Guantanamo Suicides “Acts of War”

/ GW Bush Admin, Iraq, Politics

Guantanamo Suicides “Acts of War” — BBC, June 11, 2006:

The suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amount to acts of war, the US military says.

The camp commander said the two Saudis and a Yemeni were “committed” and had killed themselves in “an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us”.

Lawyers said the men who hanged themselves had been driven by despair.

A military investigation into the deaths is now under way, amid growing calls for the detention centre to be moved or closed. . . .

Rear Adm Harris said he did not believe the men had killed themselves out of despair.

“They are smart. They are creative, they are committed,” he said.

“They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.”

All three men had previously taken part in some of the mass on-and-off hunger strikes undertaken by detainees since last August, and all three had been force-fed by camp authorities.

They had left suicide notes, but no details have been made available.

Presidents

/ People, Politics

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The First Thirteen Presidents

From General George to Millard, all
Owned slaves, except for two:
Those Massachusetts liberals
John (senior) and John (Q.).

– Peter Chipman

What Is a Borek?

/ Food

“A borek is made from yufka, which is like phyllo, made by hand. The dough is rolled out with a wooden pin, and usually there’s a filling of cheese, meat, spinach, swiss chard, string beans, zucchini, eggplant, etc. It’s either baked or fried. Our most famous borek is su borek, boiled in water and spread on a tray with layers of butter, white cheese and parsely, and cooked on a stove so it’s crisp outside and creamy inside. Another very famous one is puf borek — blown up — it’s fried and it puffs up as it fries. It’s hollow inside and very crisp outside. It’s delicious. We have maybe more than 100 different kinds of borek. The thinner the yufka, the better it is, and Turkish ladies take pride in making very thin sheets of yufka. It’s a dish for all people.”