MORE ON CAMP "NO"

Scott Horton has more information about the hidden camp at Guantanamo. It has been suggested that this is the camp that has housed several "high value" detainees that the Bush administration claimed to move to Guantanamo in 2006. Where they and others really at Camp No that whole time?

Is this where much of the waterboarding took place?

Click on the title for Scott Horton's latest....and

stay tuned for more....because there is more.

From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian

Roger Fitch Esq • January 26, 2010

Our Man in Washington

Companies transmogrify into people as US Supreme Court strikes down laws limiting corporate funding of politicians … The deadline has come and gone but Guantánamo remains open for business … New evidence on detainee “suicides” ... The laws of war don’t apply to war

“The country is finished. Its all over. But you know, with a new republic like this, if you missed being here at the beginning, the next best thing is to be here at the end.” Gore Vidal

CLICK ON THE TITLE FOR MORE....

Oh Canada...

Today the Supreme Court of Canada held (9-0) that the Canadian Government violated the rights of Omar Khadr, (the young Canadian man who has been held at Guantanamo since he was 15 years old) by participating in the illegal interrogation methods being used by the U.S.. Unfortunately the Court would not order the Canadian government to make efforts to bring him home... at least not yet.

CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ MORE

Great News....Gitmo will be closed before the end of 2012

Click on the title for the latest backtracking by the Obama administration....

The Guantanamo Testimonials Project has more on the do-overs

Some of you may recall that my client Al-Ghizzawi was found not to be an enemy combatant back in 2004 at his combat status review tribunal (CSRT) thirty eight other men were also found not to be enemy combatants...that was when Al-Ghizzawi's personal war criminal Professor Matthew Waxman stepped in and came up with the do-overs (although now he is trying to claim that he wasn't responsible for that policy....but he was) new panels (the rubber stamp panels) reviewed the same evidence as the first panel (at least in Al-G's case and most likely in the other cases as well) but overturned the finding of the first panels. The Guantanamo Testimonials Project has been analyzing the CSRT records and reports on some of those findings. Click on the title to read that report.

four released

Three to Slovakia and one to Switzerland. None of them are my clients.

Good riddance....task force

As they slink off into the sunset I would like to make a few observations about the miserable failure formerly known as the "Guantanamo Review Task Force." They closed shop yesterday in what I am sure many amongst them thought was a clever move...using the date Obama promised to close Guantanamo as their date to walk away. In fact, they even tried to pretend near the end, that this was the date they were always planning on ending things…as though this were all part of some great plan.

From the beginning the efforts of this task force were dismal (spending months trying to figure out how to get organize and whining about the lack of files) and when you combine it with the mishaps of the "justice" department you can't help but wonder if they were trying to outdo the old tag team of Killer Kowalski and Gorilla Monsoon back in the 60's, with their antics.

The antics included having the “team” tell habeas counsel that if they would agree to stay their case it would be given a priority review. They forgot to mention that the only real benefit of the review (whether prioritized or not) was for the “justice” department…because it was the justice department that would then take the information from the review and if your client was so fortunate as to be “cleared for release” they used that information to put your case forever on hold…In other words, men who were cleared by the “review team” could no longer pursue their habeas cases and were no longer entitled to have a judge hear their habeas cases….

and to add insult to injury most who were “cleared” (110 according to the “team”) have not, for whatever reason, been released.

So for many of the men at Guantanamo the “team” has had a destructive influence, it once again took the power of Court intervention which we have fought for all of these years and shoved it up the Supreme Court’s ass…while most of the district court judges looked the other way and shrugged their collective shoulders.

For our clients this has meant another year of their illegal detentions, still with no end in sight.

Andy Worthington has more.

So “team” ….don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

Al-Ghizzawi's Personal War Criminal, Matthew Waxman, Tries to Hide

Seems that Professor Matthew Waxman, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi's personal war criminal, the man who decided that Guantanamo prisoners who were found not to be enemy combatants back in 2004 during their Combat Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) and who should have their CSRTs redone by different tribunals (the rubber stamp tribunals) is now suggesting an interesting conspiracy theory... Waxman has told people not to believe that the emails from him....were really from him.

Nice try Matt but we all know you are the one responsible for implementing the redos...you can run but you can't hide...and we will not forget.

Mr. Al-Ghizzawi has spent an additional five years (and still counting) at Guantanamo because of you.

At least thirty eight other men have had similar fates.

Mr. Al-Ghizzawi and the others have had to live with your arrogance and idiocy for all these years...the least you can do is own up to it....maybe even apologize.

Why is the possible murder at Gitmo a non-story?

Click on the title to read Dahlia Lithwicks's take on this important story.

