Guantanamo Turns Six, Please Wear Orange on Friday

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 10:05:00 AM EST
Tags: Guantanamo, Detainees (all tags)

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Bump and Update: The blogs are joining in the opening of the ACLU's "Close Guantanamo" campaign.

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On the eve of the 6th anniversary of detainees arriving at Guantanamo Bay, the ACLU has commenced its "Close Guantanamo" campaign.

Guantanamo will forever be a stain on our national legacy. It must close. Please, join the ACLU in this historic and important campaign. Wear orange on Friday. [More...]

To coincide with the six-year anniversary of the arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, the American Civil Liberties Union today announced its Close Guantánamo campaign. The ACLU is hosting more than 20 events across the country this week from Washington, DC to Boise, Idaho.

In addition, the ACLU is calling on Americans to wear orange this Friday as an expression of opposition to indefinite detention at the U.S.-run prison and torture. Orange, the color of the jumpsuits worn by the first Gitmo detainees in photographs released by the Department of Defense in 2002, was chosen to represent torture tactics and prisoner abuse.

Update: More at Salon and Alternet

Bump and Update: The Atlantic has a photo essay and slideshow on Guantanamo.

Learn more about Guantamo from this feature-packed page of the ACLU. FORA-tv has a video of a 45 minute panel discussion titled "Boumediene v. Bush: Rights of Detainees, argued before the Supreme Court on December 5. The case asks whether Guantanamo detainees may challenge their detention. Panelists debate the arguments in the case and discussthe questions raised by the Justices during arguments.

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Guantanamo Turns Six, Please Wear Orange on Friday | 31 comments (31 topical)

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Thanks... (none / 0) (#1)
by Packratt on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 04:05:22 AM EST

but yeah, no thanks...
I already wore those colors, as a tortured prisoner right here in the US.

But go on with yourselves, hope the ACLU and everyone else gets some feel good time in while fighting to protect the rights of people in Gitmo while Americans are getting their rights tortured out of them in American jails.

the huge difference is (none / 0) (#2)
by cpinva on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 07:01:17 AM EST

you were at least charged and had a trial, due process. none of these people has been.

please don't misunderstand, i'm certainly not making light of your situation, but you at least were afforded the minimal constitutional protections. the detainees in gitmo haven't been.

[ Parent ]

Well (none / 0) (#3)
by Packratt on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 01:48:32 PM EST

I would agree... except that I cannot speak for the pre-trial detainees who died slow torturous deaths from untreated infections, who were punished before they even had their day in court.

To me, it's hypocracy for the ACLU of Washington State to have a protest to protect the rights of prisoners a thousand miles away while they ignore the same plight going on just a few mere blocks away from such a protest.

Especially when there are already a multitude of rights organizations devoting resources and time to the Gitmo issue and when there is ample evidence the abuses at KCCF will continue, thanks in no small part to everyone ignoring them just like the ACLU is doing.

[ Parent ]

Its Not One or the Other (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by john horse on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 05:46:33 PM EST

Packratt,
Where do you get the idea that the ACLU has "protect(ed) the rights of prisoners a thousand miles away while they ignore the same plight going on just a few mere blocks away from such a protest"? The ACLU has fought for both.

I can understand you being upset with the way you were treated in prison but when you say that we should ignore one (the prisoners in Guantanamo) and be concerned with the other (the prisoners here in the USA) you play into the hands of the human rights violators. One way that they get away with it is by divide and conquer. Fighting among ourselves only helps them.

As the Wobblies once said "An injury to one is an injury to all!"

[ Parent ]

: It's not a prison (none / 0) (#10)
by Packratt on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 08:12:44 PM EST

First, the abuses I'm talking about are happening in a jail, where pre-trial detainees are being kept BEFORE their day in court... so when these people die due to abuse and the intentional denial of medical care as a form of punishment it is a flat out denial of their right to trial, let alone their rights to protection from cruel and unusual punishment.
It's not, as you say, a prison for convicts, it's a jail where innocent people like me are tortured and some are murdered before they even had a chance to defend themselves.
And yes, I say the ACLU is ignoring them while devoting their resources to Guantanamo because they haven't even bothered to talk about what's going on there, abuses that BUSH'S OWN FRICKEN DOJ investigated and found as "eggregious and deadly abuses of constitutional rights" while the ACLU, who had monitoring rights to the jail, never even talked about!
All the while the ACLU has been utterly SILENT about it and hasn't even proposed any action whatsoever while the King Count government and people in charge of that same jail insist abusing prisoners, allowing guards to rape female prisoners, denying them medical care until they die from slow infections, all are not violations of their rights.
I'm upset about how everyone is treated there, and more so, how everyone, especially those who claim to fight for human and civil rights, have no problem with this kind of treatment and condone it with their silence while claiming that what happens in Gitmo is awful.
It is pure hypocracy, politically motivated hypocracy, and nothing less than that.

