Long Term Hunger Striker Set for Release....

"Tariq Ba Odah, a 37-year-old Yemeni, whom the military has been force-feeding daily. That involves guards strapping him down, putting a rubber tube down his nose and pumping a liquid dietary supplement into his stomach. Last year, Ba Odah’s weight dipped to 74 pounds."

I can't remember exactly when Tariq started his hunger strike but it has been several years and he is reportedly in very ill health. I hope the country that has agreed to take him can provide the long term health care that he will need.

Supposedly the administration is preparing to release about a dozen men in the coming months. Read the rest here.

Catching up....

 A few articles exploring what is going on at Gitmo these days.... or more appropriately what is not going on....

The Miami Herald released a review chart to track the slow progress of the "periodic review board" and also discusses the snails pace at which these reviews have continued.

Rolling Stone looks at "America's shame...."

Aljazeera looks at the dark prisoners "inside the CIA's torture program."

And finally the Guardian looks at the CIA's role in photographing detainees naked prior to sending them off for more torture.

And still the torture report remains hidden from view while an appellate panel reviews a Freedom of Information request from the ACLU.

What a surprise!

Pentagon envoy says that closing Guantanamo is a national security issue.
Read more here.

We are all Belgians....

Castro demands return of Guantanamo....

And we should give it back to him....

Read more here.

Back to Guantanamo

Informed Comment just linked to an article from late December that I think is important to note. It addresses the way the pentagon has ignored Obama in his attempts to close Guantanamo. You can read that report here.
Of course that is only a piece of the puzzle, much of the blame for failing to close Guantanamo rests with President Obama himself. He was too inexperienced to know how to deal with the military and unfortunately our military has been emboldened by his lackluster performance as commander in chief. The article where I found the link to this story discusses some of the other troubling issues in regards to the U.S. military's continued disregard for its civilian authority. The bottom line is that the military does what it pleases and we give them most of our tax dollars without any real oversight.

End of musical interlude....

and again....

Musical Interlude.... Con't

Musical Interlude

Happy St. Patrick's day.

Appendix to Army Field Manual allows torture.....

As we lawyers like to say- the proof is in the details. It seems that the details to the Army Field Manuel (Appendix M) allows the continuation of some of the torture techniques that we were told were disavowed....
You can read more here.

U.N. Torture Envoy still trying to visit Gitmo and U.S. prisons.....

But the Torture Envoy has only been waiting 5 years for a response to his request....
Since it took Obama over 7 years to come up with a plan for closing Guantanamo I guess no one should be surprised that Obama has not gotten around to responding to the U.N. request.
You can read the rest here.

What exactly is going on in Guantanamo??

Salon talks with attorney Wells Dixon from the Center for Constitutional Rights (the umbrella group that organized the probono attorneys who have been representing the men at Guantanamo). Wells explains the current status of the 92 men who are still held at the base.
Read the interview here.

meanwhile in France....

The French are trying to hold accountable former Guantanamo (and Abu Ghraib)  torturer General Geoffrey Miller for the torture of two of its citizens at Guantanamo. Alas, my country believes it is above the law and refuses to provide documents or other informaiton to help the French inquiry. Miller himself refuses to go to France for questioning-- I guess this means he cannot go anywhere in the EU for fear of being turned over to the French. Maybe he will forget and slip up.
You can read more here.