Guantanamo Lifers:"The Caf Sucks!"

In order to make sure this one doesn't get swept under the carpet, I wanted to remind all four of my gentle readers that a bunch of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strike. Since August 8th, CNN reports 128 of the more than 500 prisoners are now on hunger strike.

Ignoring the personal opinions that creep into a situation in which the U.S. Government imprisons people without due process, and restricted access to legal counsel, the article has two key quotes:

But Bush administration officials have defended Guantanamo Bay. Vice President Dick Cheney said in June that the U.S. Guantanamo policy "is the correct one" and that all detainees are "treated with respect and dignity."

I'm sure all of the prisoners applaud this arrangement, including the inevitable random "wrong-place-at-the-wrong-timers" who have yet to have yet to be charged.

However, the key quote from the article has to be:

"Regulations are the same at Guantanamo as they are in the U.S. prison system, and prisoners will not be allowed to kill themselves by starving themselves," a Pentagon official said.

Thank Heavens, we've got some working regulations over there. It's comforting to know that people stuck in a prison camp without formal charges or any apparent hope of getting out anytime soon will not be allowed to run amok and kill themselves via starvation. It brings me a certain amount of assurance to know the ChimpAdmin has something under control.

If only we could apply the same standards to the victims of Katrina that we do to detainees in our disturbing extra-legal prison camps....then we'd seriously be on to something.