Frida Berrigan, March 17, 2008
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5072
The U.S. base at Guantanamo has been called many things. The “gulag of our time” (Amnesty International General Secretary Irene Khan, May 2005). “The key strategic intelligence platform in the war on terror” (Charles Stimson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, January 2007). The “legal equivalent of outer space” (unnamed Administration official). The right place for “the worst of a very bad lot” (Vice President Dick Cheney, January 2002) and for the “most dangerous, best trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth” (Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, January 2002).
January 11, 2008 – Dozens of activists organized by Witness Against Torture delivered a message to the U.S. Supreme Court demanding the shut-down of the U.S. prison at Guantánamo and justice for those detained there. About 40 people were arrested inside the Court building and another 40 on the steps. All 80 have been released, but many were denied food and water for most of the 30-some hours they were detained [read more...]. The arrests followed a solemn march from the National Mall of 400 persons that included a procession of activists dressed like the Guantánamo prisoners in orange jumpsuits and black hoods – part of an International Day of Action that was endorsed by over 100 groups and that included 83 events around the world.
By Jean Athey
Juma Din was the name of my prisoner. An Afghan who is one year older than my daughter, he has been in Guantanamo a long time. That is all I know about him. I wrote his name on both my wrists with a ballpoint pen to be sure I would not forget it. How terrible if I had forgotten his name!
Representing Maasoum Abdah Mouhammad
Protesting the Guantanamo Concentration Camp At the Supreme Court
By Ed Kinane
This reflection was first published in "The Madison Institute for Peace and Progessivism Newsletter" and can also be accessed by visiting
by Bryan Farrell
It was nearly three in the morning, on a recent Saturday, when the door of a Washington DC jail cell slammed closed with me inside. After an already grueling day in police custody that began at 1:30pm and included being handcuffed for eight hours straight at one point, the ability to move freely (albeit in a 5x7 cell) was a welcomed relief.
By EILEEN SULLIVAN – January 18, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first secretary of the Homeland Security Department says waterboarding is torture.
"There's just no doubt in my mind — under any set of rules — waterboarding is torture," Tom Ridge said Friday in an interview with the Associated Press. Ridge had offered the same opinion earlier in the day to members of the American Bar Association at a homeland security conference.
J11 Vigil in Solidarity with NVDA to Shutdown Guantanamo"
by Ciaron O'Reilly
The London Catholic Worker marked the 6th. anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo with a vigil at the U.S. embassy, located near Grosvenor Square in central London.
Even though there was torrential rain on Friday afternoon, more than one hundred persons gathered in Foley Square to stand together in opposition to torture and to call for the closing of the national shame that is Guantanamo. As our moderator, Rev. Donna Schaper, said to me afterwards, “It is great that we got even more persons than last year, but sad that we still have to have this vigil.”
EXCLUSIVE...Brother of Jailed Cameraman Sami Al-Haj Says Continued Gitmo Imprisonment Part of U.S. "Political Operation Against Al Jazeera"
In an exclusive interview, we speak with Asim Al-Haj, the brother of jailed Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami Al-Haj. Sami has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay without charge for nearly six years. Speaking from Khartoum, Sudan, Asim says, ³Sami Al-Haj is a victim of a political operation against Al Jazeera, which Washington does not approve of.
January 12, 2008 - 80 people were arrested at the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday as part of Witness Against Torture's January 11th action to mark six years of unjust imprisonment and abuse for the men held in Guantánamo. About half were arrested inside the U.S. Supreme Court; the others were arrested on the steps of the Court. As of 8pm, Saturday, all 80 people have been released. Many of the arrestees were denied food and water for most of the 30-some hours they were detained.