Guantanamo: Obama Has Not Kept His Word

It could be called a session of forced “gavage.” It is intended to prevent the death of a detainee on hunger strike. It is inflicted at any time of day or night because it also has the purpose of punishing the prisoner.

He is tied to a chair; arms, legs and shoulders strapped. A tube is inserted in the nose, connected to the stomach, and the head held back, where a dose of vital fluid is administered. The poor soul, a man, usually already weak, is then returned to his cell until his next “force-fed” chemical.

The goal is at least as much political as humanitarian. There must not be a detainee managing to commit suicide by starving himself. This would be shocking, shameful for the country in charge of this prison, would it not?

This all takes place in an American establishment, in the naval base available to the United States on the island of Cuba, where, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, they set up Guantanamo prison.

For 12 years Washington continued to tolerate this scandal — the existence of a place of lawlessness, a judicial and legal “black hole,” where they locked up men who for the most part have not been tried for or convicted of anything.

Suspected terrorists, terrorist next of kin, terrorist parents and terrorist confidantes “betrayed” by terrorists, denounced as terrorists for money or another reason — in short, caught rightly or wrongly in the huge hunt launched by the United States in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

The man force-fed since March 22, and whose story Le Monde reported today, is named Nabil Hadjarab. He has been at Guantanamo for 12 years, neither tried, convicted nor declared “releasable” by American authorities, but still held captive.

He is one of those unfortunates for whom the government of George W. Bush invented a “legal” category opposing all conventions — “unlawful enemy combatant.” They may be deprived of liberty without end, without ever knowing what tomorrow will bring.

There are still 166 people in this situation at Guantanamo. Many of them have started a hunger strike. Some protest against the fact that their Koran is the subject of “excavation.” However, according to their lawyers, most are exhausted, tired of not knowing anything about their fate, and have lost all hopes of getting out of “Gitmo.”

Dozens of them were declared “releasable” and therefore “transferable” to their country of origin; however, the Europeans have made little effort to accommodate the ex-Guantanamo detainees who were entitled to settle on the Old Continent. As for nationals of countries of the Greater Middle East, they know that back at home they often risk worse. The “Gitmo” trap is absolute.

President and professor of law Barack Obama had promised to end this scandal, but he has not kept his word. He is intimidated, as is anyone in Washington, into favoring the security requirements over all other considerations. He repudiates the ideals of the founding fathers of the American republic. They had not intended to sacrifice justice for security.