My My ---UPDATED...

Seven years and one month after Obama announced he was going to close Guantanamo he finally released a plan to close the place....
The plan is short on details... (like where will the men, like my client, be housed whom the president has claimed cannot be released but cannot be tried) you can read it here.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has released a statement blasting Obama's so call "plan"

Meanwhile, the centerpiece of the plan – moving those detainees who have not been and will never be charged with any crime to a prison in the U.S. – does not “close Guantánamo,” it merely relocates it to a new ZIP Code. The infamy of Guantánamo has never been just its location, but rather its immoral and illegal regime of indefinite detention. Closing Guantánamo in any meaningful sense means putting an end to that practice.

Read the rest here.

Current Guantanamo statistics.....

 Yesterday it was announced that the Review board (PRB) has approved for transfer Yemeni Majid Mahmoud Ahmed (ISN 41).

The prison population remains at 91: 35 are cleared, 46 are awaiting clearance, and 10 are in the military commission system (of those, 7 are in “active” “trial” proceedings while 3 have been “convicted”).

Of the 35 cleared, 29 (82.9%) are Yemenis and 6 are non-Yemenis. 

Of the 46 awaiting clearance, 20 are Yemenis and 26 are non-Yemenis.

The PRB has approved for transfer 18 of the 21 detainees for whom it has issued decisions.

Of the 46 detainees who are PRB-eligible and still awaiting clearance, three were denied clearance in their initial appearance before the PRB; 10 are officially in the PRB process and awaiting their first hearing or decision; and the remaining 33 have not yet officially begun the process.  (For these purposes, a detainee is “officially in the PRB process” when he shows up on the PRB web page tracking individual detainees’ proceedings.)

h/o to fellow Gitmo attorney Brian Foster for providing these updates.

CIA admits that some torture findings by Senate that it previously denied are in fact accurate....

The CIA has for over a year taken issue with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s 6,700-page report on the agency’s torture program, which among other things, claims the CIA mismanaged and abused its interrogation authorities, subjected detainees to torturous interrogation methods and misled Congress, the Justice Department and the White House about the program. In its formal response to the Senate study, dated June 2013, the agency pushed back against many of the study’s claims.

However, in a document released in December 2014 alongside the agency’s formal response to the Senate investigation, the CIA corrected substantial errors in its own response to the Committee, effectively conceding that some of the Senate’s harsh findings were in fact accurate.

“Senior CIA officials who have since been promoted vehemently denied these facts in the summer of 2013,” said a source with knowledge of the Intelligence Committee’s report. “Having the CIA officially admit, to at least some of the factual inaccuracies in their response, is significant.”

READ THE REST HERE.

Scalia.....

When it came to Guantanamo Justice Scalia not only thought that every man at Guantanamo should stay there until the military decided otherwise-- but he also thought that the attorney's representing the men should not be provided any information (discovery is the legal term) that the military collected regarding the men...(or as more accurately described-- the information that the military fabricated about the men).
To Scalia we (the attorneys) were as much the enemy as the men being held.
In his dissent in Bush vs. Boumediene Scalia stated:
  "But even when the military has evidence that it can bring forward, it is often foolhardy to release that evidence to the attorneys representing our enemies."

Scalia was of course suggesting that the attorneys representing the men could not be trusted to maintain the confidentiality of the "classified information." However the irony is that it was foolhardy to let us have that information not because any of us would break the law but because we then fought to have the information made public so that the world could see the fabrication and lies by the military to justify holding these men.

Scalia's criticism did not stop with the attorneys who represented the men at Guantanamo- he went so far as to claim that the majority's opinion in Boumediene-- allowing the men to challenge their detention--"will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed." He was of course wrong about that- just like he was wrong about so many things.

And let's not forget torture. When it came to torture Scalia's view was as lawless as those who engaged in the torture. Unfortunately, like many of his views, they seemed to stem from TV shows- instead of legal principles. You can get a glimpse of his lawless views on torture here.

Scalia was the quintessential enemy of the common person and his decisions not only ignored decency and compassion, which he felt did not have a place in the law or in interpreting our constituion, but actually ridiculed those who advocated for those values. Unfortunately his decisions also ignored well established legal principles if those established legal principles did not comport with his dogma. As a country we could and should demand better from our Supreme Court. Hopefully we will not have any more like Scalia added to the bench.

The talking dog has more on Scalia here.

The Prosecutors disconnect....

It seems that the military's prosecutor at Guantanamo agrees that the brutal (and illegal) treatment that the men at Guantanamo who are facing the military commission received-- as outlined in the senate summary is accurate. In other words that prosecutor is not contesting the treatment that these men received while being held by the CIA and military. However, the prosecutor also thinks that the torture the men were subjected to is irrelevant. In other words.....who cares?
Read more here.

THEY DON'T WANT US TO SEE WHAT THEY DID.....