[ Parent ]

I agree that (none / 0) (#4)
by BlueLakeMichigan on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 05:12:54 PM EST

We should be fighting for Constitutional rights wherever they are broken, correct? I think it may be a great way in fact to criticize the ACLU publicly if we took this day somehow and turned it on them, right? If we can get them to see the error of their ways, then they'll turn toward the light, but Packratt's right that we can't just ignore those who are already being ignored if we are to truly be progressive.

[ Parent ]

That's the point (none / 0) (#11)
by Packratt on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 08:24:44 PM EST

I really think everyone is ignoring what's happening at the King County Jail and other jails where rights abuses have been proven to be occuring because it's not politically convenient for them.

Everyone wants to protest Gitmo becuase it makes Bush look bad, not because they care about the prisoners there.

If it weren't so, they would protest what's going on at a jail down the street even though it's being run by a bunch of democrats... that is, if they really cared about the everyone's human rights.

But no, they are completely silent about it, not even one mention, in the hope that it all goes away and everyone forgets about the US citizens being denied their rights and being tortured down the street while everyone is busy reminding everyone every damn day about Gitmo.

Yeah, I feel bad for what happens to the people at Gitmo, but there are enough people and resources being put forward in that fight. NONE being used to protect US citizens from the same abuses.

Anyone considering themselves a true progressive would demand action. Refusal to do so is complicity when you know a wrong is being done that you could do something about.

[ Parent ]

The ACLU (none / 0) (#12)
by BlueLakeMichigan on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 10:21:39 PM EST

nationally can be a little too into Washington politics I've felt. I'm here in Illinois with little money or otherwise incentive or means to travel, though I...hmmm, how to choose words...feel the need to speak to what you're saying. What can people like me do other than contact people in that area and support local causes behind that? I say this not in defeat, but with curiosity, "WHAT can be done?"

[ Parent ]

: Support local (none / 0) (#13)
by BlueLakeMichigan on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 10:22:47 PM EST

causes against the cruel, inhuman and barbaric treatment of human beings not convicted of a crime, is more like what I wanted to say. (I type slower than I think sometimes)

[ Parent ]
: Do what you can locally. (none / 0) (#18)
by Packratt on Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 12:17:46 AM EST

As I read, your state has similar problems with the treatment of suspects and pre-trial detainees. But it sounds like there has been some progress there with the torture cases coming to light out of Chicago, the recent settlements, and the restructuring of the Chicago PD though.
So, while I usually urge people to look into how detainees are treated in their own communities, if you're in the C-Town area it seems like there are good efforts going on to fix problems with police misconduct and detainee abuses.
Here in Seattle, there isn't anything like that. So far as I can tell I'm the only person doing anything, let alone any organization. The media reports on cases of mistreatment by the police and the jail, but sporatically and do not share stories, so reporting is scattered.
So, I do what I can with my limited time, money, and mental capacity to research how to file suits without lawyers since the lawyers won't help most people here and I consolidate all the reports of abuse to give people a clearer picture of the extent of detainee abuses and police misconduct that happen here. I also work with local politicians who see the need for accountability before the problems get as bad as they did in Chicago... It's hard because of my injuries and my jobs as a single earner dad, but nobody else is doing it, so it's up to me.
So, to make it short, I don't ask that you do anything for me or Seattle, do what you can for your community with the knowledge that no other organization, the ACLU included, will care or help the victims of abuse near you. It's up to us individuals now, victims like me have been left to out in the cold on our own and must do what we can with what we have. So I'm determined to do what I can to not be a victim anymore and help others who have been through what I have locally, and there are a lot of us here... and i'm sure many near you.
Remember, the ACLU and other "human rights" organizations like them don't care about you or your rights, just politics and publicity. So we're all on our own, fighting for our own human rights by ourselves. So do what you can to help the victims near you.
...and don't worry, since I was severely beaten last year and denied access to medical care as a form of torture my mind doesn't work nearly as well as it used to, so it takes me a while to think things through and, as you can tell by my awful writing, it takes me a while to get a point across.

[ Parent ]

You are absolutely correct, Packratt... (none / 0) (#21)
by willcmatthews on Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 01:42:03 PM EST

Prisoners in American jails are victims of cruel and inhumane treatment and conditions within prisons from coast to coast, which is why we at the American Civil Liberties Union take seriously our charge to fight the unconstitutional conditions that permeate our nation's prisons and the "lock 'em up" mentality that prevails in the legislatures. Indeed, Guantanamo Bay is a scourge on our democracy, but so is the treatment of prisoners in our domestic prisons and jails. In the interest of full disclosure, I work for the ACLU and I encourage you to check out the web page of the ACLU's National Prison Project. And let us know if you know of something we should be aware of.

