"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
If Guantanamo Prisoners Stage a Hunger Strike, Does Anybody Care?
Despite the lawyers of over a dozen inmates reporting a widespread hunger strike happening right now inside Guantanamo, a prison spokesperson issued a no-such-thing statement on Monday. The alleged hunger strike started over three weeks ago when, in the lawyers' words, guards began "personal items, including blankets, sheets, towels, mats, razors, toothbrushes, books, family photos, religious CDs, and letters, including legal mail; and restricting their exercise, seemingly without provocation or cause." The lawyers continued in a letter to prison commander, Rear Adm. John Smith, "Arabic interpreters employed by the prison have been searching the men's Qur'ans in ways that constitute desecration according to their religious beliefs, and that guards have been disrespectful during prayer times." These lawyers weren't talking about one or two prisoners, by the way. They say these transgressions and the hunger strike that's followed affects "all but a few men."
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