Will Obama close Guantanamo?

The closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre was a top priority for Barack Obama during his first term as the US president, but since he began his second term, Obama has barely spoken of Guantanamo.

The prison in Cuba was also left largely out of the public discourse in the United States. But a now three-month-long hunger strike by more than 100 detainees has changed that.

As the strike by detainees protesting their indefinite detention continues, the Pentagon has cleared the force feeding of 20 detainees, a move supported by Obama.

But the American Medical Association, the largest association of US physicians, has sent a letter to Chuck Hagel, US secretary of defense, protesting against the force feedings, saying they violate medical ethics.

"We urge you to ensure that this matter receives prompt and thorough attention to address any situation in which a physician may be asked to violate the ethical standards of his or her profession," read the AMA letter.

But one Pentagon spokesman told Carol Rosenberg, Miami Herald reporter, that it is "un-American" to let a detainee starve and that it "violates the very code of civilised peoples everywhere".

So, has the strike finally tipped the scales so that it is finally time for justice to be done?

Inside Story Americas, with presenter Shihab Rattansi, discusses with guests Vincent Iacopino, senior medical advisor for Physicians for Human Rights; John Knefel, independent journalist and Vincent Warren, Center for Constitutional Rights executive director.