Former Prisoners Speak Out

Our friends at the UC Davis Center for Human Rights in the Americas have put up this audio recording (in mp3 format) of a panel of British former detainees.

The panel, which included Moazzam Begg, was part of this year's Guantánamo Conference at St. Anne's College in Oxford. The file is rather large so be patient.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

THIRD RATE LAWYER

So today we learned that the new secretary of defense wanted to close Guantánamo, but Cheney and his side kick Gonzales said “no.” To anyone paying attention it is no surprise they do not want Guantánamo closed. I mean, look at Gonzales’ best terrorist cases that were tried in our federal courts… all miserable failures. Why in the world would Gonzo want to put the Guantánamo prisoners on trial in a real courtroom for the entire world to see? That is why Guantánamo must stay open, that is why the men dribble out of Guantánamo in the dark of night a few at a time in hopes that no one is paying any attention. No, Gonzo and his man Cheney will fight to keep gitmo open because the truth behind Guantánamo is even more embarrassing than the political firing of prosecutors.
You see, no federal court in this country would ever convict a man because he was wearing a “casio watch;” or because a man stayed in the same guest house (our closest equivalent would be a B & B) where someone who might have been a terrorist might have stayed, at some point in time; or because some unknown person claimed they saw you in a suspicious place. Oh yeah, and no federal court would allow someone to be convicted based on evidence that cannot be told to the prisoner.
The attorney general is supposed to be the top lawyer of our land but GW’s man Gonzo did not even know that habeas corpus was guaranteed under our constitution. Even if Gonzo did not bother taking constitutional law while in law school you would think that he would have picked up on the concept in a history class or somewhere along the way in his career. But, I guess you don’t become a yes man because of your brains. You become a yes man because you will disregard anything and everything you (may) have learned and act in blind loyalty… to what? Not to our country but to a corrupt and incompetent president.
So this third rate lawyer who thinks it is ok to torture people (just short of organ failure), who thinks it is ok to have secret prisons and send suspects to countries that don’t have the organ failure prohibition, who thinks it is ok to listen in on our telephone conversations and review our bank records without bothering to get approval from a court and who thinks his army of attorneys are there for his master’s political agenda, cannot allow Guantánamo to be closed. His fear is that someone might care that we have been holding men without justification for over five years and they might want to hold him responsible. I, for one, don’t think he has anything to worry about on that score.

New on Huffington Post:

Candace has a new piece on Huffington Post; consider it an opportunity to expand your Latin lexicon. Caveat auditor, "let the listener beware" is a good principle to keep in mind when listening to the Bush administration's drivel...but does it go far enough?

These guys are a piece of work....

The note posted above is the government's response to Candace's request that her Libyan client, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, be moved from Camp 6 to a different facility.

Candace's Libyan client, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, is being held in Guantánamo's newest (and cruelest) prison complex. Inmates at Camp 6 are subjected to prolonged, psychologically devastating isolation and can go weeks without access to natural light. They are sometimes invited to take outdoor recreation time late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. (Read more about Camp 6 here.)

Furthermore, the prisoners are kept perpetually cold, making them pine for the days when they were kept in open cages as tropical storms rolled overhead.

The government's response is typical; a bold-faced denial of the problem and a brief dismissal.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

P.S. from H. Candace Gorman:

FYI- I redacted the name of the military attorney that sent me this response, not because I wanted to protect his identity, (I don't really care) but because he is so low level that it is clear this was not his decision. I suspect that the exact wording of his response came from his superior Major McCarthy... more on him later.

More on David Hicks:

Our hero, Major Mori, reports that David Hicks was sedated last month by his jailers. Guantánamo's inmates have long maintained that they have been forcibly treated with sedatives and other psychoactive drugs.

Hicks' father, Terry Hicks, hopes to attend his son's military commission appearance.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

A Note on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Clearly, the administration's spin-doctors are using Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confessions to justify the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process.

Let us remember that Sheikh Mohammed's presence in Camp Delta has been a PR stunt since his (relatively recent) arrival with 13 other "high value" detainees during the legislative push for the Military Commissions Act.

As Captain Yee observes:

It became more clear that if our military and government had captured a legitimate terrorist suspect, they would not have been brought to Guantanamo Bay at all, but to the secret CIA black sites, that the President admitted existed when he transferred 14 so-called "high value" terrorist suspects to Guantanamo in September 2006 in order to get Congressional support for the Military Commissions Act after the Administration lost in its attempt to unilaterally impose military commissions of its own devising after the Hamdan case. Only at that time were any real terrorists possibly connected with September 11th brought to GTMO.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

More Tidbits:

A replica of David Hicks' cell tours Australia.

