Reply #11: From Slate [View All]

Remember none of these Haitians were criminals or even suspected of any criminal behavior. They were HIV positive political refugees. Yet, as Slate recalls:

As a result, the refugees remained, even after he assumed office, in leaky barracks with poor sanitation, surrounded by razor wire and guard towers. They responded with a hunger strike, and after raucous protests against their confinement, a number were thrown in the naval brig as if they were criminals... Worse still, federal authorities refused to release the sickest Haitians, even though military physicians on Guantanamo lacked the means to treat them.

The Clinton White House justified this atrocious conduct in terms that sound strikingly familiar today...

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