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Sarah,
One of the presistent fallacies about the US torture camp at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, is that it was a “mistake” of the Bush Regime, a
misguided attempt to “keep America safe.” You hear this from Democrat
apologists, who for the last six full years, have been in position to close
it.
But listen to those who control Congress now, and those who passed
the Military Commissions Act in 2006. That orgy of the complete abrogation of
rights for people the US identified as enemies in the so-called “global war on
terror” was vengeance against any group of people who challenged American
supremacy.
Their goal was to have a place where they could openly defy
international norms. They crow about it, still, and do not intend to give it
up.
“I'd do it again in a minute,” Dick Cheney said on
“Meet the Press” December 14. Cheney's repeating his basic message that the
US has to be ready to go to the “dark side”
using, “basically, any means necessary to achieve our objectives.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, who has never met a piece of repressive
legislation he couldn't get behind, said “We have a lot going for us that our
enemy doesn’t. We’re actually good people, and they’re bastards,” as an
explanation of why he supports everything that was done post-9/11. So this is what the “good” people did:
“The CIA
torturers took sadistic and ghoulish delight in inflicting sexually degrading
torture on captives. Detainees were frequently stripped naked and forced to
urinate and defecate on themselves. The report describes ‘rectal
feeding’—forcing material up the rectums of detainees, a form of
rape.
Detainees were subjected to constant and viciously realistic death
threats. They were placed in tubs of ice for extended times. One detainee was
chained partially nude to a concrete floor and died of hypothermia. Prisoners
were subjected to sleep deprivation for up to a week, driven to ‘hallucinations,
paranoia, insomnia, and attempts at self-harm and
self-mutilation.’”We also learned from the Senate's report on
torture last month that, though publicly and privately there is intense struggle
over letting out the truth about Guantanamo, the black sites, rendition, and
torture under Bush, the Democatic leadership in Congress was fully briefed at
the time, and kept quiet. Those in authority who people expected to
act to stop these outrages have not done so. Does that mean we leave it alone?
NO, it does not. Protest over the next week should bring out people who are
determined to stop these depraved crimes. The torture report — redacted
as it was — has inspired renewed focus on the crimes of the Bush Regime. Democracy Now! reported last month: “The European
Center for Constitutional and Human Rights has accused former Bush
administration officials, including CIA Director George
Tenet and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, of war crimes, and called for an
immediate investigation by a German prosecutor. The move follows the release of
a Senate report on CIA torture which includes the case
of a German citizen, Khalid El-Masri, who was captured by CIA agents in 2004 due to mistaken identity and tortured at a
secret prison in Afghanistan.”
Torture lawyer John Yoo, defender of almost every single reactionary US position, was given an
endowed chair at UC Berkeley Boalt Hall Law School in 2014. Right now,
there are renewed discussions on how to get him disbarred and investigated.
Martin Garbus, the distinguished First Amendment attorney, wrote that the memos written by Yoo and Jay Bybee in 2002
providing legal justifcation for torture were “not used to interpret the law —
they were intentionally written to disregard the law.” Garbus said that
if the government does not file a complaint to disbar Yoo and Bybee, he will.
Cheers for that!
January 2015 Events:
CLOSE Guantanamo NOW Actions, Talks, Panels,
Films
On January 11, the US torture camp at Guantanamo will
have been open 13 years. More than 100 men are still held, the majority of whom
were cleared for release years ago. They suffer not knowing if they will be
released, held indefinitely. Some are still on protest hunger strike, and being
force-fed by the U.S. military. Join World Can't Wait in protesting this
shameful anniversary with a series of events around the country.
