On Our Terms

This week 263 eminent doctors published a joint letter condemning the force feeding of Muslim detainees held in Guantanamo Bay in the renowned medical journal, the Lancet. They unanimously called on their colleagues in the US military to cease this practice and suggested that doctors that continue to perform this procedure should be censured by their accrediting bodies. Many prisoners have been held in Camp Delta for upwards of 5 years with no end in sight to their perpetual imprisonment. Left few legal options, these 'enemy combatants' have chosen drastic measures. Usually one has the right to choose to refuse food in order to protest one's situation or to demand change. Not so in the US's corner of Cuba.

US military doctors have carried out orders to force feed prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. They have these prisoners restrained and insert feeding tubes. In February, Lt Col Martin, chief military spokesman at the facility, said force-feeding was administered 'in a humane and compassionate manner' and only when necessary to keep prisoners alive (source). Military officers apparently have an ethical obligation to keep these prisoners alive.

Wouldn't it be more ethical to provide them with a fair trial and sentence, and therefore certainty, instead of leaving them adrift in this legal limbo? Is starvation worse than an uncertain future?

Why would the Americans want to behave in this way? To my mind the American military is attempting to demonstrate ultimate control over these 'terrorists' lives. You are no longer your own person; you and your miserable life belong to us. Either way these prisoners are probably going to die after their military tribunals (even though they aren't soldiers and are classed by the Bush Administration as 'enemy combatants'). It's all about controlling when they die and who pulls the switch or spikes the vein. The US military is declaring that you will die on their terms and not one moment before.

Also this says something about the right to protest post-911. Protest has obviously been deemed unpatriotic and many of us have fallen into line with this dictate. When you are held against your will, are monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and have your movements and daily schedule set from above, you have very few avenues to protest your (mis)treatment. The hunger strike has always been the option of last resort in those outstanding cases when you can't file a complaint, appeal to a higher authority or see the light at the end of the tunnel. Obviously the state can take away your right to gather and your right to free expression but they can't take control of your body and your mind. But in this case they are and this should disgrace all of us who sit by and watch it happen.

What ever happened to the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? That's right military doctors, just look in your trusty Bible and you'll find these words staring back at you. If Jesus disagrees with your commanding officer, what do you do?