IS GUANTANAMO OBAMA'S ACHILLE'S HEEL : A HUNGER STRIKE SHINES AN UNCOMFORTABLE SPOTLIGHT ON THE GITMO PROBLEM

 

Many presidential promises are broken upon reaching that coveted seat.  But one of the worse historical renegations has been the neglected closure of Guantanamo as a center for 'enemy combatants.'

Never a true legal justification, nor a practical one for the indeterminate detention of alleged or certified terrorists, the measure was adopted to keep people who the US thought might have useful information without any right to recourse, and without any transparency as to the evidence used to keep the person imprisoned.

Eleven years have passed since the 9/11 bombing.  And yet no legal resolution has been found for the problem that is Guantanamo.

The hunger strike at Guantanamo has therefore done more to bring the case to closure, than years of press and human rights involvement. 

And truth be told, we do not need Gitmo to keep America safe.  It is a travesty that will cost us dearly in the future, if we have any our soldiers detained without rights under the Geneva convention with a similar 'legal' device.  

It is also a shame on our country, and it is instrumentalized to the hilt by extremist as a blatant example of our methods and our unfairness. 

Obama, in the meantime, has again opined on the fact that Guantanamo is a sore that needs healing. And yet, no commission has been empanelled to find a legal solution to it.  

In addition, the hunger strike has prompted action in the form of a contingent of specialized doctors who are supposed to force feed the prisoners.  And that some say is unconstitutional, as if some part or all of the Gitmo experience had some sort of legal purchase. 

So what then, to do with Gitmo?  Eighty six prisoners have received clearances for a transfer or release.  But to where? Are they to be sent to some foreign country who will continue their detention, with even less scrutiny over their future?  

Of the 166 prisoner still at Gitmo, 100 are on hunger strike, even though some of the foreign lawyers for the Gitmo detainees assert there are many more, and all of the prisoners seem to be participating in the strike in some form or another. 

Source : MSNBC 5.1.13 

A SMALL ALIEN LIKE SKELETON IS BAFFLING SCIENTISTS IN CHILE

 

The Atacama desert in Chile is home to the newest and largest space observatory installation on Earth.  But it is also home to mummies, and one of them is giving scientists a run for their money.

Although the small skeleton is apparently in all genetic sense, a human, its features and length are making it a head scratcher.

Apparently the small mummy is a child of between 6-8 who has shriveled during the mummification process.  But even so, and even after thorough testing of the DNA evidence, the tiny size and features of the mummy are posing a logical challenge for scientists.

What was it then that made this child so small, and why does it have such alien like features?

Researchers believe that child was affected by some genetic malformation, although that does not account for the tiny size. 

Visually however, the skeleton does not say 'human'.  And the mutation that might have accounted for such evident malformation of a human is unknown.

Although scientists have never suggested it to be otherworldly, it does pose some daunting questions.  

Some of the defects in the skull are recognizable, such as turrichepaly, an abnormal elongation of the skull. 

However, 9% of the sequencing did not match anything human, although that could be attributable to DNA degradation.

The rest of the DNA also confirms that the skeleton belongs to an Indigenous child from that area.  

But still, some of the genetic mutations that would explain such extreme dwarfism were not found during examination.  And there is no known dwarfism that accounts for all the deformities seen in the skeleton.  

More on the subject can be seen in the documentary "sirius". 

Source : MSNBC 5.1.13