Thursday January 8: New York City Stand with Shaker Aamer, Fahd Ghazy & all the Prisoners
Unjustly Held Featuring British journalist Andy Worthington; Ramzi
Kassem of CUNY Law School & attorney for Shaker Aamer; Omar Farah of the
Center for Constitutional Rights & attorney for Fahd Ghazy; and Debra
Sweet. 6:30 pm Rutgers Presbyterian Church 236 West 73rd Street @
Broadway, NYC Facebook EventSaturday January 10: Langley,
VAProtest of US drone war, targeted killing, and indefinite
detention Outside the homes of Dick Cheney & John Brennan, CIA
director Herndon 8:00 am -11:30 am at and near CIA Headquarters Facebook EventSaturday January 10: Washington,
DCFrom Ferguson to Guantánamo: Institutionalized Brutality &
TortureA panel discussion with activists and attorneys involved in the
struggles against police violence, racial profiling, and US detention
policies 8:00 pm First Trinity Lutheran Church 4th & E Street NW
Washington DC Facebook EventSunday, January 11: Washington
DCVigil & Rally to Close Guantanamo1:00 pm: Interfaith
Prayer Vigil (Sponsored by NRCAT and Interfaith Action for Human Rights)
1:30 pm Rally to close Guantánamo at the White House followed by a march to
the Department of Justice. In front of the White House Facebook Event
Sunday, January 11: Miami, FL
Protest to Shut Down Guantanamo at US Southern Command2:00
pm NW 36th St & NW 87th Ave Doral, FL Facebook Event
Sunday, January 11: Los Angeles, CA Protests to Close Guantanamo12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Vigil &
Rally at Santa Monica Pallisades Park Ocean & Pico 3 - 6 pm Vigil
outside Golden Globes Ceremony TBA Sunday, January 11: London, UK
Protest at US Embassy 24 Grosvenor Square Mayfair, London Facebook Event
Monday, January 12: Washington, DCWitness Against Torture’s Nonviolent Direct ActionMorning — TBD Monday,
January 12: Washington, DCLeaving the Dark Side? Empyting Guantanamo and the CIA Torture
Report with Andy Worthington, Tom Wilmer, Col Morris Davis & Peter
Bergen. 12:15 pm - 1:45 pm New America Foundation, 1889 L Street
NW Washington, DC Monday, January 12:
Boston, MAClosing Guantanamo and Seeking
Accountability for Torture with Andy Worthington 6:30 pm Old South Church 645 Boyston Street
BostonTuesday, January 13: UC Berkeley,
CAProtests at the opening day of UC Berkeley Boalt Hall Law
School, where torture lawyer John Yoo teaches.
Tuesday,
January 13: Harvard Cambridge MAClosing Guantanamo and Seeking
Accountability for Torture with Andy Worthington12:30-1:30 pm Harvard Law School *
1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge
* location : WCC 1015
WCC = large complex at corner of
Everett St & Mass.
Ave.
[WCC= Wasserstein Hall/Caspersen Student
Ctr/ Clinical Wing
Will try
to get better info re location of # 1015Wednesday, January 14:
Springfield, MA Closing Guantánamo and Seeking Accountability for Torture, with
Andy Worthington12:00 pm The Commons, Western New England University
School of Law, 1215 Wilbraham Road Wednesday January 14: Northampton,
MA Closing Guantanamo and Seeking Accountability for Torture,
with Andy Worthington & Debra Sweet 7:00 pm Friends Meeting House, 43
Center Street, 2nd floor Thursday January 15: Chicago, IL Rally to Protest 14th Year of Guantanamo, Torture & Indefinite
Detention 4:30 - 6:00 pm In front of the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South
Michigan Facebook EventThursday January 15: Chicago, IL
Guantanamo 13 Years Later: Not One More Year of Torture and
Indefinite Detention!Evening Discussion with Andy Worthington,
Guantanamo attorney Candace Gorman, and Debra Sweet. 7:00 pm Grace Place,
637 South Dearborn. Facebook Event
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Thank
you!
A strong thanks to all who have donated to
World Can't Wait's year-end fund drive. We more than surpassed the $5,000
matching-funds challenge from 7 generous donors!
But we have not reached the goal of
$35,000 yet — a goal we set based on the real cost of organizing all the
protests you hear about on a regular basis via these emails. The remaining
$8,000 will be used to pay for delivery of these e-newsletters, a cost that has
just risen 50%. We send about 75 per year to people around the world; and many
more to local areas announcing events.
There are many ways to support World Can't
Wait. Donating is a key way to be part of this movement, and help stop the
crimes of our government.
From a recent donor:
“I made a contribution last week because of
the very things you outline in this email. How much World Can't Wait has been in
front of the genuine moral and political issues of our time. No one does it with
the same fierceness as WCW and that is indeed a good thing.” H.
N.
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Above:
scenes from actions over the past 13 years to shut Guantánamo. Now more than
ever we can't quit!
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