Joy Reid: During Bush Era, We Were 'Starving' GITMO Prisoners

MY COMMENT:

Good catch, Mark! No, we were NOT starving detainees at Gitmo! In fact, our pet name for them upon arrival was "carrots." Orange jump suits and slim physiques. A few months later, many of the carrots had become "pumpkins." Some of them never ate so well in their lives. We even fed them lamb and baklava on Muslim holy holidays! And yes, we did "force feed" or intubate several hunger-striking detainees. Nothing in our military medical SOP allowed us to let detainees harm themselves, including starvation, a tactic used by the enemy in an attempt to manipulate the political will of the United States. By the way, intubation is a ROUTINE medical procedure used to facilitate the nourishment of preemie babies, coma victims and others who cannot feed themselves for medical reasons. It is NOT torture, and is done with compassion and care. As for the call to prayer, it was done in accordance with traditional Muslim guidelines, as administered by the ranking US military Muslim chaplain assigned to the detention operations. Furthermore, detainees were given free Quran's, prayer rugs & beads, directions to Mecca painted on guard towers and arrows on cell floors, halal meals, services of US military Muslim chaplains, white robes, etc. All things I'm sure they would have afforded in kind to their Western captives, had they not cut their heads off.