Indefinite Torture

Despite sweeping measures to prevent suicides among the 305 prisoners here, a detainee slashed his throat with a sharpened fingernail recently and might have bled to death if guards hadn't rushed to his aid, officers disclosed here Tuesday. (link)

If you were a detainee at Guantànamo Bay and you fell, causing a bone to snap and jut out of your skin, you would be rushed to the infirmary for the best medical treatment available. What are we keeping them alive for? Not a trial. Not release. It just seems like the right thing to do.

If human decency tells us that it would be cruel to deny them healthcare, don't we owe them a trial as well? And why can't they commit suicide if they wish? How long, and to what extent, will we drag out their lives? When they start dying of old age, I imagine Congress will employ Schiavo-like tactics to keep their hearts beating.

Persistent vegetative terrorists, groaning randomly and seeming to follow balloons. And still a threat to Freedom.

I feel really bad for this detainee that's been my human piñata for the last few comics on torture. He's really been through the wringer.