Three Guantanamo Detainees Kill Themselves

(Cross-posted at Blanton's and Ashton's.)

It's finally happened. No one can live forever in a prison camp with no rights and no hope of getting out, without going insane or committing suicide.

Three Guantanamo Bay detainees hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes, the commander of the detention center said Saturday.

They were the first reported deaths among the hundreds of men held at the base in Cuba -- some of them for up to 4 1/2 years and without charge.

Two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found "unresponsive and not breathing in their cells" early Saturday, according to a statement from the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive the prisoners, but they failed.

"They hung themselves with fabricated nooses made out of clothes and bed sheets," Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris told reporters in a conference call from the U.S. base in southeastern Cuba.
[...]
That camp was also the location where two detainees tried to commit suicide in mid-May, when a riot broke out at the facility. The two men, who took overdoses of an anti-anxiety medication they hoarded, were found and received medical treatment and were recovering.
[...]
The military said in its statement that "all lifesaving measures had been exhausted" in the attempt to revive the detainees. The remains were being treated "with the utmost respect," an issue important to Muslims. A cultural adviser was assisting the military.

How caring and compassionate of them. The Gitmo authorities "exhausted all lifesaving measures" after four and a half years of taking away from these detainees every reason, desire, and motivation to live. Fucking bastards.

Moazzam Begg, 37, a British Muslim who spent three years in U.S. detention, including two years at Guantanamo before being released in 2005, told The Associated Press: "We all expected something like this but were not prepared. It's just awful. I hope the Bush administration will finally see this is wrong."

Don't hold your breath. The individuals who are responsible for this are sociopaths who care for nothing but upholding America's global economic hegemony and making sure that the United States retains global dominance and uninterrupted flow of oil to fill the coffers of Exxon-Mobil, Shell, etc., and keep the tanks of Republicans' Hummers, Expeditions, Marauders, Sequoias, and Grand Cherokees full to the brim. Like the bumpersticker says: Frodo failed. Bush has the ring.