Tough Read: 9/11 Mom Visits Guantanamo

Sad. h/t Cinn This is tough to read. One doesn't want to politicize it too much. But that's hard, too. She supported Obama as a Mom for Obama and didn't support the war in Iraq. But after her visit she is having second thoughts on wanting Guantanamo closed down. The really tough part to read is her describing how good the terrorists have it versus the loss of her son and his loss of life.

Judy Reiss' son, Joshua, died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He was a trader for Cantor Fitzgerald. He was 23.

"It seems like yesterday," said Reiss, who lives with husband, Gary, in Lower Makefield. "Every day it's hard. I go to weddings, Josh's friends have weddings, and they have children now. And it won't happen for him, for us. It's hard."

The Reisses are dedicated to seeing that the men who planned the attacks that killed their son and nearly 3,000 others are held accountable and punished. However, Judy Reiss said, she grew disillusioned with the Bush administration's handling of the fight.

"We had no business in Iraq," she said.

In the last election she supported Barack Obama. She campaigned for him.

"I was a 'Mama for Obama,' " she said.

She believed, too, that the American prison camp at Guantanamo, where five men who plotted the 9/11 attacks are imprisoned and face trial, should be closed. Now, she wants it kept open.

In July, at the invitation of military prosecutors, she visited Guantanamo. She sat through court hearings. She saw the five men on trial, including mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. She toured the camp.

"I expected it to look like a broken-down prison, like I had heard on the news. You know, the people are not taken care of, things are bad. Let me tell you - it's the Guantanamo Bay resort and spa. And that's what it is. You and I do not live as well as the detainees," she said.

Prisoners have air-conditioned quarters, she said. They eat well, too.

"Not only religious food, but the food from the eight different countries they come from. They actually have brought in chefs so that the cuisine of their culture is there for them. Health care is available 24/7.

"All medical, dental, emotional care is there for them. If they have even a pimple, they will fly in a dermatologist from the United States to make sure it's not cancer. They get age-appropriate immunizations. They get age appropriate health screenings. They get colonoscopies.

Comments

[gravel kucinich paul nader]

Left and rights of passage
Black and whites of youth
Who can face the knowledge
That the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete
Absolute

Does the Government & Propaganda Media lie to you?
Future of a Nation that can not trust the Government & Propaganda Media?

[Meadow]

I have long wondered why Guantanamo needed to be closed. If the intent is to release the prisoners, my vote must be a loud NO.

Since, as far as I know, the facilities are in good shape, the question remains, why close it?

Seeing the current administration wanting to put the shumdits who masterminded the deaths of so many in max prisons around our country, then I say, "Leave them at Guantamamo".

I am so flipping tired of the bowing and kowtowing of the current administration to the thugs and terrorists!

He makes me angry.

It is hard to read the account of the Reisses and of all the families who lost loved ones in the attacks 8 years ago.

The reality is that the terrorists have more freedom and rights than we Americans have. More than those who jumped from the towers. More than those who were beheaded on film as propaganda.

The DC march shows Americans are fed up with the steam roller tactics of the current administration.

God's blessings to the Reiss family.

[Rob Crawford]

"I expected it to look like a broken-down prison, like I had heard on the news."

Huh. You mean the reporters lied to her?

It's also pretty hilarious to hear her compare it to a spa. I swear I've heard that before...

[epobirs]

As the saying goes, those most intent on closing Guatanamo aren't anti-war. They're on the other side.

After all this time, I have to wonder if this woman has given any thought to what Presidential administration's policies enabled 9/11 in the first place. Further, has she given any thought to the strategic point of invading Iraq. It wasn't about the possible weapons there. It was about not being able to attack Saudi Arabia directly and end the funding of Al Qaeda and others of their ilk.

They have a personal tragedy but have they learned anything from it?

[Mo]

Maybe we SHOULD close it and put them in Marion, Illinois', in the Federal penitentiary there, and in solitary confinement. To hell with these bastards. It's disgusting that we coddle them. If they are innocent, let 'em go. If guilty, put 'em in a cage and lock the key and throw it away.

[mark l.]

"They get colonoscopies."

wow. they are roughing it. In america, veterans get colonoscopies AND hepatitis.

all is forgiven if the technician they fly in is andrew sullivan.

[cindi]

They have a personal tragedy but have they learned anything from it?Posted by: epobirs | Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 02:08 PM

You are truly a looser.

[cindi]

Sorry epobirs. I misread what you had posted.

[Donna]

I agree with her. We have enough terrorists on US soil. We don't need any more. That base needs to stay open. WE don't need any more drama here. We already have enough with Obama.