2006年VOA标准英语-Guantanamo Hunger Strike Dwindles Amid Con

By Al Pessin
Guantanamo
07 February 2006

According to the U.S. military the number of hunger strikers among detainees at the Guantanamo detention¹ facility has fallen to just four, from a high of 84 in late December.  The military says three of the hunger strikers are being fed through tubes to keep them alive.  Lawyers for the detainees call the tube feeding a form of abuse.  They also say the dwindling² number of strikers is not due to any progress on the demands for an end to their detention, nor any indication of how long they will be held.  VOA's Al Pessin visited the Guantanamo facility, including the hospital where doctors care for the hunger strikers, and filed this report.

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Toward the end of last year, military spokesmen said the detainees were alternating their involvement in the hunger strike in order to keep the number of participants high.  Now, the doctor who runs the detainee hospital, a U.S. navy captain who asked that his name not be used, says only a core group remains³ on strike.
 

 

A small clinic for detainees in Guantanamo's Camp Five (VOA photo by A. Pessin)
  
  

"The hunger strike began approximately August the eighth of 2005.  The ones that we have remaining I would consider to be the more committed of the group," doctor says.

Since he made that comment in late January, the number of hunger strikers has fallen further, from about 15 to just four.

Officials say when the hunger strike threatens the health of a detainee, doctors feed him through a tube passed through his nose into his stomach.  The hospital director says that resulted in resistance from some detainees at first, including assaults on the medical staff, but now he says most of the detainees are cooperative.

"In the past we've had a lot of resistance to giving them the required nutrition that they need," doctor says. "But we are now practicing more compassionate⁵ and consistent care over getting the required nutrition into them, and we have seen them respond very positively⁶ to that.  So their health has improved and their weight has gained.  They're becoming more like the population that you would see in the rest of the camp."

The doctor also says the medical staff is now using a less painful type of feeding tube, thinner and more flexible than the one used at first.

Sign at entrance of Camp Delta⁷  
  
But American lawyers for the detainees say the resistance to the feeding tubes did not end because of any compassion⁴ by the medical staff.  Rick Murphy represents a Yemeni detainee who recently ended his hunger strike.  Murphy says his client, who he would not name, was extremely weak when he saw him last September and November.  He adds the detainee stopped resisting the tube feeding only because he was being painfully force fed.

"He told us he accepted the feeding through the nasal gastric⁸ tube because the government threatened to restrain him, hold him down and shove the tube down his throat.  And after three or four times of that, it was so painful, (that) under threat of that force he wouldn't fight them any more, but he wasn't cooperating," Mr. Murphy says.

Another detainee lawyer, David Remes, is even more graphic⁹ in his description of the tube feeding.

"Tube feeding is itself a form of torture.  You have no conception of the brutality¹⁰ that is inflicted¹¹ on these men.  And anybody who tells you otherwise from within the camp, from the military, is lying," he says.

The lawyers also say the tube feeding is a violation¹² of medical ethics¹³.  The American Medical Association says physicians should respect a person's decision not to take nourishment¹⁴, as long as the person is capable of making that decision and understands the potential consequences.

The commander of the Joint¹⁵ Task Force that operates the detention center, Major General Jay Hood¹⁶, says after four years of detention the detainees want some indication about their future.  He says the military has a process to provide that, but beyond some media interest, the strike itself will not accomplish anything.
 

Camp Delta Quarters for cooperative detainees  
  
"We are not going to negotiate with anybody," general Hood says. "The men that we're holding here are being held in a very humane¹⁷, safe, secure manner.  Their questions with regard to their continued detention and their future are largely laid out by the Administrative¹⁸ Review Board process."

That process reviews the evidence against the detainees every year and allows them to speak on their own behalf.  But much of the evidence is classified and no lawyers are allowed.  The detainee lawyers say the process is illegitimate.  Last year's reviews resulted in decisions to release or transfer to custody¹⁹ in their home country 127 detainees.  Negotiations²⁰ with the home countries are now going on to make the arrangements, but some detainees may not be able to leave Guantanamo anytime soon in spite of the review board's action.

There are currently 496 detainees from 44 countries at Guantanamo.  They were taken into custody in Afghanistan and elsewhere for alleged²¹ involvement with terrorist organizations.  A second round of reviews has just started.

For now, the Guantanamo hunger strike seems to be winding²² down.  And the doctor who runs the detainee hospital says both those still on strike, and those who have begun to eat, are on the mend.

"Improving.  They are healthy," docotr says. "We're very quick to respond if they show any indication of having, for example, an infection to which they would be more susceptible²³ because of their level of malnourishment.  But they're gaining weight now.  Most of them are healthy.  And so I think their condition currently is good."

The doctor says as the detainees go off the hunger strike, and their health improves, they are re-integrated into the general detainee population, where their degree of cooperation with guards and interrogators determines just what their living conditions will be.  Meanwhile, their lawyers continue to work for access to U.S. courts in an effort to get what they consider a fair hearing for the detainees.

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

5 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

6 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

7 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

8 gastric   

adj.胃的

参考例句：

• Miners are a high risk group for certain types of gastric cancer.矿工是极易患某几种胃癌的高风险人群。
• That was how I got my gastric trouble.我的胃病就是这么得的。

9 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

10 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

11 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

12 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

13 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

14 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

15 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

16 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

17 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

18 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

19 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

20 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

21 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

22 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

23 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。