The closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center was a top priority for Barack Obama during his first term as U.S. president, but since he began his second term, he has barely spoken of it.
The prison in Cuba was left largely out of public discourse in the United States. But a now a three-month hunger strike by more than 100 detainees has changed that.
As the strike by detainees protesting their indefinite detention continues, the Pentagon has cleared the way for the force feeding of 20 detainees, a move supported by Obama.
However, the American Medical Association, the largest association of American physicians, has sent a letter to Chuck Hagel, U.S. secretary of defense, protesting the force feedings, saying they violate medical ethics.
“We urge you to ensure that this matter receives prompt and thorough attention to address any situation in which a physician may be asked to violate the ethical standards of his or her profession,” read the AMA letter.
But one Pentagon spokesman told Carol Rosenberg, a Miami Herald reporter, that it is “un-American” to let a detainee starve and that it “violates the very code of civilized peoples everywhere”.
So, has the strike tipped the scales so that it is finally time for justice?
