WP: Guantanamo Suicide Tries Seen as Sign of Desperation

[Pirate Smile]

Guantanamo Suicide Tries Seen as Sign of Desperation
One Attempt Was During Lawyer's Visit

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 1, 2005; Page A01

Jumah Dossari had to visit the restroom, so the detainee made a quick joke with his American lawyer before military police guards escorted him to a nearby cell with a toilet. The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had taken quite a toll on Dossari over the past four years, but his attorney, who was there to discuss Dossari's federal court case, noted his good spirits and thought nothing of his bathroom break.

Minutes later, when Dossari did not return, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan knocked on the cell door, calling out his client's name. When he did not hear a response, Colangelo-Bryan stepped inside and saw a three-foot pool of blood on the floor. Numb, the lawyer looked up to see Dossari hanging unconscious from a noose tied to the ceiling, his eyes rolled back, his tongue and lips bulging, blood pouring from a gash in his right arm.

Dossari's suicide attempt two weeks ago is believed to be the first such event witnessed by an outsider at the prison, and one of several signs that lawyers and human rights advocates contend point to growing desperation among the more than 500 detainees there. Lawyers believe Dossari, who has been in solitary confinement for nearly two years, timed his suicide attempt so that someone other than his guards would witness it, a cry for help meant to reach beyond the base's walls.

Two dozen Guantanamo Bay detainees are currently being force-fed in response to a lengthy hunger strike, and the detainees' lawyers estimate there are dozens more who have not eaten since August. Military officials say there are 27 hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay, all of whom are clinically stable, closely monitored by medical personnel and receiving proper nutrition.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103101987.html

[tuvor]

1. What a stupid headline.

I mean, really. Desperation? Gee, ya think so??

[wtmusic]

5. thank you

sometimes the obvious is just not obvious enough...

[Rose Siding]

2. The UN is demanding private access to prisoners. US says no.

snip>
Three U.N. experts said yesterday that they would not accept a U.S. government invitation to tour Guantanamo unless they are granted private access to detainees, a concession the U.S. has not been willing to make, citing the ongoing war on terror and security concerns. Last week, the United States invited the U.N. representatives on torture and arbitrary detention to the facility, and the experts said yesterday that they hope to visit in early December. But they described their demand for access to the detainees as "non-negotiable."

"They said they have nothing to hide," Manfred Nowak, U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said yesterday at a news conference in New York. "If they have nothing to hide, why should we not be able to talk to detainees in private?"

[bluestateguy]

3. Is it really asking so much to bring each of these people before a court?

Enough with the "national security" concerns. Please. That goes in one ear and out another.

Just bring them up so we can see if there are charges that they can be charged with. If they are chargeable, then let's have a trial. If they are guilty of really plotting to do America harm, then by all means, throw the book at them. But if not, they have to be set free.

Contrary to popular belief, they are allowed to hate America. Hating America is not a crime. If that's their only evidence, then that doesn't cut the mustard.

[IndianaGreen]

4. If Guantanamo is US territory, then US law on due process should apply

If Guantanamo is Cuban territory, Cuban due process law should apply. In either case, those prisoners would be entitled to legal representation and a fair trial under either US or Cuban law. As it is, they are under neither because the US government does not believe in treating these prisoners as POWs, or criminal defendants, or what have you.

It is ironic that torture is illegal in Cuba but it is okay in the United States.

[countmyvote4real]

6. The entire GITMO policy is a SNAFU.

“They” use torture and the lack of due process in the attempts to gain information that is bogus at best and yet “they” keep these people who are by now victims of “their” tyranny because…

1) “They” think there are still some relevant tidbits to be gained after all these years in isolation.

2) “They” think actual suicides could possibly make the civil rights abuses and the disdain for the Geneva Convention look worse than it already is.

3) “They” still need practice meat before “they” are prepared to use these tactics on US citizens.

Finally, GITMO is just a subset of the entire * administration failure.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Detainees at Gitmo showing desperation

Nov. 1, 2005, 12:16AM

Detainees at Gitmo showing desperation
Suicide attempt is believed to be the first witnessed by an outsider
By JOSH WHITE
Washington Post

Jum'ah Dossari had to visit the restroom, so the detainee made a quick joke with his American lawyer before military police guards escorted him to a nearby cell with a toilet. The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had taken quite a toll on Dossari over the past four years, but his attorney, who was there to discuss Dossari's federal court case, noted his good spirits and thought nothing of his bathroom break.

Minutes later, when Dossari did not return, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan knocked on the cell door, calling out his client's name.When he did not hear a response, Colangelo-Bryan stepped inside and saw a pool of blood on the floor. The lawyer looked up to see Dossari hanging unconscious from a noose tied to the ceiling, his eyes rolled back, his tongue and lips bulging, blood pouring from a gash in his right arm.

