiz could not stand yesterday. Today, he was a bit stronger and stood to greet me," Werner said. "He had sallow cheeks. His waist was shockingly thin. His waist looked like the waist of my six-year-old child. He was skin and bones. He was disoriented and exhausted both days."
Werner continued, "He refused honey I brought him. He drank only water during the meetings."
Al-Kandari, 36, from Kuwait, has never been charged with a crime by the U.S.. He was sent to Guantanamo in May 2002, six months after his capture in Afghanistan. A secret 2008 military assessment, posted by WikiLeaks, described him as an al Qaeda member and propagandist who fought against U.S. forces at Tora Bora.
Since early February, according to their attorneys, a growing number of Guantanamo detainees have been refusing meals to protest their indefinite detention without charges and searches of their cells that they say resulted in confiscation of personal items and guards leafing through their Korans.
The military describes cell searches for contraband as routine and denies that guards touch Korans.
Although 71 detainees were transferred from Guantanamo to their home or third countries during President Obama's first two years in office, none have left in three years, even though a 2010 interagency task force, including representatives of the military and intelligence agencies, unanimously recommended 56 additional detainees for transfer.
Though the Obama administration issued an executive order two years ago to establish periodic review boards of detainees, to be overseen by the Defense, State, and Justice Departments, the boards have yet to be organized.
In a letter recently received by his attorneys, a hunger striking detainee known as Obaydullah, from Afghanistan, wrote, "I am in jail for almost 11 years, and still I do not know about my fate."
His appointed military defense counsel, Army Capt. Jason Wright, said he was "shocked" by Obaydullah's appearance two weeks ago and again when he returned to see him this week. The detainee, who is around 30 years old, told Wright his weight had dropped from 167 to 131 pounds after refusing meals for 45 days.
"He had clearly lost weight and was visibly distressed," Wright said. "I think this is a manifestation of sheer desperation and hopelessness."
Wright said Obaydullah was drinking water and tea but he was unsure if he was eating snacks. Wright said defense lawyers were hearing consistent stories about the cell shakedown, the flashpoint over Korans, and that many of the 130 detainees in Camp Six, where the most compliant men are housed in a communal living environment, are refusing to eat.
Other detainee attorneys expressed concern that permission for regularly-scheduled private charter flights to Guantanamo had been revoked by the base commanding officer, Captain J.R. Nettleton. Only one company, Florida-based IBC Airways, had been offering the flights two to three times a week.
Kelly Wirfel, a spokeswoman for Nettleton, said the flights were too frequent and cited a federal regulation that gives Nettleton discretion in approving or disapproving the landings.
"The base commanding officer was in no way trying to prevent or prohibit anyone from traveling to the base," Wirfel said, adding that groups wishing to charter a flight could seek permission on an occasional basis.
Attorneys, legal observers, journalists, and others are still able to visit Guantanamo, when cleared by the military, aboard weekly military charters from Andrews Air Force Base in Washington. The planes fly down on Monday and return on Friday. Capt. Durand said Monday's military flight was scheduled as usual.
Pardiss Karabei, an attorney for the Center of Constitutional Rights, which has represented detainees since soon after Guantanamo opened, said the limited flight schedule meant an attorney had to be able to take off a whole week in order to meet with a client. Approval to be on the trips must be requested 20 days in advance, she said, while phone calls with detainees typically must be arranged 15 days in advance.
"These are impediments that have definitely made it harder to provide effective representation and build trust," Karabei said. "The flight situation as it stands introduces a new level of difficulty."
There are still 166 men from foreign countries detained at Guantanamo.
This week, the military submitted a request to the House Armed Services Committee for up to $170 million to build new facilities at Guantanamo, including $56 million for hurricane-proof troop barracks and $52 million in new housing for "high value detainees."
By PHIL HIRSCHKORN March 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House" -"CBS News" - NEW YORK - The U.S. military now counts 26 men detained in the prison at a Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as active hunger strikers, while one defense attorney described one of those meal-refusing detainees as "skin and bones."
Eight of the acknowledged hunger strikers have refused meals for so long and lost so much weight that the military is force-feeding them liquid nutrients through a tube down their nose. Two of those men receiving tube feedings are also hospitalized for rehydration and observation, said Capt. Robert Durand, a Navy spokesman at the base.
