RT.com interviewed federal public defender Carlos Warner who read a statement from one of the prisoners, Faiz al-Kandari.
CW: He said:
“I scare myself when I look in the mirror. Let them kill us as we have nothing to lose. We died when Obama indefinitely detained us. Respect us or kill us. It is your choice. The US must take off its mask and kill us.”
That was his statement as of today. I saw him last week. I have many clients there but I did see him last week and it was a shock to see what I saw. He was a man who was down more than 30 pounds less than a month ago. He refused all nourishment. His cheeks were sunk in. He was exhausted, weak, he could not stand. It was a scary, scary meeting for me.
RT: And his message is respect us or kill us. Will his wish come true or will he now be prepared to die?
CW: Well, I think many of the men, the ones that are indefinitely detained have zero hope. They have no hope because of the administration. I think many of them are ready die. The question is how and when will they die? They have no hope of being released from that place and unless a human being has some hope, it is very difficult to live. And many of them are prepared to die.
RT: Has this man been cleared for release years ago, and if so why hasn’t he been released?
CW: Faiz is not on the list of 86 innocent men who are cleared for release and those 86 men, it was unanimous decision by the US government, our government to release them. But Faiz is not on that list. But let’s be clear, everyone in Guantanamo is indefinitely detained. No one is being released – cleared for release or not.
What or who are the people behind the scenes in the Obama administration that hold him from acting in a compassionate manner? His political obfuscations –“it’s the congress or the pentagon” just pass the buck. Perhaps he ignores his promises, the law because- he is who he is and believes he is .So be it…I find it.hard to look within with any compassion for this fellow man.