Thanks to continuing lawsuits by the ACLU the torture photo's continue to be released-- bit by bit. Read more here and view the 198 new photos if you care to.

As explained in this Huffington Post:

The images released Friday are mostly closeup pictures of cuts, scars, or bruises on unidentified men. Some show prisoners handcuffed. In most images, the Pentagon redacted identifying features, such as prisoners’ eyes, but also blacked out parts of their bodies that do not appear to be identifying. In one image, one of a prisoner's eyes is visible, but his nose is blacked out. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a question asking for an explanation for the apparently excessive redactions.

For some reason the military seems to think that by showing us these close ups we will not understand the whole picture. I actually think these close ups are a very good guide as to what my country did to these (mostly) men and provides even more conclusive proof that war crimes were committed.

The ACLU also has put together a Torture Database containing over 100,000 pages of evidence that the ACLU obtained through various lawsuits which clearly documents the abuse and torture implemented by the military.

If you have not already you should donate to the ACLU so they can continue this important work.

If all else fails.....

Maintain your sense of humor!

Meanwhile... back in Morocco

Younis Abdurrahman Chekkouri has been imprisoned without charge since he was returned to Morocco last September from Guantanamo. Chekkouri was told by U.S. officials that he would be freed upon his release. In a rare turn of events the U.S. even admitted that it mistakenly held Chekkouri (for 14 years.....). Read more here.

The Campaign to Close Guantanamo

Democracy Now did a great segment on the campaign to close Guantanamo with Andy Worthington and Roger Walters.... you can see the segment here.
and listen to Roger Walters perform we shall overcome here.

Visit the campaign here and learn what you can do...

Thank you Andy and Roger.

And speaking of Torture.....

Well torture apparently is just not the same without the psychologists..... so the department of defense wants its little helpers back.

Read more here.

From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under at Justinian

*   *   *

Columbus arrives in Puerto Grande

There's a harbour in southeast Cuba so capacious that when Christopher Columbus anchored his fleet there in 1494, he named it Puerto Grande.  

When British admiral Edward Vernon visited in 1741 during the War of Jenkins' Ear, he renamed it Cumberland Harbour. Accompanying Vernon was a naval surgeon, Tobias Smollett, who afterwards wrote up his travels in The Adventures of Roderick Random. 

The bay was a haven for pirates, long before the buccaneers Bush - père and fils - started stuffing it with prisoners and hostages: Haitian asylum seekers; men from real or rhetorical wars; even actual pirates, e.g. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Ahmed al-Darbi, both now facing military courts for acts of violence on the high seas (usually defined as piracy) having nothing to do with war, and in one crime alleged, nothing to do with the country holding and charging them. 

Guantánamo Bay now hosts an extrajudicial internment camp entering its 15^th year. In notoriety, it outstrips Devil's Island, and it has held hundreds of Dreyfuses. SinceBoumediene (2008), not one of their cases - civil or military - has gone to the supreme court, regardless of merit or the injustice presented. 

Many have reflected on the sordid history of this unnecessary military blunder, e.g. the Al Jazeera journalist Sami al Hajj, held at Gitmo for six years, apparently to intimidate his employer and pry into its affairs. 

Al Jazeera  has not been silenced, and as the Pentagon in January expatriated ten Guantanameros in one go, AJ published a "where are they now" story on past, botched repatriations and reckless refoulements.  

Only the Canadian Omar Khadr seems to be receiving the rehabilitation so many deserve after their ordeal.  

Rolling Stone had a story, "America's shame", and the Miami Herald reported on the six remaining internees (now reduced to five) from the original 20 of January 11, 2002, that included David Hicks.

Almost on cue, the Pentagon released Fayiz al-Kandari, the last of the petitioners from the supreme court's landmark 2004 decision, Rasul-Al Odah, a joint appeal by two British men, joined by the Australians Hicks and Habib, and twelve Kuwaitis. 

US Navy at Guantanamo Bay

That's a long time for a supreme court case to play out, but al-Kandari was clearly a man the Pentagon wanted to keep, despite the Kuwaiti government having sought his release for years. Indeed, the military seems to have vindictively prolonged the detention of certain inmates, while frustrating the closing of the prison itself through dilatory manoeuvres.  

The Pentagon's blanket denial of prison-of-war status meanwhile continues. It began with George Bush's initial suspension of the Third Geneva Convention, but as this column has frequently noted, only Congress can derogate from a ratified treaty.

Bush's extralegal rupture of GIII was swiftly followed by his pre-emptive declaration that all Taliban soldiers detained in Afghanistan were unentitled to prisoner of war status, a nonsense Barack Obama has left undisturbed. 

One wonders why Mr Obama has spent seven years digging George Bush's Gitmo hole ever deeper.  

