Red Cross is Back....

The International Red Cross arrived back at the base on Saturday. I think it is time for the ICRC to publicly disclose exactly what is going on with the men....read about the ad hoc visit here....

A detainee speaks and "Life Under Lockdown"

Carol Rosenberg has a good article about life for the detainees under Obama- life right now at the base sounds a lot like the harsh life the detainees suffered through under Bush- before attorneys were allowed onto the base- for example, the men are now in solitary confinement  24 hours a day- they can have nothing in their cells with them except a small isomat, a sheet and a pillow-their showers are scheduled for them as is their force feeding- they are shuffled around in shackles. 

One detainee spoke to his attorney last week and told his attorney first hand what life is like right now.... "The cells were emptied of everything." They now only have a isomat, a sheet and a pillow. "No other items are permitted in the cell. No books, no soap, no toothbrushes. Nothing." They are in a 24 hour lock down and isolation but according to the detainee "This will not break the strike, this will push the resolve deeper in the men."

  In short their lives suck....but the men decided that it sucked even more to continue to sit and wait for something to happen. Nothing is going to happen with this president unless he is embarrassed into doing something. If the only thing that will embarrass the president enough to do something is more death-so be it.

The same detainee described the attack by the military on April 13th (hours after the ICRC left the island) " The Military stormed the camp without notice or warning. Many were hit with rubber bullets at close range. ...Only hunger strikers were hit. Everyone's hands were tied behind their back and the men were left on the floor for 6 hours in this position, face down. The men were not permitted to use the bathroom during this time. The men's clothes were soaked with pepper spray and this caused further illness. The treatment was "vicious." This was a one sided war, as the hunger strike is intended to be a peaceful protest."

That detainee who spoke out is also-like most of the men- on a hunger strike and is being force-fed. He described his force-feeding this way-"I am exhausted and completely skinny. ..The military is using a size 10 tube instead of size 8. I Requested an 8, but the military will not comply. The 10 is too big and induces vomiting. The 10 makes it hard to breathe. My entire body is tied down and the large tube is inserted."

"This is a peaceful protest.  There was a one sided war on April 13. The demand is the same. Surrender the Korans. There has been no communication with the men, only force. The men are asking that an official come and speak to them as humans. We wish to speak directly. We want the conditions to be the same as before the strike, but the military must speak with them to negotiate, not just exert force and use violence over starving and weak men. Allowing a rule that the men may surrendur the Koran will cause a majority of the men to begin eating again. The men are resolved to continue their peaceful protest and to negotiate with the military. The military is using their suffering to close Guantanamo. This is a peaceful protest."

I guess it must makes the military feel tough and strong to treat the detainees in this fashion. I only wish it would make the American people ashamed about what is being done in their name....but I guess they are too busy watching tv.

Meanwhile.....

The bipartisan "torture report" concluded that yes it is true the good ole U S of A did in fact use torture- and it didn't make us any safer.
You can download a full copy or an abridged version here.
what a surprise....

Update---

Sorry for the long delay here is what we know about the hunger strike as of today:

* the military is now admitting what we (the attorneys) have been saying for more than six weeks- that most of the men being held at the base are on a hunger strike. We know the number is around 130- the military admits more than 100.;
*the military now admits that 20 men are being force fed;
*the military now admits it is not equipped to handle this many hunger strikers and that they had to ship in almost 100 medics;
* despair by the inmates is heightened by the failure to release even one detainee in several years and the periodic review boards (PRB's) that Obama promised more than one year ago -for the men who are not "cleared for release" have not occurred because the CIA refuses to allow the torture the men were subjected to be used in those hearings to explain things like admissions (admissions under torture);
*Sen. Feinstein called for a review of the moratorium of the Yemeni men (which she suggested... by the way...)
*at the same time that our clients are preparing to die rather than be warehoused indefinitely, getting to Guantanamo has become more difficult for the attorneys representing them- the one airline that flies to Guantanamo only flies on monday and friday which means an attorney like me would have to take off an entire week to visit my one client for a day. Military flights had been an option but the military just declared that the attorneys can no longer use those flights.

Talking Dog Interviews Eric Lewis

Eric predated me in the Gitmo litigation and so I never had the opportunity to meet him- but it is yet another fascinating interview....
read it here...

KISS MIRANDA GOODBYE....

From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under at Justinian

Glory, glory, hallelujah

ROGER FITCH ESQ • SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013

Old guard rallies to the cause of female CIA agent glorified fictionally in Zero Dark 30... Latest from US Supremes, including forthcoming important gene patent case ... Secret no-fly lists tested in court ... DoJ's sweetheart deals with badly behaved banks and bankers ... George W. Bush's Liberty and Freedom Institute opens for business ... Our Man in Washington 

Brennan: ably assisted by CIA villains

JOHN BRENNAN has been sworn in as CIA director, using a copy of the Constitution without the Bill of Rights. 