Dossari's suicide attempt two weeks ago is believed to be the first such event witnessed by an outsider at the prison, and one of several signs that lawyers and human-rights advocates contend point to growing desperation among more than 500 detainees there.
(snip)

Two dozen Guantanamo Bay detainees are currently being force-fed in response to a lengthy hunger strike, and the detainees' lawyers estimate there are dozens more who have not eaten since August. Military officials say there are 27 hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay, all of whom are clinically stable, closely monitored by medical personnel and receiving proper nutrition.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/3429608
(Free registration required)

[mia]

8. Shamefully, this administration has plenty to hide.

Nothing to hide

Three U.N. experts said Monday that they would not accept a U.S. government invitation to tour Guantanamo unless they are granted private access to detainees, a concession the U.S. has not been willing to make, citing the ongoing war on terror and security concerns.

"They said they have nothing to hide," Manfred Nowak, U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said Monday in New York. "If they have nothing to hide, why should we not be able to talk to detainees in private?"

[truthisfreedom]

9. they WANT more terrorists. they are MAKING more terrorists. everything

about bushco is about making more terror. they know EXACTLY what they're doing. they NEED more terror to get their bizarre agendas underway, so they can empty the US Treasury into the pockets of their cronies ONCE AND FOR ALL and leave the US in complete and irreversible ruins.

[LynnTheDem]

10. Especially since US MILITARY said most of them are INNOCENT

Gee, who the fuck WOULDN'T be getting a bit fucking DESPERATE.

America; biggest fucking CRIMINAL on the planet.

[The Stranger]

11. If holding innocent people for four years isn't terrorism,

then by what name shall it be called?

[Jim__]

12. My sympathies are with the detainees.

That's not where I would expect them to be. But this administration is so bad; that I have to believe that the detainees are the victims here, and we, as represented by our government, are the persecutors.

[0007]

15. So true! n/t

[gratuitous]

13. When the world makes no sense, suicide becomes a real option

The detainees are being held indefinitely, without charge or prospect of release. There is nothing they can do that will affect their status. They are in a situation that can only be endured, and there is no guarantee of change. Their predicament could be termed "hopeless," which is a truly wretched state. This isn't some transient, didn't-get-to-go-to-the-prom momentary disappointment. This is their lives now: Incarcerated in a hostile environment, and it's not going to change anytime soon. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, they just go further and further down the rabbit hole, unable to turn or back up, drawn further and further down by the inexorable insistence of gravity.

Eventually, the best alternative becomes ending the nightmare.

[The Stranger]

14. Kick and recommend for greatest.

Otherwise, no one will know.

[IChing]

16. US WILL NOT ALLOW THE UN TO TALK TO PRISONERS..breaking news

Three United Nations (UN) human rights investigators have said they can only accept an American invitation to visit the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay if they are permitted to interview detainees.

The Pentagon approved the visit last Friday, nearly four years after it was first requested, because it had "nothing to hide".

Although they could question US military officials, the envoys would not be allowed to speak to any of the some 505 detainees, the Pentagon said, adding that was the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In a statement, the three envoys said; "We cannot accept the exclusion of private interviews with detainees... this would not only contravene the terms of reference for fact-finding missions... but also undermine the purpose of an objective and fair assessment."

They also felt that the one day granted them by the Pentagon for the visit was insufficient.
>>>>>snip
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1494971.htm

[IChing]

17. they could question US military officials

Let's see, I was able to interview the officials at Treblinka but not the prisoners and the officials said everything was fine.

[Say_What]

18. This was so predictable.. the *democratic* USSA revealing its true colors

[peacetalksforall]

19. This blocked them for four years and now they want silence? When is

the world going to put their foot down.

They used to love us for our freedom.

Lying, killing, torturing, thieving imperialists.

These people could only ask for one more thing - to have those prisoners digging in mines or making weapons - the dirty work, i.e. slavery. But their imprisonment is even worse than slavery. How many innocents are there?

[peacetalksforall]

20. And John McCain is silent. John McCain, the faithful Republican - stick

with Cheney and George, John.

[The Stranger]

21. When are the Abu-Ghraib photos Sy Hersch broke going to be released?

[ninkasi]

22. I've been wondering that, too...

I know the administration will do everything it call to block their release, though. Of course, the fact that Cheney is trying so hard for the president to have the right to authorize torture pretty much confirms that they have been ordering it's use all along. Did we ever think we'd see the day when the president and vice-president of the United States would actually admit that they WANT TO USE TORTURE?

There are evil nations in this world, and we have become one of them under Bushco. We start illegal wars, negate treaties, use torture, and do anything we want, and some still choose to think of Bush as a moral, Christian man. Incredible...sad, and incredible.