# New Gitmo atrocity -- obesity!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 20, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126 "2002-03-20T00:43:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/1 "2002-03-20T00:43:53Z")
America is forcing Gitmo prisoners to gain weight, which will lead to a host of illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes and eventually – DEATH!
Wake up, Americans! We must band together to stop this uncivilized behavior by our government!
Where are Amnesty International and the Red Cross when they’re most needed?
> [@](#):
>
> While about a dozen al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba remain on a hunger strike to protest their detention, nearly 300 others apparently like the chow so much they have gained, on average, about 10 pounds each. They are particularly fond of the box of Fruit Loops cereal they receive as one of many snacks each day, eating the sweet, colored puffs like candy. They also are bulking up on carbohydrate-rich Meals Ready to Eat lunches, which feature pasta or stews. Camp commanders say their diet averages about 2,700 calories a day.
[http://www.caller.com/ccct/politics/article/0,1641,CCCT\_813\_1032311,00.html](http://www.caller.com/ccct/politics/article/0,1641,CCCT_813_1032311,00.html)
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### Author:  [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/2 "2002-03-20T01:50:05Z")
Andy Rooney said it, and I’ll repeat it. If you want your oponents to surrender, let the troops know that they’ll be treated well.
Personally, I think some pics featuring fat, happy al Qaeda prisoners chowing down on Froot Loops would go a long way to bring hold-outs out of their caves…
😃
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/3 "2002-03-20T01:59:46Z")
Froot Loops-bah! Everyone knows Corn Pops are the best!
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### Author:  [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/4 "2002-03-20T02:19:05Z")
Heathen!
Cap’n Crunch, or Death!
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### Author:  [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/5 "2002-03-20T02:19:59Z")
Just for clarity–one can never be too sure what you’re really claiming–nobody has actually claimed this is mistreatment, right? And if not, why on earth is this in the Pit?
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/6 "2002-03-20T04:39:23Z")
Mmmm, decisions decisions. . .
Thermobaric detonation, or MRE. . . The very air sucked out of my lungs and replaced by a hot flaming gas, or an MRE. . . Tasty gruel for 6 - 12 more months in a dimly lit cave with rationed potable water but all the 7.62mm ammo I can have, or an MRE. . . No TV, no access to the real world, nor actual daylight, or an MRE . . .
Decisions decisions decisions! 😕
Tripler
Mmmmmmmm, MRE . . .
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### Author:  [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/7 "2002-03-20T05:04:30Z")
That would make a hell of a ‘got milk’ commercial. A bunch of Al Qaida are hiding in a dirty grimy cave. The whole wall is covered with boxes of lucky charms. One pours a bowl then tries to milk a goat into the bowl. The goat dies and falls over. The commercial ends as they are running screaming from the cave throwing their guns and shaving their beards as they past smiling marines into an American military camp with a big milk tanker truck in the background.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/8 "2002-03-20T07:26:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by wolfman \*
> \*\*That would make a hell of a ‘got milk’ commercial. A bunch of Al Qaida are hiding in a dirty grimy cave. The whole wall is covered with boxes of lucky charms. One pours a bowl then tries to milk a goat into the bowl. The goat dies and falls over. The commercial ends as they are running screaming from the cave throwing their guns and shaving their beards as they past smiling marines into an American military camp with a big milk tanker truck in the background. \*\*
LoLOLOLOLOL hahhaaha!
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/9 "2002-03-20T14:54:54Z")
I might be mistaken, but I think I saw some lazy reporting cited above. Didn’t the Department of Defense make a big thing about them honouring the detainee’s religious proscriptions and thus ensured they weren’t being served MREs with meat products? I really don’t recall seeing any MRE with “vegetable stew” as a menu option.
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### Author:  [@Simetra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simetra)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/10 "2002-03-20T15:10:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Monty \*
> \*\*I might be mistaken, but I think I saw some lazy reporting cited above. Didn’t the Department of Defense make a big thing about them honouring the detainee’s religious proscriptions and thus ensured they weren’t being served MREs with meat products? I really don’t recall seeing any MRE with “vegetable stew” as a menu option. \*\*
There are vegetarian MREs… and if you ask me. They’re the best ones cause they usually have applesauce and peanut butter in them.
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### Author:  [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/11 "2002-03-20T15:23:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by minty green \*
> \*\*Just for clarity–one can never be too sure what you’re really claiming–nobody has actually claimed this is mistreatment, right? And if not, why on earth is this in the Pit? \*\*
I believe this is actually a rant against the earlier reports of Amnesty International and others investigating mistreatment of the prisoners.
Question, though: The OP mentions 300 of the prisoners gaining weight. How many prisoners are housed at Gitmo? If that’s a majority of them, then talk of “mistreatment” of the prisoners is moot. If that’s a small percentage, though, it doesn’t really mean anything.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/12 "2002-03-20T15:58:35Z")
The figure given on [cnn.com](http://cnn.com) is always “300” as the total number of prisoners now at Camp X-ray. There are 244 more waiting in Afghanistan.
