Ask Obama: When Will It End?
By Suzanne Ito Thursday Jan 15, 2009 12:00pmPresident-elect Obama has been taking all of us on an emotional roller-coaster ride of late. On Sunday, he told ABC that closing the base at Guantánamo would be very difficult and probably wouldn't happen in the first 100 days of his administration. On Monday afternoon, it was leaked that the transition team is drawing up an executive order to close Gitmo the first week of the presidency. Tumultuous and gut-wrenching? Yes and yes.
On Tuesday morning, Bush administration lawyers appealed a Guantánamo military judge’s decision last October to throw out tainted evidence against Afghan national Mohammed Jawad, evidence the military judge had held was the product of torture. The government has admitted that the torture-derived evidence was the centerpiece of its prosecution.
Jawad has been tortured or abused repeatedly – first by Afghan authorities and then by U.S. personnel, both in Afghanistan and at Guantánamo. In Guantánamo, Jawad was subjected to the now-infamous "frequent-flyer" sleep-deprivation program in which detainees are kept awake and constantly moved from cell to cell. Jawad was moved 112 times in a 14-day period.
ACLU attorney Hina Shamsi attended the hearing before the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review in Washington, D.C. on the Bush administration’s appeal, and reports that the commission judges seemed offended by the government’s assertion that the Fifth Amendment does not apply to detainees in U.S. custody. “Even in the waning days of the Bush administration, government attorneys asked an American court to permit evidence derived from torture,” Shamsi said.Also on Tuesday morning, the ACLU filed a habeas corpus petition in U.S. federal court on behalf of Jawad, challenging his unlawful detention. Most notable in this filing is a statement made in support of the ACLU’s petition by Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, the former lead prosecutor in Jawad’s military commission case. In September last year, Lt. Col. Vandeveld asked to be taken off the case and reassigned because he could not ethically proceed with prosecuting Jawad under the current military commission system, which he found deeply flawed and unethical. In Tuesday's filing, Vandeveld states:
[H]ad I been returned to Afghanistan or Iraq, and had I encountered Mohammed Jawad in either of those hostile lands, where two of my friends have been killed in action and another one of my very best friends in the world had been terribly wounded, I have no doubt at all—none—that Mr. Jawad would pose no threat whatsoever to me, his former prosecutor and now-repentant persecutor. Six years is long enough for a boy of sixteen to serve in virtual solitary confinement, in a distant land, for reasons he may never fully understand...Mr. Jawad should be released to resume his life in a civil society, for his sake, and for our own sense of justice and perhaps to restore a measure of our basic humanity.
Another wrinkle: Unless Obama shuts down Guantánamo and the military commissions immediately upon taking office, his administration will stumble into a major human rights crisis. A mere six days after Obama is sworn in, the military commission trial of Omar Khadr, who, like Jawad, was a teenager when he was captured and detained in U.S. custody, will begin.
If Obama allows the trial to proceed, Khadr will be the first person in recent history to be tried by any western nation for alleged war crimes committed as a child. Such a trial would be in violation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which the U.S. signed in 2000 and ratified in 2002.
To avoid such a human rights debacle, we urged the President-elect to drop the military commission charges against Khadr and either repatriate him to Canada or, if there is evidence to support it, to prosecute him in U.S. federal courts in accordance with international child protection and fair trial standards.
President-elect Obama voted against the legislation that authorized the Guantánamo military commissions, calling the law “a betrayal of American values.” And he has co-sponsored legislation designed to stop the use of child soldiers in armed conflict. We're asking that immediately upon taking office, President-elect Obama must stop the travesty of war crimes prosecutions of young men who were children when they were captured. And we’re asking for that change to come immediately, not eventually.
You can join us in this effort: go to www.aclu.org/askobama and send a message to him through the change.gov website. Tell him to end this unlawful system before it's too late.
Suzanne Ito writes for and manages Blog of Rights, the blog of the national ACLU.
Login or Register to post comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVKUap1HgU
you have moved on. Afternoon picking up?
but he admitted in an earlier thread he cannot play Youtube videos and is relying on memory. I think he thought he was selecting a mournful Peter Paul and Mary song.
What was that?
EOM
"Hey little fella, eat a sandwich. Hahahaha!" Hilarious.
Some things just aren't funny.
http://seemikedraw.files.wordpress.com/2007/0...
you how idiotic some are that live among us! These people could ues a bitch slap. Class clowns pretty much ruined it for everyone as I recall my days of public education.
