The hunger strikers were political prisoners. I love how this little gem goes so unquestioned in Irish America (and even by many in Northern Ireland). Kate McCabe is obviously a classic Irish American who begins her story with this quote from a Guantanamo Bay detainee who, obviously inspired by the myths of Bobby Sands more than the reality, compares his self-inflicted starvation with that of Mr Sands.

"Bobby Sands petitioned the British government to stop the illegitimate treatment [sic] of Irishmen without trial. "

Actually, no Mohammed. He didn't.

Detention of suspected terrorists without trial was ended by 1976, 5 years before the Bobby Sands took the decision to end his life. From that point on, anyone imprisoned on terrorist offences was tried in court. Hands up who thinks Kate "as an Irish American" McCabe corrected this glaring mistake.

Follow up:

Now when I've read some of the media reports about Guantanamo Bay, I have wondered sometimes whether there might be some truth in the allegations. However when I hear hunger strikers compare themselves to the lowlives that preceded them in this country, and consider that their most outspoken mouthpieces are those like Kate McCabe (who goes on to quote such unbiased sources as Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly and of course what piece of Irish-American mopery would be complete without a quote from Danny Morrison).

Obviously there are some in "Irish-America" who are jaundiced beyond hope of recovery when it comes to all things political, and if they're supporting the detainees at Gitmo, then going on past experience it's hard not to believe that the claims of abuse are at best exaggerated and at worst completely fictitious.