Since February of 2002, hundreds of prisoners have been held at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo, without charges, without attorneys, and without even being classified as prisoners of war.

Not surprisingly under such hopeless conditions, many of these prisoners have attempted suicide.

Yesterday, Associated Press reported the latest suicide attempt:
The prisoner's attempt to kill himself this week brings the number of suicide attempts to 30 since the high-security prison was opened in January 2002, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Burfeind said.
According to earlier reports, however, there had already been 30 suicide attempts at Guantanamo â?? a year ago.

CBS News reported on August 15, 2002:
Doctors at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reportedly say that in the seven months that the U.S. has been keeping al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners there, about thirty have tried to kill themselves.
And in October of 2002, covering news of still more suicide attempts at Guantanamo, BBC News also reported:
Two months ago, doctors said there had been at least 30 suicide attempts at the Guantanamo detention centre.
In May of 2003, the Associated Press reported two more suicide attempts:
These brought the number of suicide attempts to 27, said Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the Camp Delta prison.
And now, on Aug. 14, 2003 â?? almost a year to the day after CBS News reported there had been "about thirty" suicide attempts â?? Associated Press reports yet another suicide attempt, which brings the total number of suicide attempts at Guantanamo ... back to 30:
The prisoner's attempt to kill himself this week brings the number of suicide attempts to 30 since the high-security prison was opened in January 2002, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Burfeind said.

Most attempts occurred this year, which officials and critics alike have attributed to the effects of the indefinite detentions on prisoner morale. Some of the prisoners have been held for more than a year and a half without charges, access to lawyers or indications of whether or when they may be freed. ...
Usually, when something happens over and over again, the total number of times it's happened increases. But with suicide attempts at Guantanamo, the total just sits there at 30, then somehow decreases a little, and then bounces back where it was a year ago â?? even as we're told that most of the suicide attempts occurred this year.

It's not surprising that these spokespeople, Barry Johnson and Barbara Burfiend, are liars. It is disappointing, however, that our government fills high-level well-paid lie-dispensing positions with half-assed liars who can't even keep their lies straight.

I ask you: Doesn't the American taxpayer at least deserve lies that are plausible?



"one man's lie is another man's truth" ....... tell the world ur truth

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