I have had them crying when I was able to show them they were really hurting inside and all they engaged in was smoke and mirrors.
I wonder from what the big kids in adults bodies are suffering!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNIPhr1yhho
hoy también, o depues eso video. ¡gracias!
Necesito salir.
The unspeakable crimes that these animals have committed have taken our Nation back to the atrocities of slavery.
I don't believe it is necessary to threaten Obama...I know that he will stop this shit immediately!
... depraved, wicked, cruel, sick and twisted human beings do.
Semantics aside, I really hope that Mr. Kumbaya follows up his "Reaching Out Across the Aisle to the Repugs" tour and eliminates these horrible military commissions.
These last eight years have been such a stain on this country. Obama has a genuine opportunity to restore the rule of law. He'd better not blow it.
Oh, and a big middle finger to you, Billo "I love torture" O'Lielly.
BID
I guess I meant the lowest of our species...the absolute bottom.
That would be david vitter.
It was either post that, or yell FRIST like all the other dillweeds.
cat dissection as a means of making your FRIST comment a truly memorable play on the whole genre, eh? You think we are unwelcome?
More my speed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jKeGyUCJE
right for a change.
wonders on the right thread. That, for example, would work for me anywhere. Others might not think so. This, on the other hand, would probably not work at Atrios when he is rappin on Public transportation, but over at Smirking Chimp it would be a hit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp9Gm-aRe5A&fe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZStaaVuxsgg
Holder said today that waterboarding was torture. One of the talking heads, who is an attorney, said that since at the time when this was being done, those doing it were told it wasn't torture or illegal, they probably couldn't be prosecuted for what they have done. The bush administration said one thing and the Obama administration is saying another in regards to torture. I don't know if that particular talking head was right or not, but sadly it did make sense to me.
Nuremberg, 1946-1947.
Every crime and atrocity committed by the nazis was made legal or even obligatory under Nazi German law. Even so, and even with the "I was only following orders" defense, it did the war criminals no good at the Nuremburg tribunals. The talking head was making an empty argument that holds no water, and would provide zero protections in an international court or tribunal.
I don't know what's going on regarding the video linked in comment one, but I think I'll stay away from it. Doesn't sound like something I want to deal with right now or maybe ever
to start ripping the man's policies...that would be asking too much
keep it up guys
in 2010 you will get a repug congress
but maybe that is what you want
enlightened!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU4q-ZGo_kw
the mounds bar?
It's just a movie I have in my collection, made between 1909--1911.
But it felt right here since what is the ultimate prison but a dungeon, and the ultimate dungeon but Hell? Hell is just from the name of the Nordic goddess of the non-heoric dead. The Jewish words were Gehenna and Sheol. Gehenna was where the Tyrolean God Moloch was supposedly placated by burning infants alive, but once conquered by the ancient Jews, became a trash heap and a place for burning the criminal dead. Sheol, just mean prison or dungeon.
if that don't beat all. Course if it don't then we can whip up on em with some enhanced interrogation techniques from our collection circa 1406-1461.
WILL THE AMERICANS PAY A PRICE FOR GEORGE W. BUSH'S POLICY ON GAZA?
President George W. Bush may be right when he says that Barack Obama's most serious challenge may be another 9/11 type attack on the U.S. soil. Bush should know because he has caused enough pain around the world, first by attacking Iraq then supporting Israel on their failed war against Lebanon and now the blatant support for attack on Gaza.
Those in Gaza, Iraq or Lebanon who have lost a parent, a brother or a sister in the conflicts could very well take up arms and plot and plan revenge against the U.S. This will be unfortunate because a majority of Americans do not approve Bush's foreign policy and have at least this time, openly opposed Bush's support for attack on Gaza. Even the Orthodox Jews have protested Israel's behavior in Gaza.
But unfortunately the U.S. public may end up paying the price for Georoge W. Bush's policies as angry young Arabs suffering in these conflicts do not distinguish between Bush & the U.S.
I hope Barack Obama can move the Middle East peace process forward quickly so the Gaza nightmare does not come back to haunt the U.S. public.
It would be truly despicable for him to allow such a horror show to continue. He cannot deny that he knows what has gone on there: torture and illegal imprisonment. The whole world knows. America knows.
And yet, the exact details of what has happened and continues to happen remain a mystery. What a golden opportunity for learning this could be.
