truthout in "Time to Close Guantanamo" on Gitmo and all the appalling negatives about it....
"As Syria, Iran and US politics have dominated the media in the past weeks, the continuing plight of Guantanamo's prisoners has receded from public consciousness. The shame of those prisons continues to hang over America. The denial of justice through indefinite detention and flawed trial procedures casts doubt on our country's professed allegiance to the rule of law.
In his September 24, 2013, speech to the UN General Assembly, President Obama alluded to Guantanamo. He said: "We are transferring detainees to other countries and trying terrorists in courts of law, while working diligently to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay."
Yet to this day:
When interrupted by a Code Pink protester during his remarks at the National Defense University on May 23, 2013, the president condemned that detainees are being force-fed. "Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are being held on a hunger strike. ... Is this who we are? ... Is that the America we want to leave our children? Our sense of justice is stronger than that."
If so, why are 18 Guantanamo prisoners still being force-fed? Why are defense counsels in military commissions constrained in accessing and communicating with their clients? Why is the Guantanamo prison still operating?"
"As Syria, Iran and US politics have dominated the media in the past weeks, the continuing plight of Guantanamo's prisoners has receded from public consciousness. The shame of those prisons continues to hang over America. The denial of justice through indefinite detention and flawed trial procedures casts doubt on our country's professed allegiance to the rule of law.
In his September 24, 2013, speech to the UN General Assembly, President Obama alluded to Guantanamo. He said: "We are transferring detainees to other countries and trying terrorists in courts of law, while working diligently to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay."
Yet to this day:
- The president has released only two prisoners (both Algerian) since his May 23 lifting of the moritorium on transfers to Yemen.
- Even though 84 prisoners, determined to be not a danger, were cleared for release in January 2010 by an inter-agency Guantanamo Review Task Force, no further prisoners have been freed.
- Of the 164 current "detainees" in Guantanamo, no more than 26 are considered as "significant threats." The remaining 138 (many of whom were rounded up and sold to the US military for bounty) have not been charged with any crime.
- The decade long detention, without end in sight, has given rise to a hopelessness and despair that largely prompted the hunger strike begun in February 2013. To surpress the strike, prison authorities punished participants with forced feedings, lockdowns and solitary confinement.
When interrupted by a Code Pink protester during his remarks at the National Defense University on May 23, 2013, the president condemned that detainees are being force-fed. "Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are being held on a hunger strike. ... Is this who we are? ... Is that the America we want to leave our children? Our sense of justice is stronger than that."
If so, why are 18 Guantanamo prisoners still being force-fed? Why are defense counsels in military commissions constrained in accessing and communicating with their clients? Why is the Guantanamo prison still operating?"
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