It would have been easy for the new president to announce, on taking office, that there would be Article Five hearings (see most recent previous post) for all prisoners then held at Gitmo. That would have allowed the US to accord GIII prisoner-of-war status to those who were entitled to it; repatriate or expatriate those wrongly held; and continue to hold - until the end of hostilities - those rightly detained.  

Those exonerated could be more easily returned, and reintegrated into society. 

The Pentagon, however, has never admitted the innocence of any prisoner released, let alone helped or compensated him. Diabolically, each is merely "no longer an enemy combatant", who's found to be "no longer a threat".  

Such a policy change of restoring the pre-Bush rule of law, of course, would have involved admitting the previous government had made mistakes - indeed, had committed grave violations of the Geneva Conventions. 

It would also have meant conceding the war in Afghanistan was an International Armed Conflict, where GIII applied throughout. That's something the Pentagon could never allow, for the military is now inured to the impunity they receive under the looser Common Article Three standards for treatment of prisoners in a Non-International Armed Conflict.  

It's worth remembering that according to studies, only five percent of prisoners sent to Guantanamo were captured by Americans on a battlefield. The rest were either unvetted Northern Alliance prisoners; men abducted elsewhere (as far away as Bosnia, Thailand and the Gambia); or all too often, men bought with $5000 bounties paid to needy Afghans and venal Pakistanis.

READ THE ENTIRE FITCH HERE.

2 Released today.... and the sad story of the 3rd.

The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed Al Sawah from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Department of Defense also announced the transfer of Abd al-Aziz Abduh Abdallah Ali Al-Suwaydi from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Government of Montenegro.
 

Unfortunately the third man who was supposed to be released today  – Mohammed Ali Abdullah Bwazir of Yemen went into a panic following more than 14 years inprisoned at Guantanamo and did not get on the plane. "In recent days, Mr. Bwazir was “frightened” to leave the prison and go to a country where he has no family, his lawyer, John Chandler, said."

Read the rest here. 

January 22

That marks the date eight years ago when Obama signed the executive order to close Guantanamo.

The International Justice Network is asking for organizations to sign on to a joint statement before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Torture. The full request with links to the joint statement is included below. I ask that you ask any and all organizations that you work with or are familiar with to sign on to this joint statement. The Joint Statemetn will be presented to the Council on January 22nd:

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing you because last year we had your support in a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council on torture and forced disappearances committed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its so-called fight against terrorism. On occasion were more than 100 organizations around the world by sending a strong message against impunity.

Today we ask for your support again.

This month, back in 2002, the United States government decided to open a detention center at Guantánamo Bay to hold suspects of terrorism. This overseas center designed to exist beyond the rule of law and far away from public scrutiny. January also mark the month when President Obama, back in 2009, issued his Executive Order, promising to close Guantánamo within one year.  As we all know, until today Guantánamo remains open.

Guantánamo is a human rights and humanitarian crisis in the Americas region. An example of unlawful actions, impunity, lack of due process and infringement of the right to truth, justice and redress. For many years now, rights groups in the US have been fighting to close it down.

Considering that 2016 is Obama’s last year in power, we would like to ask for your support to join us in a joint statement(see enclosed) urging President Obama to close Guantánamo and guarantee full accountability to in all cases of torture and other ill-treatment. We also add a specific call to Latin American states, to contribute to resolving this human rights and humanitarian crisis by supporting a regional humanitarian effort to receive Guantánamo’s detainees as refugees, responding inclusive to the recent call made by the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights in its latest report on closing Guantánamo.

If you would like to add your organization to the list of endorsing groups, please send an email to Laura Waisbich: laura.waisbich@conectas.org by COB next Thursday, January 21^st.

​We are hoping to make it public by January, 22nd, the anniversary of Obama's Executive Order.  ​

Feel free to share among your networks, so we can get a wide support across the region.

Best regards,

Laura Waisbich

musical interlude....

As Studs Terkel was fond of saying..."Hope Does Last."

One of the 10 released yesterday....

Among them was Fahd Ghazy, who has been imprisoned at Guantánamo since he was just 17 years old.

“Almost 14 years ago to the day, Fahd arrived at Guantánamo as a boy, shackled and hooded,” his attorney Omar Farah said in a press statement. “Today — finally — he is free.”

As for Fahd Ghazy, he is now 31.

“There was never much doubt that Fahd’s imprisonment was unnecessary — he was cleared for release nearly a decade ago — yet he grew up at Guantánamo waiting for successive presidents to correct a glaring injustice,” his lawyer, Omar Farah said.  

Ghazy can now reclaim his life.

“I am not ISN 26,” he said. “That is the government’s number. My name is Fahd Ghazy. I am a human being, a man who is loved and who loves.” 

Read the rest here.

This is what I meant when I said that Obama owns this mess.... Half the time that Ghazy was held  was under Obama's regime. And Ghazy was cleared for release that entire time.