I will marvel....

at today's election results... when my innocent clients are freed from Guantanamo.
I head there tomorrow.

ELECTION REPORT FROM NORTHERN MICHIGAN

Well here I am in a small town in Northern Michigan working as a legal monitor for Obama. The polls opened promptly at 7am and there was a long line of people waiting to vote. Everything is going smoothly up here. An interesting fact for all of you: 98% of the eligible voters in Michigan are registered to vote.

N.Y. Times gitmo database

I was just reminded of this comprehensive database put together by the NY Times on the men held at gitmo. Click on the title for more.

Another Transfer (updated)

Mohammed Hussein Abdullah, ISN 704, was returned to Somaliland on Friday. For some reason the government/military did not think it was worth mentioning publicly.... something about Somaliland not being a real country so they really did not have to make any announcement. Abdullah had been cleared since 2005 (not a typo). He was in Camp 4.

What is Goin on?

I was interviewed by an attorney in Georgia who has a local radio show. Click on the title to go to his website and listen if you care to.

TWO MORE TRANSFERED...(updated)

Yesterday the military announced that two men have been transfered: One to Tajikistan
and one to Kazakhstan (Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev- Camp 6 (ISN #521). When I have more details I will provide an update.

NO MORE BOURBON

Yesterday I got back from my latest trip overseas to try to find a home for Al-Ghizzawi. Another unsuccessful trip. Europe has absolutely no interest in helping the Bush administration and it is clear this must wait until Obama takes office (Please).
In my pile of mail at home there a letter from IN THESE TIMES which included a letter from my personal hero Studs Terkel. In the letter Studs announced that he was now 96 years old and did not expect to live long "No more books or articles. No more cubs games. No more bourbon.... but that doesn't mean I haven't got any fight left in me..."
and he asked me... and now I am asking you... to donate to In These Times.
As I was driving home from my office I was tired and distressed... the government filed new papers in Al-Ghizzawi's case and this nightmare that my client is caught up in never seems to end.
Then I heard the news........ Studs died this morning. For a few moments it just seemed like more bad news.... but he was 96 and had a great life and
And we should all remember his wise words... Hope Dies Last....
I will donate to IN THESE TIMES in Stud's memory and I hope you will too....
And I will keep fighting for Al-Ghizzawi and the other men at Guantanamo because "hope dies last."
RIP Studs.

HELP NEEDED (updated)

Thanks to everyone who sent me emails and suggestions and to Linda who responded below. I am providing the whole name given by the Government to Al-Ghizzawi in case this might help in piecing together what went on here:"Abdel Hamid Ibn Abdussalem Ibn Miftah al Ghazzawi." Of course his real name is Abdul Hamid Al-Ghizzawi.

I might be entering a black out zone as far as what I can talk about in relation to my client Al-Ghizzawi. The government will be filing new documents soon and once I view those documents in the secure facility I cannot discuss them.
I have this little hunch that if they try to add some new BS about why they are holding Al-Ghizzawi that the information might really relate to a person that neither Al-Ghizzawi nor I know anything about: A man who has, as part of his name, the name "Abdul Salam". It seems this name was added to Al-Ghizzawi's name sometime after Al-Ghizzawi was held at Guantanamo. Al-Ghizzawi told me that the man was in the cell next to him early on and then he was gone. Is he alive or dead? I don't know. But if any of you have time to try to figure who the men are/were with similar names that have been held at Gimo and what the facts are related to these man it could be very helpful. Some of the info can be found on government websites.

OBAMA HELP NEEDED IN NEW MEXICO

If you live anywhere near New Mexico (or can get their relatively cheaply) please do your best to volunteer. This is a state that can go with Obama but it needs volunteer help now. Please contact your nearest OBAMA campaign headquarters....I mean really, what else do you have to do this weekend?

Scott Horton Interview

Sorry if I sounded a little brain dead in this interview (tired I guess) but here it is:

Scott Horton Interviews Candace Gorman

October 30th, 2008

H. Candace Gorman, Chicago civil rights attorney representing two Guantanamo detainees, discusses the difficulty of being a defense attorney for detainees subject to shifting court rulings and legal designations, a paralyzed federal court system that is stalling habeas corpus hearings until after the presidential election is decided, back room repatriation deals between the Bush administration, potential host countries and Guantanamo defense attorneys in order to preempt unfavorable judicial decisions, the ongoing struggle to obtain health care for detainee and Gorman client Abdul Al-Ghizzawi, the latest resignation of a prosecutor – Darrel Vandeveld – in protest of the Guantanamo show trials, the weakening war crimes case against detainee Omar Khadr, the relatively light sentence against “worst of the worst” David Hicks and the possibility that an Obama victory will finally mean the closure of Guantanamo.