Spaniards march against Guantánamo.

British residents in limbo.

Editorial on GTMO and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from The Telegraph.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

Tidbits:

• The Raw Story reports that House Democrats have put Guantánamo on the back burner.
• Karen Greenberg gives the straight story on GTMO.
• TomPaine.com reflects on the Supreme Court and the future of habeas corpus.

James Yee on the Talking Dog

The Talking Dog is a reliable source of excellent interviews on Guantánamo. On Sunday, TD posted an interview with James Yee, Guantánamo's former Muslim Chaplain. Captain Yee was charged with espionage and sedition as well as numerous other charges (all of which were dropped).

The interview touches on the rarely-reported juvenile prisoners held in Camp Iguana:

As for the juveniles, there were at least three boys in Camp Iguana between 12 and 14 years old. There were at least 6 others, by the way, who were 15 or 16, definitely younger than 18, in general population. The three in Camp Iguana I met weekly. We were led to believe they were "hard core terrorists" but this was utterly ridiculous. The guards in charge of them would frequently discipline them with "time-outs" just as many American parents discipline their own children.

And on the Yee's general impression of the GMTO population:

The expectations I had, both from the military itself and our political leaders, were that we were holding 700 totally hard core terrorists. Of course, that's not at all what I encountered when I got there. It became clear that none of the individuals we were holding at Guantanamo were connected in any way to the September 11th attacks. It became more clear that if our military and government had captured a legitimate terrorist suspect, they would not have been brought to Guantanamo Bay at all, but to the secret CIA black sites, that the President admitted existed when he transferred 14 so-called "high value" terrorist suspects to Guantanamo in September 2006 in order to get Congressional support for the Military Commissions Act after the Administration lost in its attempt to unilaterally impose military commissions of its own devising after the Hamdan case. Only at that time were any real terrorists possibly connected with September 11th brought to GTMO.

New on Huffington Post:

Candace has a new entry on Huffington Post in which she asks, just how many detainees have actually "returned to the battlefied?"

A Note on Mishal al-Harbi:

Sunday's Washington Post featured an article on Mishal al-Harbi, a former Guantánamo inmate who suffered brain damage under mysterious while at the base. Al-Harbi's family suspects that he was beaten by the guards, the U.S. maintains that the his brain was deprived of oxygen during an attempted suicide by hanging. Either way, al-Harbi is a victim of the Guantánamo's brutality and dehumanization.

Today, the internet news service Islam Online, features its own angry response (via Turkish Weekly) to al-Harbi's story ... another example of how Guantánamo undermines the U.S.' stated aim of improving its image in the Muslim world.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

The Boston Globe Speaks Up for the Uighurs

Yesterday, in a strong editorial (featuring quotes from our friend Sabin Willett), the Boston Globe denounced the treatment and continued "detention" of the Guantánamo Uighurs, members of a Muslim ethnic group from western China.

So Guantanamo will continue as an international symbol of this country's retreat from its rule-of-law traditions. Gates has wisely decided not to go ahead with a planned $100 million court complex for the base. He could make it even clearer that he is changing the self-destructive course the country is on there by releasing the Uighurs.

Releasing the Uighurs would be a good start - but let's not forget the hundreds of other prisoners languishing in that Cuban dungeon, victims of the Bush Administration's kangaroo justice.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

The Gagging of Michael Mori

Apparently, Colonel Moe Davis' six-point strategy for media manipulation has been axed in favor of simpler methods.

According to The Age, Major Michael Mori, David Hick's military attorney, has been gagged by the authorities for campaigning a bit too effectively in the Land Down Under.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

Reporters Without Borders on Sami Al-Haj

The Paris-based group is speaking out on behalf of Sudanese cameraman Sami Al-Haj, who is now on hunger strike:

Al-Haj has been held by the Americans for five years without being charged, in disgraceful conditions and in violation of all international conventions on the treatment of prisoners ... Legitimately but in vain, he tried to assert his rights to the military authorities. While we could not encourage him to pursue a hunger strike, we strongly condemn the fact that he was fed by force.

The Washington Post on Colonel Moe:

Are the editors of the Washington Post reading Huffington Post?