Misblog

Originally Published January 12, 2009; Updated and Republished January 14, 2009; Updated and Republished January 21, 2009:

Guantanamo and all its proceedings must be immediately stopped, entirely repudiated, and completely repealed by the incoming president and Congress.

Res:

• UPDATED 01/18/2009 NYT, The Guantánamo Docket. List of detainee names, citizenship country, and status.

Blog:

• UPDATED 01/18/2009 Jurist, Obama must not allow Bagram prison to remain an Afghan version of Guantanamo.

Web:

• UPDATED 01/21/2009 AP, Judge grants Obama request to suspend Gitmo trial. Switzerland is reportedly exploring whether it can help with processing detainees and closing Guantanamo—it would be useful if the international community, together with American, can figure out how to conduct any trials of detainees in an international forum.
• UPDATED 01/18/2009 AFP, Obama inauguration could put a stop to Guantanamo trials.

• UPDATED 01/14/2009 VoiceOfAmerica, Report: Bush Official [Susan J. Crawford] Says Suspected 9/11 Co-Conspirator Tortured.

  Susan J. Crawford says America did torture, specifically referring to the torture of Mohammed al-Qahtani. Crawford is a lawyer, Bucknell graduate, former DoD Inspector General, former General Counsel for the Department of the Army, and current Kangaroo Kommission Konvening Authority. Portions of al-Qahtani's torture logs, published by Time Magazine, Inside the Interrogation of Detainee 063, June 12, 2005.

  S.J. Crawford

  Phillipe Sands also includes portions of al-Qahtani's leaked torture transcript in his new book Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values.

  • Newsmaker Excerpt: Portion of Vice President Dick Cheney Interview responding to Crawford.

    The entire interview (not just the above excerpt) is informative and reinforces the need for a thorough and public investigation of all torture allegations and acknowledgment(s)⁴.

    Jim Lehrer is the rare interviewer who does not cower in the face of power, continually confronting Cheney's rambling, rehearsed, and rote torture responses.

  Pointing to al-Qahtani as the "20^th 9/11 hijacker" is a tactic we all learned at about age three usually in the context of a motherly dispute resolution process.

  However, trying to establish a moral equivalence between America and a terrorist for the purpose of justifying torture is not only incorrect it fails to realize that it's America we seek to protect from torture, not terrorists.

  If Fox's television series "24" character Jack Bauer wants to torture—fine—if a "Jack Bauer" tortures anywhere in our physical world he or she must be fully investigated and prosecuted.

  If a nation authorized "Jack Bauer's" torture it must fully acknowledge that torture, formally apologize for that torture, accept all sanctions which may be imposed by the community of nations for that torture, and to the maximum extent possible completely remedy any harm caused by the torture (many die in modern torture chambers).

• UPDATED 01/13/2009 AP, Democrats seek criminal probe of Bush 'abuses'.

• UPDATED 01/12/2009 AP, Advisers say Obama preparing to close Gitmo. Kudos to President-elect Obama—hopefully the same definitive closure clarity will soon follow for all Kangaroo Kommissions and related proceedings³.

  • UPDATED 01/12/2009 Guardian, Obama to issue order to close Guantánamo in first week as president.
• UPI,Obama asked to suspend Gitmo commissions¹.
• ACLU, Leading Rights Groups² Urge Obama To Stop Guantánamo Proceedings Against Child Soldiers. Includes letter text in html and pdf formats.

Res:

• ACLU, Close GITMO and End Military Commissions Website

  “As President, I will close Guantánamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions”--Barack Obama, August 01, 2007--

-----notes-----

1. Perhaps as Air Force One flies our prior eight-year legacy into the sunset we can simultaneously send a legacy train across America.

With permission of the train's owner, operator, and sponsor, Americans can greet the train by throwing their old shoes at it—all the collected shoes can then be donated to charity.

2. American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Human Rights First, and Human Rights Watch.

3. UPDATED 01/13/2009 Those just beginning their foray into understanding how we got into the torture business will find Philippe Sands' new book Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values helpful. Sands traces the intentional and determined efforts by the principal actors to circumvent well defined and understood laws and conventions (domestic and international) specifically adopted to prevent the torture those principals were so determined to enable and inflict

Worldcat

Some of the principal actors, including lawyers, have brought great shame to our nation, a nation they profess to love and have sworn to protect—denials, pardons, national pretense, and passing out "Freedom Medals" will only prolong that shame (Former Australian Leader John Howard Accepts Medal of Freedom).

4. We need not, and should not wait for those who tortured or authorized torture to acknowledge their actions.

We, as a nation, must immediately conduct a thorough and public investigation, holding those who tortured or authorized torture accountable, as appropriate.