The deteriorating situation in Guantanamo – where a mass hunger strike has been unfolding for over two months – continues to raise the eyebrows of human rights groups. Prominent activist Medea Benjamin discusses with RT why the prison is still not closed.
Twenty-four hunger strikers are now receiving enteral feeds,
with three people “being observed in the detainee hospital,”
according to Guantanamo Bay Public Affairs Director Lieutenant
Colonel Samuel E. House. His most recent report put the official
number of hunger strikers at 100.
Although Guantanamo Bay remains open over four years after Obama
pledged to close it, the President continues to voice his
disapproval of the detention center.
In his first public response to the ongoing hunger strike, Obama
said it was “not a surprise” that there are “problems in
Guantanamo.”
“It is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not
necessary to keep America safe. It is expensive. It is inefficient.
It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It lessens
cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts. It is a
recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed,” he
said in an April 30 statement.
The next day, Obama announced that he was considering hiring a
new State Department official to oversee options for a future
transfer of the prison’s detainees once it closes.
Earlier this month it has been revealed that keeping Guantanamo
Bay running is costing the US some $150 million a year.
Medea Benjamin, author of the book “Drone Warfare,” shared her
thoughts with RT on why the Obama never kept his promise to shut
down the notorious detention facility.
RT: President Obama pledged to close Guantanamo when
he assumed office in 2009. But over four years later, it’s still
open. Why?
Medea Benjamin: People around the world are saying if the
President of the United States says the prison should be closed,
why is it still open? That’s a very logical question to ask. I
think that the politics in the US is so partisan that the President
is concerned already about who is going to be running in the next
presidential election as the democratic candidate, the
Congressional elections, wanting to make sure that as many
democrats as possible win. The President doesn’t want to be seen as
soft, and national security issues. He doesn’t think the American
people care enough about this issue. And so he prefers to keep the
status quo. The status quo means that desperate men are dying and
are being tortured by being force-fed. That is not a status quo
that we, the American people, should allow, if we want to continue
to call ourselves a
This article originally appeared on : RT