[ Parent ]

: The problem might well be local (none / 0) (#22)
by Packratt on Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 05:16:36 PM EST

Thank you for taking the time to write, I appreciate it and I carefully waded through the archives of reports concerning prisoner abuse in the US and, yet again, noticed a very conspicuous absence.
In the 90's the ACLU of Washington successfully settled a suit against King County and the King County Jail located in Seattle which gave the ACLU monitoring rights to that jail because of the severe abuses occuring there.
Since then the ACLU of Washington State has been silent about anything it found there, and thus when the US DOJ investigated and issued a scathing report about the conditions and mistreatment occuring there many were shocked. Though it appears the silent ACLU was not.
Given that people died before their dates in court stemming directly from those abuses, and that people were tortured by an intentional denial of medical care as a form of punishment, and the rampant physical and sexual abuses that went on there... all under the ACLU's watch, it seems to me that there is some degree of culpability perhaps.
Why was the ACLU, who had monitoring rights to that jail all this time, utterly silent about the deadly abuses that went on there all this time, abuses uncovered not by the ACLU, but by reporters and confirmed not by the ACLU, but by Bush's DOJ?
By the ACLU of Washington's continued silence and inaction months after the DOJ investigation and in the face of statements from the King County government and the jail who appear to insist that such abuses are not a violation of prisoner rights which suggests the King County Jail will not correct the problems in any meaningful way... it appears as though the ACLU of Washington condones such mistreatment of prisoners just a few blocks away from a planned protest against the mistreatment of prisoners thousands of miles away.
Indeed, the conspicuous absence I noticed on your site and on the site of the ACLU of Washington state was any mention of the King County Jail where many prisoners, like myself, were tortured and some of which had never had their chance to speak out like I am now because they are dead... dead due to preventable causes that the ACLU had supposedly fought for the right to monitor and speak out against... but had chosen not to... and still continues to choose not to do.
Whether you consider this as something you and the members of the ACLU should be aware of or not is your decision, but this is what I am painfully aware of... so far your affiliate, with it's headquarters right down the street from this facility, is still utterly silent about what has happened there... and that silence has been torturous and deadly.
I appreciate that YOU care about prisoner rights, but it is quite clear that the ACLU of Washington does not.

[ Parent ]

I'm Going... (none / 0) (#28)
by Packratt on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 02:20:58 PM EST

Well, i'm going to try and summon the courage to go and distribute flyers asking people to consider why the ACLU is protesting on behalf of abused prisoners thousands of miles away while they remain silent about prisoners being abused right down the street.

Given that I'm an outspoken critic of the King County Jail and the Seattle Police for their abuses and rights violations, and that I'll be alone, I'll likely be arrested on site and tortured again at the KCCF while the ACLU watches and laughs...

But my concience tells me someone must speak for the victims who have been denied a voice.

Yeah, I know nobody will wish me well, some of you might like the idea of me being punished for speaking the truth... In fact I don't know why i'm telling any of you this. But it's what I plan to do, hopefully it spurs someone somewhere to think of tortured prisoners in the US as well.

[ Parent ]

: Well (none / 0) (#34)
by Packratt on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 10:10:21 PM EST

That didn't work... I handed a flyer I made to a protester who read it and snarled at me, "And just what should we do for THEM?"
As I said, those people in Seattle weren't there to defend anyone's right to be free from torture, they were there for politics and didn't mind abusing torture victims like me for their cause.
Not that any of you care to hear it, but it's the truth none the less.

[ Parent ]

Monday night I am going to hear a lawyer (none / 0) (#5)
by oculus on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 05:16:48 PM EST

speak who has worked on behalf of persons detained at Guantanamo. I told the fourth grade public school student I usually tutor on Monday nights about this. He did not know what I was talking about, so I explained briefly, particularly with reference to the fact the persons detained have been there for along time and didn't get a court hearing, etc. This is a very bright, inquisitive kid.

Did you also point out (none / 0) (#7)
by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 06:22:55 PM EST

that since they are not US citizens and were captured outside the US for committing crimes against the US outside the US and are being held outside the US they do not have the the rights of US citizens and the protections of the Constitution?

And did you also point out that they have received Combatant Status Review Tribunals and that many have been released, and that many of those released have been re-captured or killed for again attacking US forces?

You didn't?

That's no surprise.

Don't you think you should change "tutoring" to "indoctrinating."

Link1

And don't you think the child deserves the truth??

