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18 January 2011 By Stephen
Lendman From inception, most Guantanamo
detainees were uncharged. On January 5, the Center for
Constitutional Rights (CCR) said: "....the vast majority of the men
at Guantanamo should never have been detained in the
first place, and that over 550 have been released and
are peacefully rebuilding their lives." Most of the
800 captured and brought there were lawlessly "seized
in broad sweeps and sold to the US (for) substantial
bounties." From the Pentagon's own records, "most
(have) no link to terrorism." For over seven years, CCR "organiz(ed)
and coordinat(ed) more than 500 pro bono lawyers
across the country" to represent detainees, and helped
to resettle about 60 others still at Guantanamo
"because they cannot return to their country of origin
for fear of persecution and torture." Obama promised to close
Guantanamo, yet nothing followed up to assure it.
Moreover, early in 2011, an Executive Order (EO) will
authorize indefinite detentions for longstanding
uncharged detainees the administration won't release.
Guantanamo and other US torture
prisons are blights on democratic values and
fundamental international law that prohibits all forms
of torture and abuse at all times with no allowed
exceptions. Yet closure for none are planned,
including Guantanamo, symbolically representing the
worst kind of cruel and unusual punishment. It's
prohibited under international and US law, including
the Constitution's Supremacy Clause (Article VI,
clause 2), designating federal statutes and treaties
automatically "the supreme law of the land," including
international laws to which America is a signatory.
Nonetheless, Washington systematically violates them. Indefinitely detaining innocent
prisoners (wrongfully called too dangerous to release)
exacerbates injustice, a CCR statement saying the
Obama administration may also try doing it in America.
If so: -- "it will be difficult to hold
the line at the 48 men at Guantanamo. (Obama's)
proposal (would lay) the groundwork for US prisons to
become places where people from around the world are
brought and imprisoned without charge (or) trial,
eroding our Constitution and adherence to
international law beyond recognition." In fact, that standard long ago
was violated, making the rule of law in America a mere
figure of speech. A new Seton Hall University School
of Law's Center for Policy and Research (CP&R) affirms
it, titled: "Drug Abuse: An Exploration of
the Government Use of Mefloquine at Guantanamo." Under Professor Mark Denbeaux's
direction, CP&R published 17 "GTMO Reports," including
the latest, discussed below, "documenting the
medically inappropriate use of a dangerous
pharmacological treatment on" detainees. An antimalarial drug, it's known
to cause "severe neuropsychological adverse effects
such as anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, aggression,
psychotic behavior, mood changes, depression, memory
impairment, convulsions, loss of coordination
(ataxia), suicidal ideation (ideas or thoughts), and
possibly suicide, particularly in patients with a
history of mental illness." Yet prison authorities administer
it freely, at five times the normal dose. Even a fifth
that much can cause any or all of the above side
effects. Without medical need, pumping it into
detainees in excessive amounts may cause irreparable
harm. "At best it represents (gross malpractice and)
monumental incompetence. At worst, it's torture." Guantanamo has no malaria nor
does Cuba. As a result, drug usage is solely to
"specifically (induce) adverse side effects, either as
part of enhanced interrogation techniques,
experimentation in behavioral modification, or torture
for some other purpose." Doing so, however, violates
Nuremberg protections that require voluntary consent
with full disclosure of known risks and avoidance of
experimental treatments if there's reason to believe
harm may result. In addition, the Fifth Amendment
protects against abusive government authority in
stating "No person shall....be deprived of life,
liberty or property, with due process of law...." Moreover, the Eighth Amendment
prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments."
