Inaugural Blues

It was not a hard goal post- but he made it.....

In the last hours of his presidency Obama managed to get out 4 of the remaining 6 detainees that were cleared for release.

Three of the newly transferred men — Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail, a Yemeni, Ravil Mingazov, a Russian, and Haji Wali Mohammed, an Afghan — were resettled in the United Arab Emirates. The fourth, Jabran Said Wazar al Qahtani, was repatriated to Saudi Arabia just two months after a parolelike board made up of six agencies had moved him to the transfer list. Each had been held for about 15 years.

Obama left behind a shameful legacy of 41 men, 26 of whom he declared our government had insuffient evidence to try--- but what the heck let's keep them locked up anyway..... one of those men is my remaining client. My client's crime? Being in a guesthouse where someone they thought was a bad guy was also staying,  WTF... my client has been at Gitmo going on 17 years because my government would really like to have someone being held at Guantanamo that it can claim is a bad guy.. even though they have no evidence he is a bad guy and no evidence to try him in a court of law.

And now we move on to the man who will run my country--- The lunatic. He does not care about evidence, laws or anything for that matter....

I can only hope my government becomes so obsolete in the world view that no one gives a shit what is happening here.

Pre-Inaugural Blues...

Obama finally concedes what we already knew...

Obama has finally conceded that he cannot close Guantanamo. I guess the only question remaining is, can Obama at least get the remaining men who have been cleared out of the place before the lunatic takes over? It won't effect my client but it would be nice for those men.

Read more here.

More on the dismal attempts by Obama to close the place here.

Now if we could get Snowden pardoned!

just sayin....

Not Directly Related....

Thank you to all of you who took action urging President Obama to commute Chelsea Manning’s sentence. It has just been announced that he has commuted her sentence and on May 17, 2017, she will walk free.

Read more here.

10 to Oman? UPDATED YET AGAIN....WITH NAMES

Unconfirmed reports that 10 detainees went to Oman today.

Read more here.

The New York Times has more here.

Because of the Martin Luther King holiday the military did not release the names of the men released yesterday.,.
they are:
Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani, Mustafa Abd al-Qawi Abd al-Aziz Al-Shamiri, Karim Bostam, Abdul Sahir, Musab Omar Ali Al-Mudwani, Hail Aziz Ahmed Al-Maythali, Salman Yahya Hassan Mohammad Rabei'i, Mohammed Al-Ansi, Muhammad Ahmad Said Haider, and Walid Said bin Said Zaid.

I recognize a few of those names- men who were in the same guest house in Pakistan as my remaining client- It is a travesty that they were held so long but at least they are on their way (unlike my client).

You can read the defense department's announcement here.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR THE CLEARED MEN....

If Obama is going to make good on at least the cleared men his days are numbered. It seems unlikely that 15 men will head home before friday.... but if not now, when?

As for my client, and the 22 other men who are not cleared, we can only hope for the status quo- in other words- we can only hope that things do not get worse.

Dark times ahead for all of us here in the U.S. of A but especially for the men at Gitmo

It was 15 years ago that the first men were brought to Guantanamo

55 remain.

19 are cleared.

23 remain.- uncharged.

23 NEVER charged with a fuckin crime.

Happy Anniversary.

And the many others who mourn this anniversary

And so... for the mothers of the men "detained" at Guantanamo

On this anniversary

There is so much I want to say....

so instead I will post these songs...

4 on their way to Saudi Arabia

Well it is a start....

read more here.

55 detainees remain at Gitmo. 19 are cleared and  26 are awaiting clearance (including my client!).

No Sooner Had I Asked....

It seems that the delay in transfering the cleared men could be that countries that were willing to take the remaining men that are cleared are now having second thoughts.... maybe they are afraid of pissing off the incoming lunatic?

Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald has reason to think that is the problem. The interview is also an important read on the forever prisoners like my client.

Read more here.