This protest has special meaning for those in the US
Army because the MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone (above), a more deadly version of the
infamous Predator drone, is being integrated into use in
every Army division. Gray Eagles
are now being used in Afghanistan, where the United States is conducting
intensive drone attacks in anticipation of a reduction of US ground
forces.
KnowDrones estimates that at least 5,000
people have been killed by US drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia
and the Philippines since drone attacks began in 2001. In addition, thousands of
people live in terror from continuing drone surveillance because of the
knowledge that missile attacks may come at any time. The protest is sponsored by
KnowDrones, World Can't Wait, WESPAC Foundation and Code Pink. Look for reports
later this week or
dial in to the conference call Thursday
night to hear more about it.
Event details.
Donate to support the protest.
ALERT: Ominous action taken in
the U.S. is a Senate vote this week to authorize Obama to move all the 154
prisoners to prisons in the U.S.
This would allow Obama the claim that he
has “closed” Guantanamo, while creating a terrible precedent of holding
prisoners indefinitely and without charge, and possibly trying those few they
have charged in sham military commission trials, within the U.S.
Some of
the prisoners' attorneys say that disappearing them into the hellhole of mass
incarceration here would make it even harder to get them freed, even though many
have already been cleared for release.We will continue to
follow these developments and get deeper into the questions raised by what a
blog on
The New York Times called a possible "trick play" to close the
prison.
Hundreds globally participated in the
May 23 Global Day of Action to Close Guantanamo
and End Indefinite Detention. Thanks to
Witness Against Torture for coming up with
the plan to mark this day, and to
Center for Constitutional Rights and many
other organizations for joining in.
As we said last week, the prisoners
are very interested that we are taking this action, and we know they will see
photos and get verbal reports from their attorneys. Here are some
snapshots:
Before
dawn in
Erie, PA, a banner saying “Close Guantanamo” was
dropped over a highway. Several young people in orange jumpsuits stood outside
the U.S. Embassy in
Mexico City with a sign “No Mas
Guantanamo.” In
London and
Washington, groups gathered in front of government buildings
displaying photographs of the 154 men still held in Guantanamo, almost all
without charges, for as long as twelve years. Groups gathered in front of county
courthouses in
Bozeman, MT and
Tiffin, OH as
part of actions in 46 cities.
A dozen students at York College in
Queens, NY came to protest at Times Square with more than 100
others after seeing a film about Guantanamo in their international studies
class. They, like a majority of students approached on another city campus,
either did not know that the U.S. set up a prison in 2002 where more than 700
men have been held without charge and tortured, or thought it had been closed by
Obama. These students, most not born in the U.S., said it meant a lot to them to
hear, at the protest, the words of the prisoners, and different kinds of people
saying torture and mass incarceration are wrong.
“We were a small group
but we had a big impact,” reported protesters from
World Can't Wait who talked to groups of
soldiers on Waikiki Beach, finding disgust and confusion about previous and
possible wars. In
Chicago, 50 people made up the largest
Guantanamo-related protest in years, and found that more people were stopping,
photographing, and taking fliers.
Obama responded to the prisoners'
collective hunger strike a year ago by saying that he would take steps to close
the prison, but has released just twelve prisoners in that time. All of the 57
Yemeni prisoners, cleared to leave years ago, are still held. Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a
prisoner who sued the government to stop the painful torture of force-feeding
him during his long-term hunger strike won a temporary respite, but on May 23, a
federal judge on the case allowed the military to resume forcing a feeding tube
into his stomach. Dhiab, who has been “cleared” for release since 2009, is one
of six prisoners the President of Uruguay has offered to give residency
immediately, but the U.S. Government has taken no action.
All of this
makes the demand to close Guantanamo
now more urgent!
View photos, video from around the world.
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