MP3 here. (45:49)

Candace Gorman is an attorney for two Guantanamo detainees, runs The Guantanamo Blog and has written many articles for In These Times and the Huffington Post. She is the principal in the law firm of H. Candace Gorman. The firm concentrates in Civil Rights and employment litigation. The firm handles both individual and class action lawsuits for Plaintiffs under the various civil rights statutes, anti-discrimination laws and under ERISA. In 2004, Attorney Gorman argued and won a unanimous decision before the United States Supreme Court in Jones vs. R.R. Donnelley. Attorney Gorman has lectured widely on the subject of civil rights and employment litigation.

Links to gitmo stories (updated)

(Thanks to Charley Gittings. For the link to the Greenwald story and the added information about Salon...It is nice to know I can still read it!)
So much in the news and so little time! Hats off to Kaptain Kanada for the following links on gitmo related issues. A few were covered here on the blog but these new versions add some interesting elements so I am including them anyway.

http://www.antiwar.com/worthington/?articleid=13681

http://washingtonindependent.com/13453/waterboarding

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/27/national/w114213D01.DTL

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=433297

The Kaptain also sent me the Glenn Greenwald story from Salon about the establishment for the first time of an active military unit on US soil. I let my subscription to Salon lapse (necessary cost cutting!) so I cannot link to it but it is an important read so try to find it if you can. If you live in the US you should be worried about this development which is not only being under reported but is not being addressed or discussed by our "political leaders."

Imagine if you had to explain this to your client?

There are a few men being held at Guantanamo because of supposed links to the Taliban. At the most these men were foot soldiers but even more likely is that they had no connection to the Taliban at all. So can you imagine if one of those men happened to be your client and you saw this in todays wall street journal?

__________________________________
NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal


Oct. 28, 2008

The U.S. is actively considering talks with elements of the Taliban, the armed Islamist group that once ruled Afghanistan and sheltered al Qaeda, in a major policy shift that would have been unthinkable a few months ago.

Senior White House and military officials believe that engaging some levels of the Taliban -- while excluding top leaders -- could help reverse a pronounced downward spiral in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. Both countries have been destabilized by a recent wave of violence.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122515124350674269.html?mod=djemalertNEWS

Lawyer and Prisoner Boycott Proceedings

The military judge will not allow the lawyer to withdraw and the prisoner refuses to accept that the proceedings are little more than a farce and does not want counsel. So they are both sitting quietly during the proceedings... click on the title for more.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO

I regularly get emails from many of you asking what you can do to help me or my clients. I appreciate all of the requests but there has been little that people can do except protest and write letters... all of which are meaningless gestures in the Bush administration. But now there is something you can do if you live in the States and it is really the only thing that will result in getting my clients out of our gulag.
Vote... and take some days off of work to do volunteer work for the Obama campaign.
If you are a lawyer you can sign up to do election monitoring... you will get training if you step in fast (the training is this week and weekend). Lawyers are needed in many of the swing states. I have shut down my practice to focus on guantanamo... surely you can take a few days off and help make sure the election is fair?
If you are not a lawyer there is still lots of work. Take a few days off and volunteer in your nearest swing state (maybe it is your home state?) If you have a car and money for gas you can volunteer to drive people to the polls. If you have a telephone you can volunteer to make "get out the vote calls". And if you have neither they will still find work for you.
If Obama gets elected we will hold his feet to the fire to close Guantanamo quickly and won't you feel good knowing you had a part in this?
Thanks again... and I still may be calling on some of you to help so please know that I appreciate your efforts.

Just When You Think You Have Heard It All- The continuing saga of the Uighers

I tried to make a link to the Westside Story song "america" because it just seems so appropriate for this posting but my technology skills have failed me again. So I ask you to hum it in your mind as you read this:

The government has now described in court pleadings to the Appellate Court that the Uighers are too dangerous to be settled in the United States because we have held them unfairly for all of these years and this of course must make them hostile to us and therefore dangerous.... but they argue that it is just fine to send them somewhere else because the Uighers will not have that same hostility to other countries.

CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ MORE AND TO ALSO READ ABOUT THE MOTION THAT THE ATTORNEYS FOR THE UIGHERS HAVE FILED ASKING THAT THE GOVERNMENT BE HELD IN CONTEMPT OF COURT...