The Times Union's front page coverage of Elliott Adams' hunger protest against the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay was a necessary reminder that there are individuals compelled to put themselves at risk to draw attention to activities of our government that corrupt the image of traditional American values ("Using hunger as weapon of protest," July 13).
There does not appear to be many who would inconvenience themselves to object to procedures such as extraordinary renditions of captives to foreign black hole interrogation sites; substituting "enhanced interrogation" for torture; killing of secretly defined terrorists, suspected insurgents and militants without due process; indefinite confinement without charge; and force feeding hunger strikers in Guantanamo to keep them alive for continued indefinite detention.
The conviction of Mr. Adams, a Vietnam War veteran, that: "Holding suspects indefinitely without charging them violates every principle America stands for," and that, "My flag, my government, my military is doing this in my name," should find a similar response in every American.
"Give me liberty or give me death" is by Patrick Henry, one of America's most revered patriots. It is the sentiment of many Gitmo prisoners forcefully denied them by America.
Alex Yatsevitch
Delmar