New Weapon in the War on Terror: Feeding Tubes
AP

Prisoners on hunger strike at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay say troops force-fed them with dirty feeding tubes that have been violently inserted and withdrawn as punishment, according to declassified notes released by defense attorneys Wednesday.

The repeated removal and insertion of the tubes has caused striking prisoners to vomit "substantial amounts of blood," and to experience intense pain that they have equated with torture, the lawyers reported to a federal judge after visiting their clients at the U.S. base in eastern Cuba.

Prisoners said they were taunted by troops who said the treatment was intended to persuade them to end the hunger strike that began Aug. 9, the lawyers wrote in affidavits filed as part of a lawsuit seeking greater access to inmates at the high-security jail for terror suspects.

"These large tubes ... were viewed by the detainees as objects of torture," attorney Julia Tarver, whose firm represents 10 Saudi detainees, said in an affidavit. "They were forcibly shoved up the detainees' noses and down into their stomachs."

Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a military spokesman for the Guantanamo detention center, said all detainees in the hunger strike are closely monitored by medical personnel and mistreatment is not tolerated, though he did not know the specific procedures for handling of feeding tubes.
"Detainees ... are treated humanely," Martin said. "Claims to the contrary are wholly inaccurate and blatantly misrepresent the excellent work being done here by honorable military and civilian professionals."

At Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. military holds about 500 detainees suspected of terrorist activities. Martin said there are 25 detainees on hunger strike, including 22 who are being force-fed.

Defense lawyers who have visited the prison in recent weeks say their clients have lost substantial weight, appeared listless and depressed - and have insisted they will maintain the protest until conditions improve or they are released. A judge has not yet ruled on their request for increased access to the detainees and their medical records.

Tarver, who returned from the base on Oct. 2, said two of her clients were being force-fed and were unable to walk. "It's quite a drastic situation," she said.