Tour of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
Vallely toured the Camp Delta detention camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba in 2006 while collecting material for a book he intended to co-write with LTC Gordon Cucullu, entitled The Myths of Gitmo: Torture, Abuse or the Truth. Vallely and Cucullu later participated in an interview with FrontPage Magazine in which he blasted allegations of detainee abuse as "myths of the left-wing press". He also voiced support for the force feeding of detainees attempting to undertake hunger strikes, claiming the detainees were "...simply restrained for 20 minutes so they can be fed Ensure. They get their choice of four flavors of Ensure. It’s put in a very unobtrusive feeding tube smaller than a normal straw and it’s put in there for 20 minutes, so they get breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They get to go back to their detention facility."
Force feeding of non-psychotic prisoners has been banned by the World Medical Association since 1975, listing it alongside torture as a form of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment". Vallely later admitted in the same interview that neither he nor Cucullu had actually spoken with any of the detainees to corroborate official reports of their treatment.
When prompted further as to details of abuse, Cucullu stated that at least one prisoner "...may have been roughed up a little bit", but immediately clarified "We’re not trying to do an exhaustive history of Gitmo in this thing."
Read more about this topic: Paul E. Vallely
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