And in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday this week ask yourself if this is still true:

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

GUANTANAMO: THE DEATH CAMP

Andy Worthington has more to say about Scott Horton's bombshell story of the deaths of the three Guantanamo prisoners back in 2006. Click here for Andy's take on this chilling account.

Click here for a look at Horton's report from invictus.

Of course the big question is whether the U.S. as a nation will once again close its collective eyes about possible U.S. war crimes.

Will this report be given an independent investigation? Or shoved under the rug?

SEEK THE TRUTH.....

AND THE TRUTH WILL SET SOME OF US FREE....AND HOPEFULLY BE USED TO PUT OTHERS BEHIND BARS.

Many thanks to Army Staff Sergeant Joseph Hickman, Specialist Tony Davila, Army Specialist Christopher Penvose and Army specialist, David Caroll.

CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THIS IMPORTANT WHISTLE BLOWER ACCOUNT FROM HARPER'S SCOTT HORTON.

This used to be a judicial function.....

Read more about how Obama's Guantanamo's Task Force has replaced the judiciary by clicking on the title.... and yes, the Judges have gladly turned this function over to them.

Interview with Saudi Detainee accused of helping underwear bomber

In the hysteria surrounding the Christmas bomb attempt aboard the plane landing in Detroit a former detainee from Guantanamo was accused by ABC of aiding the alleged attempted bomber. Only problem was....he had turned himself in to the custody of the Saudi's after being coerced into doing an Al-Qaeda video early last year and had nothing to do with the failed attack aboard the plane. But clearly this former detaine still suffers from psychological problems related to his torture at the hands of the US .Click on the title to hear this mans account of how he was treated by American's at Bagram and Guantanamo.... and if you are an American, ask yourself what could we be doing to stop the hate against us?

EIGHT YEARS LATER AND WE ARE STILL COUNTING....

CLICK ON THE TITLE FOR MY LATEST ARTICLE ON MICHAEL MOORE'S WEB PAGE.

New Campaign by Human Rights First re: Gitmo

Click on the title for more.

NYTs Corrects Itself Again....sort of.

The New York Times has "corrected" the headlines of its repeat story but not the story itself. In an email exchange I had with the public editor yesterday he told me that the NYT stands by the story itself because "The article also pointed out, independently, that the report said 74 former prisoners had engaged in terrorism or militant activity, or were suspected of it, but only 29 were identified – a strong caution for careful readers." Mr. Hoyt also thought the story was more responsible because it wasn't on the front page...sigh.

In a return email I pointed out to Mr. Hoyt that I did not believe that " newspaper articles should be “tricks” that if people read “carefully” they will see the pitfalls.... When the Pentagon makes a report the news reporters job is not to parrot the story but to investigate."

CLICK ON THE TITLE FOR MORE.

And when all else fails.....

Keep your sense of humor.

(Click on the title for more.)

The Sins of Guantanamo: We're keeping detainees in the camp because we're afraid of things they haven't done yet?

Click on the title to read Dahlia Lithwick's insightful piece on the dangerous paranoia plaguing Guantanamo that has resulted in the continued detention of innocent men.

Attorney Cori Crider writes of her Yemeni client at Gitmo

New York Times re-runs retracted story from last year....

They were called on this garbage last year when they claimed that 1 in 7 Gitmo prisoners who were released "returned to terrorism" and they ended up having to retract the story. Maybe they thought no one would notice if they re-ran the garbage again this year....well Shane did.

Click on the title for more.

And if this makes you as angry as it made me, let the New York Times know:

public@nytimes.com

Here is what I had to say to them:

"I really cannot believe you are running a remake of last year’s fake story on the supposed recidivism rate of the Gitmo prisoners. In fact, if you read through the story it is clear that the NYT is hiding the fact that there really is no story here (administration denies that they have seen any hard evidence to support the numbers.) Who has seen that hard evidence? Perhaps Dick “I will make up anything I need to justify what I did” Cheney?

Decent newspapers are a rarity these days and it seems to me that the NYT is hanging by a thread."

Best regards,

Candace

The Cook Must Stay Detained Forever

Yikes.... keeping with its reputation of being the most right wing Circuit in the country the DC Circuit has just made a sweeping ruling that basically gives carte blanche to the military to hold the men at Guantanamo forever.....

Click on the title to read the decision.

Click here to read a summary analysis from ScotUS.

The definitive list of Gitmo prisoners...thanks to Andy Worthington

Andy Worthington just updated his definitive Guantanamo

prisoner list (first published last March), which provides information and links about all 779 prisoners:

http://tinyurl.com/ykckztm