[ Parent ]

I didn't say one way or the other, actually, (none / 0) (#8)
by oculus on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 06:29:05 PM EST

since he didn't know anything about Guantanamo. But, it is my understanding some people who ended up at Guantanamo were U.S. citizens and some were initially detained in the U.S.

[ Parent ]

I think that only Padilla (none / 0) (#15)
by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:21:51 PM EST

was sent to Gitmo, and was then returned... I know of no other US citizens who was sent there... I know of no non-US citizen who was arrested for crimes against the US in the US and then sent there.

Perhaps someone can correct me... it's late I'm not gonna Google.

[ Parent ]

Padilla only recently got a trial. (none / 0) (#17)
by oculus on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:27:27 PM EST

That's a long stint at Gitmo for a U.S. citizen prior to being charged and/or tried.

[ Parent ]

Padilla was never sent to Gitmo (none / 0) (#23)
by scribe on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 10:56:32 AM EST

He went from arrest at O'Hare to NYC (federal detention center) to the Navy Brig in Charlseton, SC, to pretrial confinement in Miami.

[ Parent ]

: jim made me say it! Thanks for the (none / 0) (#35)
by oculus on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 11:53:49 PM EST

correction.

[ Parent ]

You said many have been released... (none / 0) (#9)
by BlueLakeMichigan on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 06:35:56 PM EST

Your first link make the case that 10 detainees have been released from Gitmo, while your second link makes it seem like over 200 have been released. And of those two hundred 12 have returned to terrorism. That's a bad number of course, but is that MANY? Really?

And in a bigger issue, for me, should we be comfortable as a country that affords other people less than human rights? Should we accept that as people?

Don't you think your "truth" sounds more like "callous inhumanity"?

[ Parent ]

Depends (none / 0) (#14)
by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:14:46 PM EST

That's a bad number of course, but is that MANY? Really?

If you are pecking away in your PJ's in your den then the answer is NO.

If you are being shot at by someone who has been let mistakenly then the answer is HELL YES.

I trust you can see the difference.

[ Parent ]

BTW (none / 0) (#16)
by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 11:24:53 PM EST

"callous inhumanity"?

Given that gurrellias and other such types have, historically, been given quick tribunals and then executed I think we have been very civilized.

But if you want to call them POWs then they can be held until the war is over... Would you like that??

[ Parent ]

They can be held until the war is over (none / 0) (#19)
by BlueLakeMichigan on Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 03:12:00 AM EST

But if the war is a war on an idea, then what? Do we keep them until that idea is extinguished? Meaning never?

Also, how do they prove these guys are enemy combatants? What would happen in a CSRT that proves the status they are given is true?

Other than that and a mention of Rasul v. Bush, I'm gonna let you keep going at it. I think what I think and you think what you think and I'm too tired to try to argue much more for now.

[ Parent ]

: Well, it is your choice. (none / 0) (#29)
by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 08:31:55 PM EST

If they are illegal combatants, aka terrorists, then I say execute'em.
If they are POW's, then hold'em until the war is over. Be that 6 years or 600.

[ Parent ]

Then there WAS a trial? (none / 0) (#20)
by Repack Rider on Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 10:17:55 AM EST

and were captured outside the US for committing crimes against the US

Since you seem to have factual evidence of their guilt, beyond DoD claims, where was it presented, and how can I see it too?

Since the DoD has been caught lying about just about everything, obviously any clams made on their behalf should be backed up by considerable proof.

After all, only a GOP member (and you are not one) can be fooled hundreds of times in a row by the same old trick.

[ Parent ]

repack, don't waste valuable (none / 0) (#24)
by cpinva on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 11:06:57 AM EST

time, time you'll never recover, with jim. he's drunk deeply of the koolaid, and has been hallucinating since bush was inaugurated. he actually believes the nonsense he writes, and abides by the old saw: "never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

of course, all the gitmo detainees were caught, red-handed, making war on the U.S. military, in a foreign country. they were all given fair, objective trials, by tribunals composed under the rules of the geneva conventions. they're all proven terrorists, every last one.

oh, i also have shares for sale, below par, for the brooklyn bridge. and just ignore the man behind the curtain, nothing to see here folks.

Has any Democratic Presidential (none / 0) (#27)
by oculus on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 01:01:38 PM EST

candidate firmly stated a position on Guantanamo? If not, why not?

I wore red (none / 0) (#33)
by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 08:54:01 PM EST

in memory and to honor our military members who have sacrificed and died in service to this country.

Please stop the bickering (none / 0) (#40)
by Jeralyn on Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 11:04:58 AM EST

and make your comments pertinent to Guantanamo, not attacks on each other. This thread will be cleaned.