Involuntarily administering dangerous drugs is a
serious criminal offense. Yet at Guantanamo, "the US
military routinely administered doses of mefloquine to
detainees" on arrival "without medical justification"
and no regard for their well-being. Prophylactic adult dosage is 250
mg once a week. Administering 1,250 mg (to malaria
free detainees) is indicated for mild to moderate
malaria. Mefloquine is inappropriate in treating
severe malaria cases, disease not caused by P. vivax
or mefloquine-susceptible P. falciparum strains, or
patients who previously used the drug. Moreover, the higher the dose,
the severer the side effects, yet "(v)ery few medical
records have ever been released for GTMO detainees,
and those (available) are heavily redacted and may be
incomplete" to conceal the true harm done. Available
documents, however, reveal over-dosing with very
likely severe, long-lasting neuropsychological side
effects. GTMO Medical "Infection Control"
SOP 021 states 1,250 mg of mefloquine will be included
in "empiric therapies." Medically it refers to
administering treatment prior to a firm diagnosis, but
doing it routinely in high doses is criminal
malfeasance. Omitting medical evaluation, compounds
the offense. "Despite professional
medical/health organizations denouncing the use of
mefloquine for empiric treatment, (Pentagon
authorities) mandated that detainees receive a full
(1,250 mg dose) upon arrival." "According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no
malaria in Cuba," and it doesn't threaten Guantanamo,
according to an official memorandum on the "Department
of Defense Operation Use of Mefloquine." Moreover, the
Pentagon understands its effects, doesn't administer
it to US GTMO personnel, and is aware of 1950s
quinolines experimentation as part of the CIA's
MKULTRA, its mind control program, addressed in an
earlier article accessed through the following link: http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/02/mk-ultra-cias-mind-control-program.html Begun in 1953, it was to perfect
a truth drug for interrogating suspected Soviet spies.
It aimed to control human behavior through psychedelic
and hallucinogenic drugs, electroshock, radiation,
graphology, paramilitary techniques, and
psychological/sociological/anthropological methods,
among others - a vast open-field of mind
experimentation to find whatever worked, legal or
otherwise on willing and unwitting subjects. Some were
so gravely affected, they never recovered. Using mefloquine and other
dangerous drugs indiscriminately is willful, criminal
torture. US War Crimes Act provisions make the UN
Torture Convention, Geneva, and Common Article 3
breaches illegal, including torture, abuse, and
humiliating or degrading treatment. Moreover, US Code, Chapter 113C:
Torture states: "Whoever outside the United
States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be
fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20
years, or both, and if death results to any person
from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be
punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years
or for life." Torture, genocide, slavery, and
wars of aggression have a common thread. They're all
jus cogens, meaning subject to a higher or compelling
law. As a result, no country can pass laws permitting
these practices in any form for any purpose with no
allowed exceptions. For decades, however, America has
used them freely, so far with impunity. Regarding mefloquine's use, Dr.
G. Richard Olds, an internationally respected tropical
disease expert and Founding Dean of the University of
California at Riverside School of Medicine explained
that: It's "fat soluble and as a result
it does build up in the body and has a very long
half-life. This is important since a massive dose
(isn't) easily corrected and the 'side
effects'....could last for weeks or months....In my
professional opinion, there is no medical
justification for giving (high doses) to an
asymptomatic individual. I also do not see the medical
benefit of treating a person in Cuba" with a clearly
unneeded drug. According to Professor Stephen
Soldz, Director of the Center for Research,
Evaluation, and Program Development, Boston Graduate
School of Psychoanalysis and President of
Psychologists for Social Responsibility: "For years there has been an
almost complete lack of transparency regarding medical
practices and procedures at Guantanamo (and all other
US torture prisons). The military has failed to
provide credible explanations for its procedures.
Detainees and their attorneys have been denied access
to their own medical records, an egregious ethical
violation. All health providers should join the call
for Guantanamo to respect fundamental rules regulating
medical ethics everywhere." Failure to do so under
international and US law is illegal. Without full
access to all detainees' medical records, the Pentagon
is criminally liable, "and the potentially serious
(harm to) those who received the drug will remain
hidden." Also culpable are congressional
and administration officials responsible for
initiating, funding, and perpetuating imperial wars as
well as authorizing torture prisons like Guantanamo.
Holding complicit members accountable is crucial to
achieving justice, a goal nowhere in sight. Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the
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