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Shaker Aamer, last British resident held in camp, tells of harsh regime to break strikers' resistance Speaking last week from the camp in Cuba, exactly four months after he joined the hunger strike, Aamer said: "The administration is getting ever more angry and doing everything they can to break our hunger strike. Honestly, I wish I was dead." Although the military initially denied that there was a hunger strike inside Guantanámo, it now concedes that, of the 166 detainees, 104 are on hunger strike and 44 are being force-fed. Aamer describes his daily diet at Guantánamo as a cup of...

The Associated Press reported as an “exclusive” earlier this morning that the Taliban have offered to release an American held for almost four years in a swap for Taliban members at Guantanamo Bay. The offer comes as the US tries to salvage the peace talks after pushback from Kabul: The Afghan Taliban say they are ready to hand over a U.S. soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.A Taliban spokesman, Shaheen Suhail, says U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl “is as far as I know in good condition.”...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- The Obama administration Monday lifted a veil of secrecy surrounding the status of the detainees at Guantánamo, for the first time publicly naming the four dozen captives it defined as indefinite detainees — men too dangerous to transfer but who cannot be tried in a court of law.

Far fewer prisoners will be tried in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals than the Obama administration originally planned after a recent court ruling cast doubt on the viability of some charges, the chief prosecutor for the tribunals told Reuters. U.S. President Barack Obama's Guantanamo Review Task Force had said 36 detainees could be prosecuted, but the tribunal's chief prosecutor put the figure at 20 at most. The drastic scaling back of the prosecutions comes after a U.S. appeals court threw out the conviction of Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, who was found guilty in 2008 of providing material...

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and two leading senators on national security are traveling to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Congressional aides to Sens. Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence committee, and John McCain, a member of the Armed Services panel, said the lawmakers joined McDonough on the trip.

The number of hunger strikers being force-fed by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has risen to 41, with the protest showing no signs of abating more than a week after President Obama renewed his commitment to close the detention facility. The military said in a statement Thursday that 103 detainees are on hunger strike and that 41 of them are being force-fed. The military also said four detainees who are being force-fed are being observed at the hospital. None of the hunger strikers has a life-threatening condition, said Lt. Col. Samuel House, a spokesman for Joint Task Force...

If you find yourself changing careers, out on the streets looking for a new job, you probably will learn what other job seekers have discovered: it is a cruel and ugly world out there. And, it is especially difficult if you have not looked for a job in several years. That is particularly true for the 166 terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Make that the 166 individuals detained as terrorists. Many of those detainees went on a hunger strike a few months ago to protest their living conditions and the fact that some of them have been in Gitmo...

Media members thinking the Republicans are overplaying their hand with the Internal Revenue Service scandal should pay attention to what happened on NBC’s Tonight Show Monday. When host Jay Leno joked that President Obama should close the IRS rather than the terrorist detention center in Guantanamo Bay, the audience erupted in thunderous applause (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary): JAY LENO: President Obama says he’s renewing his efforts to close Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay? How about closing the IRS? Why don’t we do that? [Thunderous applause] How about shipping the IRS to Guantanamo Bay? That’s...

Media members thinking the Republicans are overplaying their hand with the Internal Revenue Service scandal should pay attention to what happened on NBC’s Tonight Show Monday.

Gitmo Offers 'Resume Writing' Class for Terrorists June 3, 2013 - 4:45 PM By Elizabeth Harrington (CNSNews.com) – The 166 terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay are offered a course in “interviewing and resume writing” as part of their indefinite stay at the prison camp. Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) lists the variety of classes and activities it offers to the terrorist trainers, financiers, bomb makers, recruiters and facilitators who are housed at Gitmo. Among them: “Interviewing and Resume Writing “and “Writing Success.” The classes are part of “The Instructional Program” at Gitmo, which teaches literacy, English as a second language...

Terry Holdbrooks was deployed to the Guantanamo Bay detention center to guard detainees. The Phoenix, Ariz., resident has become a devout Muslim and an unlikely advocate for the prisoners’ rights. Death threats are just another part of life for Terry Holdbrooks Jr. The ex-U.S. Army employee converted to Islam in 2003, inspired by the faith of the Guantanamo detainees he was charged with watching. Since then, he says he has lost his friends, received violent threats, and been labeled a “race traitor” online. But he hasn’t gone quietly. The 29-year-old has done his fair share of media and has even...

George W. Bush in 2001 declared war on a tactic (terrorism), and empowered Big Brother to tap phones, launch drones and indefinitely imprison people without due process. Barack Obama in 2008 declared those Bush policies an overreach, and pledged to curb drone strikes, protect media freedoms, and close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Instead, he escalated drone strikes and spied on the media. Gitmo is still open for its grim business. These are facts. And yet, they are distorted by extreme and narrow-minded partisans, supporters of both Bush and Obama. Conservatives contend that Bush single-handedly prevented a major terrorist strike...

Seeking to dampen criticism of his handling of the War on Terror and the Internal Revenue Service's selective intrusion into the views of his political opponents, President Obama announced that the detention center at Guantanamo would be closed and it's inmates “redistributed as seems most appropriate.” While it is expected that a majority of the detainees will be repatriated to the Middle Eastern Hell-holes from whence they came, those with exemplary skills are likely to be transferred to positions within the IRS. “The fact that people are openly criticizing the IRS is the best evidence we have that it has...

We wonder if Mooch is saying the same thing today after her husband was heckled by the founder of CodePink, who somehow managed to get a press pass for an Obama speech Thursday. So how did well-known heckler and war protester Medea Benjamin — leader of the activist group Code Pink — get into President Obama’s counterterrorism speech on Thursday? With a press pass. Politico reported that a photographer who stood in line with Benjamin at the National Defense University saw her wearing a bright green pass pass adorned with her original name, Susan Benjamin. Security officials eventually escorted Benjamin...

“The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to.”Barack Obama on heckler Medea Benjamin May 23, 2013 Code Pink leaders Cindy Sheehan, Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, with Marxist thug Hugo Chavez in Venezuela (2006) A secret admirer in the liberal media gave Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin access into Barack Obama’s speech yesterday. Kristinn Taylor at Breitbart reported: The National Defense University Public Affairs office issued a statement that Benjamin came in through the media. NDU STATEMENT ON DISTURBANCE DURING PRESIDENT’S SPEECH The individual who continued to attempt to interrupt the President’s speech at the National Defense University...

Obama Calls for Gitmo Inmates to Be Transfered to the United States Daniel Halper May 23, 2013 2:01 PM In a speech today, President Obama is calling for the transfer for Gitmo inmates to the United States. "The original premise for opening GTMO – that detainees would not be able to challenge their detention – was found unconstitutional five years ago. In the meantime, GTMO has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law. Our allies won’t cooperate with us if they think a terrorist will end up at GTMO. During a time...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama was interrupted three times by a woman who shouted about drones and detainees in Cuba as he delivered a speech on national security. The woman was identified as Medea Benjamin from the anti-war group Code Pink. Benjamin yelled from behind a bank of cameras before security removed her from the hall at National Defense University in Washington.

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release May 23, 2013 Remarks of President Barack Obama It’s an honor to return to the National Defense University. Here, at Fort McNair, Americans have served in uniform since 1791– standing guard in the early days of the Republic, and contemplating the future of warfare here in the 21st century. For over two centuries, the United States has been bound together by founding documents that defined who we are as Americans, and served as our compass through every type of change. Matters of war and peace are no different. Americans...

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release May 23, 2013 Background Briefing by Senior Administration Officials on the President's Speech on Counterterrorism Via Conference Call 12:03 P.M. EDT MS. HAYDEN: Hi, guys. Thanks for joining, and apologies for a slight delay. We're here talking today about the speech the President is about to give at 2:00 p.m. at National Defense University on counterterrorism. This call is on background, attributable to senior administration officials. This call is embargoed until 2:00 p.m. when the President speaks. We actually don't have a lot of time so we'll go ahead...

President Obama is heckled by Code Pink protestor Medea Benjamin about Guantanamo Bay during his speech on terrorism at the National Defense University on Thursday.