Close Gitmo Now!
Among the many stains America has acquired since the ‘election� of 2000, the torture camp of Guantanamo is among the worst. The camp has been decried by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, called by Amnesty International “the Gulag of our times�, denounced as a place of “cruel and inhuman treatment illegal under the U.S. Constitution." Nothing since the forced internment of whole families of American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II has earned this country such fear and loathing in the eyes of the world.
Now, months after being ordered to do so by American courts, the Cheney administration has released some of the names of those being held and tortured. The proofs of torture and violations of international treaties are myriad. People from many different countries, including children, have been imprisoned here, charged with no specific crime, and with no prospect of release, ever. This is not America, this is Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Russia. And it’s taking place on various ships at sea, in European prison camps and at Abu Ghraib: we’ve seen movies of it on TV! And America couldn’t care less: the press doesn’t run the stories, our elected representatives approve more money and lend legitimacy to the Cheney Administration as though it’s simply business as usual.
Aside from the shame it has caused this country, Guantanamo has shown, as did Manzanar, that our Constitution, that thin line between us and tyranny, is far more flimsy than we’d like to believe. When the president declares war, legally or illegally, it’s as though the Constitution, international treaties, and even common morality no longer exist. Clearly we need to strengthen it to make examples of those who ignore it, to ensure this kind of barbarism doesn’t occur again. Roosevelt should have been held criminally AND civilly liable for the losses of the inmates of Manzanar, and Cheney should be criminally AND civilly liable for the torture and suffering caused by his orders for running Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Those of us who find torture and mass murder unpatriotic and un-American, we too could end up in Guantanamo.
Moreover this past four years of national shame has also shown the weaknesses of our Congress and the mainstream media in protecting our country from INTERNAL tyrants every bit as awful as Hitler and Stalin. They’ve obviously trampled the law of the land, again and again, and yet no one has the courage to demand impeachment proceedings begin.
Without a free press, without a representative government, without the protection of an enforceable Constitution, how are we any better than the “rogue� or “terrorist� states we presume to invade and depopulate? We have become monsters in the eyes of the world: how is it that our elected officials and the fourth estate can’t see that?
We must close Guantanamo, and all the torture camps now!
Comments
This from an AP story.
Fearing militants or even their own governments, some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay from China, Saudi Arabia and other nations do not want to go home, according to transcripts of hearings at the U.S. prison in Cuba.
Uzbekistan, Yemen, Algeria and Syria are also among the countries to which detainees do not want to return. The inmates have told military tribunals that they or their families could be tortured or killed if they are sent back.
President Bush has said the United States transfers detainees to other countries only when it receives assurances that they will not be tortured. Critics say such assurances are useless. The U.S. has released or transferred 267 prisoners and has announced plans to do the same with at least 123 more in the future.
Inmates have told military tribunals they worry about reprisals from militants who will suspect them of cooperating with U.S. authorities in its war on terror. Others say their own governments may target them for reasons that have nothing to do with why they were taken to Guantanamo Bay in the first place.
A man from Syria who was detained along with his father pleaded with the tribunal for help getting them political asylum _ in any country that will take them.
"You've been saying 'terrorists, terrorists.' If we return, whether we did something or not, there's no such things as human rights. We will be killed immediately," he said. "You know this very well."
Posted by: Galen benson | March 8, 2006 02:49 PM
You are so right. It is an ever-present sadness to know that I live in a country that not only practices torture, but lies about it. It is a great stain of blood on our flag and a betrayal of everything we ever claimed to stand for. In this respect, we have already lost the war on terror by becoming terrorists ourselves.
Posted by: Mary | March 9, 2006 09:58 PM
What about the real terrorists being detained in Gitmo?
Posted by: Robb Willis | March 12, 2006 12:59 AM
Are there any? If so,why haven't they been charged with their crimes? It's been three years. If there was a case to make, wouldn't they have made it by now. Face it, it's a gulag, about as far from any semblance of justice as it's possible to be.
Posted by: Mary | March 14, 2006 11:55 PM