It’s questionable whether it was even a “hunger strike” to begin with.
[http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/03/14/ret.guantanamo.detainees/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/03/14/ret.guantanamo.detainees/index.html)
> [@](#):
>
> Because almost every detainee was eating at least two meals a day, with various ones refusing each of the day’s meals, the military has been reluctant to call the refusals to eat a hunger strike.
And there’s this:
> [@](#):
>
> The U.S. military says meals served to detainees are “halal,” or religiously appropriate for Muslims. Meal items include oatmeal, vegetarian stew, rice and red beans, water, fruits, granola bars, garlic bagel chips, barbecue-flavor sunflower seeds, Fruit Loops cereal and roasted peanuts.
I can’t find anything at all referring to the detainees having gained 10 pounds, either on [cnn.com](http://cnn.com) or on Google, except for things like this:
[http://www.ocregister.com/news/issa01026cci.shtml](http://www.ocregister.com/news/issa01026cci.shtml)
> [@](#):
>
> “These fighters are absolutely anemic,” [Rep. Darrell] Issa said. “They will definitely gain weight with the food we are feeding them.”
So, lacking any other cites for the detainees having gained weight, I am forced to conclude that either the Corpus Christi _Caller Times_ made it up, or that the source for the blurb (which is not mentioned in the article) made it up. In other words, I’m getting a definite whiff of _Spam a la mode_. 😃
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/13 "2002-03-20T16:38:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Simetra \*
> There are vegetarian MREs… and if you ask me. They’re the best ones cause they usually have applesauce and peanut butter in them.
Do me a tiny little favour next time you quote me and comment on it: read what I posted and all of what I posted. I am obviously aware that there are vegetarian MRE. I clearly made the comment that I had not see VEGETARIAN **STEW** MRE. Every MRE I saw with “stew” on it, was a beef stew MRE.
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/14 "2002-03-20T18:22:14Z")
**Monty** , do us a tiny little favor and be a little more clear in your posts. Your original post could easily be read to imply that there were no vegetarian MRE’s at all. Your reference to no Vegetarian Stew option should have noted that, while there are vegetarian MRE’s, and there are stew MRE’s, there is not a vegetarian stew MRE. I, for one, would have come away from your post thinking there were no veggie MRE’s at all.
And you are correct, I checked here [http://www.dscp.dla.mil/subs/rations/meals/vmres.htm](http://www.dscp.dla.mil/subs/rations/meals/vmres.htm) and there was no stew option for Vegetarian MRE’s. There is a Vegetarian Stew meal in the Kosher section, but apparently that’s not an MRE.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/15 "2002-03-21T02:03:17Z")
Excuse the bleep out of me, cheese. From now on I shall add “I DID NOT MEAN TO STATE ANYTHING I DID NOT STATE HERE” just for your sake to each and every posting.
Actually, I shan’t. I trust those with at least a semblance of a working knowledge of the language to understand the language.
Out of idle curiosity…exactly WTF did you think I meant by “MREs without meat products?” Did you think I meant “air?”
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/16 "2002-03-21T02:41:17Z")
Aha! I get it now. For some odd reason, y’all read “weren’t being served MREs with meat products” as “weren’t being served MREs.”
That’s not what I typed and certainly not what I meant.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/17 "2002-03-21T02:55:14Z")
I’m koo-koo for Cocoa Puffs! 🙂
Really, that’s all that comes to mind here. Sorry.
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### Author:  [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/18 "2002-03-21T07:49:09Z")
Amnesty International have always got a knot in their collective shorts. The Taliban and Al Qaida folk at Gunatanimo are _prisoners,_ not guests. As far as I am concerned, fuck 'em. Feed 'em dog food. It’s better than what they were getting at home and better than they deserve. Do you think for one moment that if the tables were turned their leaders would give a damn about the dietary needs of Alliance prisoners. Or, for that matter, do you imagine there would even _ **be** _ any Alliance prisoners except for those held as bargaining chips?
Do you think that Bin Laden or any of his henchmen would spend one dime to accomodate the special needs of any prisoner, much less the millions we have spent housing, protecting and feeding these assholes?
And before you accuse me of racism, I have nothing but compassion for American Muslims who are being harrassed by bigots who see only their style of dress. The people being held in Cuba are prisoners of war (or criminals, depending on your point of view) That issue has no doubt been addressed elsewhere, and I am not concerned to take it up now. They have the right not to be tortured and not to be starved. I don’t think they are owed any accomodation whatever beyond that.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2002, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/19 "2002-03-21T11:08:46Z")
Trix are for kids.
😉
Cartooniverse
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-gitmo-atrocity-obesity/99126/20 "2002-03-21T14:11:36Z")
I don’t understand what **december** is ranting about. The military for feeding the prisoners, the prisoners for gaining weight or The Red Cross and Amnesty International for _not_ intervening?
Even after I put it through my patent December Evilleftometer[sup]TM[/sup] I still don’t get who or what december’s mad at.
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