events on the twelfth anniversary

From Andy Worthington- click here...

From the Yemen Times- click here...

From Firedoglak--click here

From Daphne Eviatar (Huffingtonpost) --click here

From Carol Rosenberger (Miami Herald) --click here

I know I am probably missing some others....

Yes folks- Guantanamo is still open!

January 9th, 2013 8:02 PM

Guantanmo Is Still Open

By Candace Gorman

Hey folks -- Guantanamo is still open. My client and 166 other men are now entering their twelfth year of being held without charge or trial and there is no end in sight for their plight.

Is someone to blame for this?

Could it be Barack that is to blame? This New Year’s Eve seems to have been a big day for Barack Obama. As he signed the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act -- the NDAA -- keeping Guantanamo, for all intents and purposes, open for another year -- he issued a “signing statement” -- the way George Dubya Bush used to do quite often -- but in this signing statement, the president lamented about how his hands are tied in closing Guantanamo. But of course he went ahead and signed the NDAA anyway, tying his own hands (and allowing him to tie ours, or detain us, or if necessary in his opinion, presumably torture or kill us) and then he flew back to Hawaii to finish his vacation. So certainly Barack cannot be to blame, right? After all, his hands are tied!

READ THE REST ON MICHAEL MOORE'S WEBPAGE.

WE ARE SO UP THE CREEK.....

(that is US slang -write if you need an explanation....)

It seems that a (former?) FBI man has been held hostage by someone since 2007. His family did not go public in hopes that my government (his government) would help him. Alas that never happened and the family finally went public....and there is good reason why my government has not done a god damn thing- and it has nothing to do with the unfortunate Robert Levinson....it has to do with my government...
Seems the people holding poor Mr. Levinson have been using him to make a point about my country's illegal and unconscionable jail at Guantanamo and my government didn't want to deal with that embarrassment.....

"The photos, for example, portray Levinson in an orange jumpsuit like those worn by detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The family received them via email in April 2011. In each photo, he held a sign bearing a different message.

"I am here in Guantanamo," one said. "Do you know where it is?"

Another read, "This is the result of 30 years serving for USA."

I am so very sorry for  Mr. Levinson. My country is completely dysfunctional and unwilling to admit its mistakes in operating this illegal prison and now we have others mimicking the prison.....what a shock!
I can only hope his captives will let him go- recognizing that so many of us here in the US have been trying to free the men at Guantanamo and holding this unfortunate man will not help those men.
Read more about this here.

The New American Justice

Another federal judge today confirmed that we (the attorney's for men held at Guantanamo) cannot see documentation that is classified at a higher classification level than the level awarded to us even if the information could be important for our clients freedom....sigh.

The doors of the courthouse keep shutting tighter and tighter....

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/01/judge-government-can-rely-on-top-secret-information-in-gitmo-case.html

another sorry anniversary

Friday starts year twelve for the 166 men still held at Guantanamo. Find a protest near you and make yourself heard. If you are in the DC area head to the white house and join the hunger strikers-let that miserable president of ours know that some in the country still do care about the rule of law.

Sorry Men.....

But the president has decided again this year that it just isn't that important to deal with those of you being held without charge or trial at our gulag at Guantanamo Bay- -
although he does profess to be unhappy with his decision .... and he shows his unhappiness by cloning GW and giving a signing statement....
what a wimp...
Speaking of wimps....now that Jeh Johnson has left the post of general counsel for the military he is announcing that the war with al-Qaeda must end and the transfer restrictions on the men at Guantanamo in the NDAA must end... (note that you have to work through the discussion about how we treated prisoners in world war 11 to get to the gitmo part in the link- its about 5 minutes in...)
thanks for your bravery and courage mr. Johnson in holding off on discussing these important issues until after you left office.