Ably assisted by an interview committee composed of CIA villains, Mr Brennan is already busy advancing the careers of CIA operatives implicated in crimes, such as the acting and proposed director of CIA Clandestine Services.  

A right-wing Washington Post columnist was outraged that this worthy woman's (torturous) past might be held against her, just when it seemed the CIA's infamous glass ceiling might crack. 

Naturally, the torture counsellor John Yoo was also upset.    

More here and here on the promotion of the female CIA agent glorified fictionally in the filmZero Dark 30 (see January post).  

One of the accusations against this person is her unauthorised visit to Poland to witness the CIA torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, now being tried at Guantánamo.

The CIA acknowledges water-boarding two other men held in Poland, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah and, interestingly, the  now acting CS director helped organise the destruction of videotape evidence of their torture - formerly a federal crime.

Both Nashiri and Zubaydah are suing Poland for torture in the European Court of Human Rights. 

READ THE REST HERE  

Lying Sacks of Sh*t

Yes, that would be the military. They are busy making shit up to explain the brutality it engaged in against a bunch of unarmed guys who haven't eaten in a few months. Emptywheel has done a good job of putting the lies all in one article- this is an excerpt:

Carol Rosenberg, Ryan Reilly, and Charlie Savage have all posted their stories on the government’s attempt to make the raid on detainees sound better. (Except as noted, the quotes below come from Rosenberg.)

But the accounts only seem to make it worse. Start with the fact that two of the officers interviewed — Captain John and Lieutenant Hermoine (a pseudonym, according to Rosenberg) — refused to give their names to reporters.

Then there’s Colonel John Bogdan’s claim that, even though he watched the raid via video, no video of the raid exists. (Jim wrote about Bogdan here.)

The chief of the guard force, Army Col. John Bogdan, said he monitored the mission by video screen and radio but told reporters that no taped record existed of the skirmish to independent review what went on Saturday morning.

Given that the most seriously injured of the five detainees and four guards reportedly injured in the raid was a detainee who allegedly banged his own head against his cell, I find the claim of no video especially curious.

READ THE REST HERE...

White House Petition

I am not very big on petitions- especially to that clown in the white house- but since they are so very close to the 100,000 mark and anything that could embarrass the white house is ok with me please take this as my invitation to you to sign this petition to shut the hell hole....
And thank you anonymous for posting the link....

Talking Dog Interviews Cori Crider.....

Reprieve has been one of the anchors in the litigation for the men held at Guantanamo and of course the individuals leading Reprieve have been instrumental in this battle- today's interview is with Cori Crider and it is another great interview of yet another inspiring attorney fighting for the men at Gitmo. Read it here.
Thanks again to the dog for sticking with this....

Judge claims he has no jurisdiction...

So today we witnessed another example of our fine judges in DC who refuse to even try to do anything related to the men we are illegally holding at Gitmo-
calling the condition of detainee Madhwani "self manufactured" (because he is engaged in a hunger strike)  judge Hogan refused to intercede.
Just go to the back of the bus boys and quit complaining.......
you can read more here.

Gitmo is Killing Me....

Gitmo Is Killing Me
By SAMIR NAJI al HASAN MOQBEL
Published: April 14, 2013

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba

ONE man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago.

I’ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not eat until they restore my dignity.

I’ve been detained at Guantánamo for 11 years and three months. I have never been charged with any crime. I have never received a trial.

I could have been home years ago — no one seriously thinks I am a threat — but still I am here. Years ago the military said I was a “guard” for Osama bin Laden, but this was nonsense, like something out of the American movies I used to watch. They don’t even seem to believe it anymore. But they don’t seem to care how long I sit here, either.

When I was at home in Yemen, in 2000, a childhood friend told me that in Afghanistan I could do better than the $50 a month I earned in a factory, and support my family. I’d never really traveled, and knew nothing about Afghanistan, but I gave it a try.

I was wrong to trust him. There was no work. I wanted to leave, but had no money to fly home. After the American invasion in 2001, I fled to Pakistan like everyone else. The Pakistanis arrested me when I asked to see someone from the Yemeni Embassy. I was then sent to Kandahar, and put on the first plane to Gitmo.

Last month, on March 15, I was sick in the prison hospital and refused to be fed. A team from the E.R.F. (Extreme Reaction Force), a squad of eight military police officers in riot gear, burst in. They tied my hands and feet to the bed. They forcibly inserted an IV into my hand. I spent 26 hours in this state, tied to the bed. During this time I was not permitted to go to the toilet. They inserted a catheter, which was painful, degrading and unnecessary. I was not even permitted to pray.