How about Obama frees all these prisoners and puts them up as guests in a 5-star hotel, where each man can tell his individual story to a reporter, presumably through a translator. After a few months, the stories can be compared for consistency, then published on the internet and in hardcopy. I volunteer to be one of the reporters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tluogv9EGTQ
how much Bush is touting his concern for the African continent. Imagine if he was't concerned at all.
...than convict one innocent man." Close the fucking prison and send each of those men back to where we got them. That's Bush's shit pile, let him explain it. It would also send an enormous message worldwide. Let the innocent victims litigate the shit out of Bush, Cheney, and Co's millions.
And yeah, send the "bad guys" back to their homes...we've got our terrorists, and they've got theirs.
sometimes it's not better to let a hundred guilty men free. Sometimes convicting an innocent man is the price to pay for the conviction of the others.
The criminal justice system is not perfect. By prosecuting anyone, we risk successfully prosecuting the innocent. We just try to minimize the collateral damage.
As for your suggestion:
(1) Many of the places we got Gitmo inmates from either won't take them back or will torture or kill them if they are returned;
(2) Some Gitmo detainees are likely guilty.
Rather than letting them all out, let the government take its chances of convicting them in Federal Court. The convicted remain in prison. Those found not guilty are either returned or granted asylum (circumstances depending).
... it seems to me that charges have set to merely throw a grenade at US soldiers killing one. How is it a "War Crime" ? IMO certainly an act of war, a combat action, but not a War Crime or a Terrorist Act.
And that is why holding him for 6 years in solitary confinement is such a travesty. A bigger travesty is the refusal by the Canadian government to demand his repatration.
Y'all should watch "Road to Guantanamo" for a fairly accurate portrayal of how some, if not most, of those prisoners ended up there.
song/video called extraordinary rendition at follwing link http://crooksandliars.com/user/reset/3880/123...
Petition signed, with modifications:
"President-Elect Obama,
I am urging you to take immediate action as soon as you become President to halt the Guantánamo Bay trial of Omar Khadr. Unless you act quickly, on January 26th, the United States, in violation of treaties to which we are signatories, against all international norms of decency and against international laws, will become the first western nation in recent years to try a person for war crimes allegedly committed as a child. Regardless the act, any person of conscience must consider child soldiers to be, above all other things, victims.
I strongly support the ACLU and its call for you to drop the military commission charges against Khadr and either repatriate him to Canada or, if there is evidence to support it, to prosecute him in US federal courts in accordance with international juvenile justice and fair trial standards. I'm also urging you to act in the case of Mohammed Jawad, the other known juvenile detainee at Guantánamo Bay.
Simply announcing plans to close Guantánamo Bay at some point in the future won't end this outrage. I urge you to immediately shut down the unjust military commissions, act swiftly on the actual closing of Guantánamo Bay detention facilities and to further shut down all such facilities worldwide - those that are known to the public and those that are run in secret.
Mr. Obama, this is a plea from a distressed heart. I am sick to the depths of my soul of being ashamed of my citizenship. I am sick of a shame that is born of having been forced to powerlessly watch and endure the sight of my country systematically and repeatedly betray its highest ideals as it fall into the same evils that earlier generations fought and died to eliminate from the world of their day. The thinking that gave birth to these facilities, and the facilities themselves disgrace my prior military service, the service of my forebears and the service of every person who has served, sacrificed or given their all to defend and protect the Constitution of this Nation. Guantanamo, and other facilities like it, are ongoing atrocities, indisputable evils that shock the conscience and disgrace the nation. Please, for the Love of God, for the love of precious justice, stop it. Just...stop it.
I do not need to remind you that we are standing at a historical and crucial crossroad as a nation. You know this. But, I will presume to remind you that it is a grave error to barter away enduring principle in favor of an expedient that is only practical in the immediate short term. It is impossible to choose a course of action that is based upon an expedient of the moment, making that choice with the hope that it will serve as a substitute for actions that are based upon moral, ethical or spiritual principles without also choosing the negative consequences that inevitably accrue to such a choice. Actions have consequences, whether intended or not. Think of other historically bad choices we have made as a nation and how the consequences of those choices still poison our society long, long after the generations that made them have passed into history.
You have attained to a rare and privileged position in the world of being, a place where one lone individual can make a profound difference for the good, if that person is willing to risk doing what is right - but hard, instead of doing what is easy and easy simply because it is a practical expedient. In the end, regardless the difficulty, doing the right thing is simply a matter of choice and nothing else.
I am begging you, choose the path that leads to honor and justice. End our collective shame. