9 ms·

Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) force-fed under standard Guantánamo Bay procedure

137 points by Ovid 13y ago

herge 13y ago
Recently read a headline I could not believe was not from The Onion: "Guantanamo Bay Prisoners force fed at night during Ramadan"
- Ovid 13y ago
  It's horrifying. Might as well force-feed them pork. And the US knows that this is illegal, too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/forcefeeding-hunger-strikers-guantanamo http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/forcefee...
  - StavrosK 13y ago
    No, they force-fed them at night, which is when they could eat. It's still fucked up, but at least it's not a sin.
    - Ovid 13y ago
      If true, then you have a valid point. What a sorry state the US is in that nuances like this are considered.
    - yardie 13y ago
      It's not a sin, period. Eating during Ramadan is not a sin. You fast to sacrifice and share together (really, in spite of what you heard people get fat during Ramadan). But young children, the elderly, and the sick aren't required to fast nor is it considered a sin not to. The doctors could have force fed them swine blood at high noon and it would not make an iota of difference. To the detainees it's a bullshit maneuver that says, "see, we're respecting Islam, we aren't burning the Koran anymore," when everyone can clearly see this is utter bullshit.
- simonsarris 13y ago
  Isn't that consistent with normal force-feeding, except its properly respecting Ramadan? The fast of Ramadan begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. So force-feeding them at night is the religiously observant thing to do. (To say nothing about force-feeding in general)
  - herge 13y ago
    So we (if only we could just blame the Americans, but we are all responsible, unfortunately) respect their religious rights but completely ignore their rights to liberty or even a fair trail. You have to admit, it's hilarious. Even the Soviets could not have made up this stuff.
  - bayesianhorse 13y ago
    It's just a tad ironic. Disrespect their basic rights to freedom, fair trial, cause them physical harm and torture - but respect a small point of ramadan fasting procedure...
- deelowe 13y ago
  For Ramandan, you can't eat during the day. There's nothing against eating at night.
napoleoncomplex 13y ago
Guantanamo Bay is one of the most disgusting institutions in the "civilized world". How is this acceptable? Treating humans as garbage, no trial, just meat stored for torture. Every day this piece of shit prison is open is a god damn disgrace for the entire human race.
- BellsOnSunday 13y ago
  Next time vote for someone who definitely, honest-to-god promises to close it if they get in. Of course, you might have done that last time as well...
  - skore 13y ago
    Indeed. Obama blaming congress today is, unfortunately, a case of plausible deniability.
    - Amadou 13y ago
      I used to disagree with that sentiment, after all Congress did its best to stop the closure of Gitmo by not only blocking funding for the effort but also blocking the use of any pre-existing funds too. But then I read this: http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/the_obama_gitmo_myth/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/the_obama_gitmo_myth/ PS - am I alone in confusing Mos Def with MOSFET for about a decade and completely mispronouncing (and misunderstanding) the guy's stage name?
      - rjtavares 13y ago
        > am I alone in confusing Mos Def with MOSFET for about a decade and completely mispronouncing (and misunderstanding) the guy's stage name? Most Definitely.
    - peterkelly 13y ago
      "Yes we could've"
  - sirsar 13y ago
sirsar 13y ago
All in the name of the war on terror
mcphilip 13y ago
The process of having a feeding tube inserted into one's nose is extremely painful, much more so than you'd expect. Out of all the injuries I've had (e.g. broken collar bone, 4 concussions, etc), none reached the immediate pain intensity level as having a feeding tube inserted. For me, the tube felt way too small to fit. Blood started trickling down the back of my throat and my whole body seized up in pain. It's scary to have such an internalized pain immediately next to one's brain.
- Shivetya 13y ago
  Tell her http://youtu.be/YJIFOCbPTjo http://youtu.be/YJIFOCbPTjo This little girl seems to have it down pat. her biggest issue is getting past gag relex
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Oh, well if she is fine with it then he must have been hallucinating. /s What utter shit.
ukoto 13y ago
Thanks Obama.
rwmj 13y ago
Direct link to the mp4 (video) file: http://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2013/7/5/130705MosDef-16x9.mp4 http://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2013/7/5/130705MosDef-...
lists 13y ago
That got worse when I turned the sound on.
shirro 13y ago
That makes me feel like waving my countries flag proudly. Mainly because it isn't the US flag.
- kilkurdu 13y ago
  It's really a corrupted country.
elleferrer 13y ago
So...I kind of don't feel bad about this ever since those allegations of domestic violence surfaced.
- madaxe 13y ago
  So, torture in Guantanamo is OK?
  - elleferrer 13y ago
    No, torture in Guantanamo is not OK. As for Mos Def the artist, awesome. As Mos Def the person, meh.
charlieflowers 13y ago
Surely everyone watching this had their bullshit detectors go off??? Regardless of how you feel about Guantanamo Bay, there is clearly some acting -- some "dramatic exaggeration" -- going on in this video. Bey volunteered to undergo the procedure. So he knew they would stop at any point if he asked them to. There was no need, therefore, for all the screaming of "no" and "please don't." For Bey, this procedure was akin to you or I needing a painful procedure performed at the doctor's office. You might hate it, you might cry out in pain, but you don't react with the distress of knowing that you're being forced against your will. If someone wants to make a video for the purpose of exposing me to some truth I'm unaware of, great. But don't go enhancing it with your own bullshit. There's already enough propaganda and bullshit for me to discern my way through to start with.
- Buzaga 13y ago
  please make an AMA mr fountain of the truth, I'd like to know more.
- Buzaga 13y ago
  that's a very normal reaction, lookup any 'funny' video of people not being able to hold the pain of getting tattooed... they wanted it done, they paid, they try to sustain what they're going through since they accepted it in the first place(which is not the case of your criminal country abductees) and then it explodes in a violent reaction when they figure out "I really can't take it", go, look it up.
  - Buzaga 13y ago
    * criminal government would be the right term of course as this is not exactly done in light of it's people scrutinity.
Splendor 13y ago
Relevant video of Christopher Hitchens being voluntarily waterboarded: http://youtu.be/4LPubUCJv58 http://youtu.be/4LPubUCJv58
bayesianhorse 13y ago
God bless the land of the free. Oh I forgot, it's not on US soil, so human rights don't apply.

137 points by Ovid 13y ago

herge 13y ago

Recently read a headline I could not believe was not from The Onion: "Guantanamo Bay Prisoners force fed at night during Ramadan"

Ovid 13y ago
It's horrifying. Might as well force-feed them pork. And the US knows that this is illegal, too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/forcefeeding-hunger-strikers-guantanamo http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/forcefee...
- StavrosK 13y ago
  No, they force-fed them at night, which is when they could eat. It's still fucked up, but at least it's not a sin.
  - Ovid 13y ago
    If true, then you have a valid point. What a sorry state the US is in that nuances like this are considered.
  - yardie 13y ago
    It's not a sin, period. Eating during Ramadan is not a sin. You fast to sacrifice and share together (really, in spite of what you heard people get fat during Ramadan). But young children, the elderly, and the sick aren't required to fast nor is it considered a sin not to. The doctors could have force fed them swine blood at high noon and it would not make an iota of difference. To the detainees it's a bullshit maneuver that says, "see, we're respecting Islam, we aren't burning the Koran anymore," when everyone can clearly see this is utter bullshit.
simonsarris 13y ago
Isn't that consistent with normal force-feeding, except its properly respecting Ramadan? The fast of Ramadan begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. So force-feeding them at night is the religiously observant thing to do. (To say nothing about force-feeding in general)
- herge 13y ago
  So we (if only we could just blame the Americans, but we are all responsible, unfortunately) respect their religious rights but completely ignore their rights to liberty or even a fair trail. You have to admit, it's hilarious. Even the Soviets could not have made up this stuff.
- bayesianhorse 13y ago
  It's just a tad ironic. Disrespect their basic rights to freedom, fair trial, cause them physical harm and torture - but respect a small point of ramadan fasting procedure...
deelowe 13y ago
For Ramandan, you can't eat during the day. There's nothing against eating at night.

napoleoncomplex 13y ago

Guantanamo Bay is one of the most disgusting institutions in the "civilized world". How is this acceptable? Treating humans as garbage, no trial, just meat stored for torture. Every day this piece of shit prison is open is a god damn disgrace for the entire human race.

BellsOnSunday 13y ago
Next time vote for someone who definitely, honest-to-god promises to close it if they get in. Of course, you might have done that last time as well...
- skore 13y ago
  Indeed. Obama blaming congress today is, unfortunately, a case of plausible deniability.
  - Amadou 13y ago
    I used to disagree with that sentiment, after all Congress did its best to stop the closure of Gitmo by not only blocking funding for the effort but also blocking the use of any pre-existing funds too. But then I read this: http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/the_obama_gitmo_myth/ http://www.salon.com/2012/07/23/the_obama_gitmo_myth/ PS - am I alone in confusing Mos Def with MOSFET for about a decade and completely mispronouncing (and misunderstanding) the guy's stage name?
    - rjtavares 13y ago
      > am I alone in confusing Mos Def with MOSFET for about a decade and completely mispronouncing (and misunderstanding) the guy's stage name? Most Definitely.
  - peterkelly 13y ago
    "Yes we could've"
- sirsar 13y ago

sirsar 13y ago

All in the name of the war on terror

mcphilip 13y ago

The process of having a feeding tube inserted into one's nose is extremely painful, much more so than you'd expect. Out of all the injuries I've had (e.g. broken collar bone, 4 concussions, etc), none reached the immediate pain intensity level as having a feeding tube inserted. For me, the tube felt way too small to fit. Blood started trickling down the back of my throat and my whole body seized up in pain. It's scary to have such an internalized pain immediately next to one's brain.

Shivetya 13y ago
Tell her http://youtu.be/YJIFOCbPTjo http://youtu.be/YJIFOCbPTjo This little girl seems to have it down pat. her biggest issue is getting past gag relex
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Oh, well if she is fine with it then he must have been hallucinating. /s What utter shit.

ukoto 13y ago

Thanks Obama.

rwmj 13y ago

Direct link to the mp4 (video) file: http://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2013/7/5/130705MosDef-16x9.mp4 http://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2013/7/5/130705MosDef-...

lists 13y ago

That got worse when I turned the sound on.

shirro 13y ago

That makes me feel like waving my countries flag proudly. Mainly because it isn't the US flag.

kilkurdu 13y ago
It's really a corrupted country.

elleferrer 13y ago

So...I kind of don't feel bad about this ever since those allegations of domestic violence surfaced.

madaxe 13y ago
So, torture in Guantanamo is OK?
- elleferrer 13y ago
  No, torture in Guantanamo is not OK. As for Mos Def the artist, awesome. As Mos Def the person, meh.

charlieflowers 13y ago

Surely everyone watching this had their bullshit detectors go off??? Regardless of how you feel about Guantanamo Bay, there is clearly some acting -- some "dramatic exaggeration" -- going on in this video. Bey volunteered to undergo the procedure. So he knew they would stop at any point if he asked them to. There was no need, therefore, for all the screaming of "no" and "please don't." For Bey, this procedure was akin to you or I needing a painful procedure performed at the doctor's office. You might hate it, you might cry out in pain, but you don't react with the distress of knowing that you're being forced against your will. If someone wants to make a video for the purpose of exposing me to some truth I'm unaware of, great. But don't go enhancing it with your own bullshit. There's already enough propaganda and bullshit for me to discern my way through to start with.

Buzaga 13y ago
please make an AMA mr fountain of the truth, I'd like to know more.
Buzaga 13y ago
that's a very normal reaction, lookup any 'funny' video of people not being able to hold the pain of getting tattooed... they wanted it done, they paid, they try to sustain what they're going through since they accepted it in the first place(which is not the case of your criminal country abductees) and then it explodes in a violent reaction when they figure out "I really can't take it", go, look it up.
- Buzaga 13y ago
  * criminal government would be the right term of course as this is not exactly done in light of it's people scrutinity.

Splendor 13y ago

Relevant video of Christopher Hitchens being voluntarily waterboarded: http://youtu.be/4LPubUCJv58 http://youtu.be/4LPubUCJv58

bayesianhorse 13y ago

God bless the land of the free. Oh I forgot, it's not on US soil, so human rights don't apply.