Carlos Werner, a federal public defender from Ohio who visited Guantanamo this week, said a detainee he represents, Fayiz Muhammad Ahmad Al-Kandari, from Yemen, appeared to have lost 20 percent of his body weight due to a hunger strike that began six weeks ago.
"Fayiz could not stand yesterday. Today, he was a bit stronger and stood to greet me," Werner said. "He had sallow cheeks. His waist was shockingly thin. His waist looked like the waist of my six-year-old child. He was skin and bones. He was disoriented and exhausted both days."
Werner continued, "He refused honey I brought him. He drank only water during the meetings."
Al-Kandari, 36, from Kuwait, has never been charged with a crime by the U.S.. He was sent to Guantanamo in May 2002, six months after his capture in Afghanistan. A secret 2008 military assessment, posted by WikiLeaks, described him as an al Qaeda member and propagandist who fought against U.S. forces at Tora Bora.
Since early February, according to their attorneys, a growing number of Guantanamo detainees have been refusing meals to protest their indefinite detention without charges and searches of their cells that they say resulted in confiscation of personal items and guards leafing through their Korans.
The military describes cell searches for contraband as routine and denies that guards touch Korans.
Although 71 detainees were transferred from Guantanamo to their home or third countries during President Obama's first two years in office, none have left in three years, even though a 2010 interagency task force, including representatives of the military and intelligence agencies, unanimously recommended 56 additional detainees for transfer.
Though the Obama administration issued an executive order two years ago to establish periodic review boards of detainees, to be overseen by the Defense, State, and Justice Departments, the boards have yet to be organized.
In a letter recently received by his attorneys, a hunger striking detainee known as Obaydullah, from Afghanistan, wrote, "I am in jail for almost 11 years, and still I do not know about my fate."
His appointed military defense counsel, Army Capt. Jason Wright, said he was "shocked" by Obaydullah's appearance two weeks ago and again when he returned to see him this week. The detainee, who is around 30 years old, told Wright his weight had dropped from 167 to 131 pounds after refusing meals for 45 days.
"He had clearly lost weight and was visibly distressed," Wright said. "I think this is a manifestation of sheer desperation and hopelessness."
Wright said Obaydullah was drinking water and tea but he was unsure if he was eating snacks. Wright said defense lawyers were hearing consistent stories about the cell shakedown, the flashpoint over Korans, and that many of the 130 detainees in Camp Six, where the most compliant men are housed in a communal living environment, are refusing to eat.
Other detainee attorneys expressed concern that permission for regularly-scheduled private charter flights to Guantanamo had been revoked by the base commanding officer, Captain J.R. Nettleton. Only one company, Florida-based IBC Airways, had been offering the flights two to three times a week.
Kelly Wirfel, a spokeswoman for Nettleton, said the flights were too frequent and cited a federal regulation that gives Nettleton discretion in approving or disapproving the landings.
"The base commanding officer was in no way trying to prevent or prohibit anyone from traveling to the base," Wirfel said, adding that groups wishing to charter a flight could seek permission on an occasional basis.
Attorneys, legal observers, journalists, and others are still able to visit Guantanamo, when cleared by the military, aboard weekly military charters from Andrews Air Force Base in Washington. The planes fly down on Monday and return on Friday. Capt. Durand said Monday's military flight was scheduled as usual.
Pardiss Karabei, an attorney for the Center of Constitutional Rights, which has represented detainees since soon after Guantanamo opened, said the limited flight schedule meant an attorney had to be able to take off a whole week in order to meet with a client. Approval to be on the trips must be requested 20 days in advance, she said, while phone calls with detainees typically must be arranged 15 days in advance.
"These are impediments that have definitely made it harder to provide effective representation and build trust," Karabei said. "The flight situation as it stands introduces a new level of difficulty."
There are still 166 men from foreign countries detained at Guantanamo.
This week, the military submitted a request to the House Armed Services Committee for up to $170 million to build new facilities at Guantanamo, including $56 million for hurricane-proof troop barracks and $52 million in new housing for "high value detainees."
Guantanamo captives who will not comply with force-feeding have their arms, legs and head restrained in a feeding chair. They remain strapped in the chair until the nutrient is digested, to prevent induced vomiting.