I will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube up my nose. I can’t describe how painful it is to be force-fed this way. As it was thrust in, it made me feel like throwing up. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn’t. There was agony in my chest, throat and stomach. I had never experienced such pain before. I would not wish this cruel punishment upon anyone.

I am still being force-fed. Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. I never know when they will come. Sometimes they come during the night, as late as 11 p.m., when I’m sleeping.

There are so many of us on hunger strike now that there aren’t enough qualified medical staff members to carry out the force-feedings; nothing is happening at regular intervals. They are feeding people around the clock just to keep up.

During one force-feeding the nurse pushed the tube about 18 inches into my stomach, hurting me more than usual, because she was doing things so hastily. I called the interpreter to ask the doctor if the procedure was being done correctly or not.

It was so painful that I begged them to stop feeding me. The nurse refused to stop feeding me. As they were finishing, some of the “food” spilled on my clothes. I asked them to change my clothes, but the guard refused to allow me to hold on to this last shred of my dignity.

When they come to force me into the chair, if I refuse to be tied up, they call the E.R.F. team. So I have a choice. Either I can exercise my right to protest my detention, and be beaten up, or I can submit to painful force-feeding.

The only reason I am still here is that President Obama refuses to send any detainees back to Yemen. This makes no sense. I am a human being, not a passport, and I deserve to be treated like one.

I do not want to die here, but until President Obama and Yemen’s president do something, that is what I risk every day. Where is my government? I will submit to any “security measures” they want in order to go home, even though they are totally unnecessary.

I will agree to whatever it takes in order to be free. I am now 35. All I want is to see my family again and to start a family of my own.

The situation is desperate now. All of the detainees here are suffering deeply. At least 40 people here are on a hunger strike. People are fainting with exhaustion every day. I have vomited blood.

And there is no end in sight to our imprisonment. Denying ourselves food and risking death every day is the choice we have made.

I just hope that because of the pain we are suffering, the eyes of the world will once again look to Guantánamo before it is too late.

Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a prisoner at Guantánamo Bay since 2002, told this story, through an Arabic interpreter, to his lawyers at the legal charity Reprieve in an unclassified telephone call.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on April 15, 2013, on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Gitmo Is Killing Me.

The International Red Cross admits its concern

Although normally the ICRC refrains from making any comments about its work at Guantanamo but the statement issued saturday claiming they are continuing to monitor things at the base "with concern" suggests things are as bleak as we have been guessing. Of course the big bad military waited until the ICRC left before it engaged in its latest brutal tactics and it is my hope that the delegation turns around and heads right back to the base before the deaths start.
Jim White over at emptywheel has a nice update on what we know now- including the improvised "weapons" that the men supposedly used when being roughed up by the military yesterday which included mops, brooms and empty water bottles wrapped in towels...seems like a threat to me! I guess we are lucky that the men were not shot and killed in response to the threat imposed on our military....

Talking Dog interviews Michael Mone

Another great interview- as you will read in this interview one of Michael's clients was released to Ireland back around the same time my client was released to Georgia- I had to laugh at the time when one of the first things offered to the men released to Ireland was cooking lessons- being of Irish descent I can tell you that the Irish have never been known for their culinary abilities- but all joking aside that was one of the many thoughtful things done for the men to make sure they could live independently.

Read the interview here.

Things are escalating at Guantanamo today...UPDATED

This press release just came from the powers to be at Gitmo... What this means is that the men are now all being held in isolation- in Camp 6 they had been held in communal living arrangements....All we know is that there was a major conflict yesterday and of course the other thing we know is that nothing the military says is to be believed...I would also note that all of this seems to have taken place hours after the International Red Cross left Guantanamo.

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba –The commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) ordered the transition of detainees from communal to single cell living at Camp VI to ensure the health and security of those detainees. The commander ordered this change at 0510, 13 April 2013. This action was taken in response to efforts by the detainees to limit the guard force’s ability to observe the detainees by covering surveillance cameras, windows, and glass partitions. Round the clock monitoring is necessary to ensure security, order, and safety, as detainees continued a prolonged hunger strike by refusing regular camp-provided meals.

 In order to reestablish proper observation, the guards entered the Camp VI communal living spaces to transition detainees into single cells, remove obstructions to cameras, windows and partitions, and to assess the medical condition of each detainee. Some detainees resisted with improvised weapons, and in response, four less-than-lethal rounds were fired. There were no serious injuries to guards or detainees. 

The mission of Joint Task Force Guantanamo is to provide for the safe, legal, and humane care and custody of detainees. All detainees will continue to be treated in a safe, legal and humane manner.

New York times has a tiny bit more here...