Fourteen Years Of Shameful (In)Action On Guantanamo

January 11 was the fourteenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo as the home of US prisons, prisons at which people are effectively permanently detained on grounds not even remotely legal under US law or international law. Erin Corbett of BORDC/DDF quotes Hina Shamsi of ACLU:

... Since its opening in 2002, only eight of the original 780 detainees at the prison have been convicted of a crime by a military commission, and of the 103 detainees that remain at the camp, 59 have been classified as ineligible for release or transfer.

“The national shame of Guantanamo’s existence continues 14 years later. And this is a shame that threatens, more than ever, I think, to mar President Obama’s legacy as he leaves office, and the potential that he leaves office without closing Guantánamo,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. And many are talking today about the importance of Obama’s promise to close Guantanamo – a promise he made in 2008 during his first election campaign.

...

The end of Obama's presidency is approaching rapidly, and it is clearer than ever that he has no intention of fulfilling his campaign promise... both times he was elected... to close the prisons at Guantanamo. It isn't going to happen on his watch; that's not something he wants listed in his oh-so-precious legacy.

If a Republican succeeds him, you know Gitmo will stay in business, You know none of the prisoners... including the ones for whom it has been established that they committed no crime... will ever be released or relocated. It's a de facto life sentence for... what? what precisely is their crime? when were they tried for it, if ever? Such a trial, if it happened, was not public, and it damned surely wasn't speedy... but more likely it never happened.

And if a Democrat succeeds him, well... Hillary will go along to get along, and let's face it, Bernie is never going to sit in the Oval Office. I'm not saying you shouldn't vote for the Democratic candidate, only that among her... or his... virtues, do not expect to find a passion for civil liberties in international matters.

Shame! Shame! Shame!

Ninth Guantánamo Prisoner Dies, Apparently W/O Charge Or Trial

Obama enthusiasts, please note that four (4) of the prisoners died during Obama's presidency. He promised to close Guantánamo, and did not, apparently for political reasons. So their deaths are on his hands. (Would Rmoney have done differently? Oh, gimme a fucking break. Of course not.)

Here's the statement posted on FDL by Center for Constitutional Rights:

Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released the following statement in response to the news that a ninth man has died in detention at Guantánamo.

With great sadness, the Center for Constitutional Rights condemns the fact that yet another detained man – the fourth on President Obama’s watch – has died at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, most likely without charge and certainly without trial. Neither the name of the man nor the details of his death have yet been released by the Department of Defense. Whatever the cause turns out to be, it is clear that the United States government is ultimately responsible for his death.

Military investigations into several of the deaths at the base remain under a cloud of suspicion; and the Center’s clients, families of two men who died there in 2006, never got their day in court or the chance to know the truth about what happened to their sons. The Center for Constitutional Rights calls on the government to preserve the evidence in this case, conduct a full and impartial investigation, and treat the body and the family with all proper respect, none of which, regrettably, has consistently occurred in the past.

More than half the men remaining at Guantánamo have been cleared for transfer but remain imprisoned, trapped by politics. Whether because of despair, suicide or natural causes, as Guantánamo enters its 11th year of operation – 11 years of indefinite detention without trial or prospect of release – death has become an inevitable consequence of President Obama’s failure to close the prison.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has led the legal battle over Guantánamo for the last 10 years – representing clients in two Supreme Court cases and organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country, ensuring that nearly all the men detained at Guantánamo have had the option of legal representation. Among other Guantánamo cases, the Center represents the families of men who died at Guantánamo, and men who have been released and are seeking justice in international courts. In addition, CCR has been working through diplomatic channels to resettle men who remain at Guantánamo because they cannot return to their country of origin for fear of persecution and torture.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. Visit www.ccrjustice.org. Follow @theCCR.

(Bolds mine.)

The awful thing that happened on 9/11/2001 can in no way justify the United States's flagrant disregard of anyone's basic human rights and civil liberties. (If you think otherwise, you have clearly not thought the matter through. Please go away and think some more. You are welcome on this site when you change your mind... not sooner.) Retaining people in Gitmo who have been cleared for release... people perhaps in the wrong place at the wrong time, people sold out to an America willing to pay money to those who turn in "terrorists" ... is itself an atrocity. America should close Guantánamo and go home. Until it does, America allows a gaping wound to fester, a wound that will motivate future terrorists. The choice is (at least in theory) ours to make: close Guantánamo, or live our national life constantly looking over our shoulder. Guantánamo should be closed today. Yes, I am aware of the obstacles... but the real problem is a lack of motivation on the part of our leaders of both parties. Enough is enough. Either we can advocate human rights, or we can keep Guantánamo open. We can't do both.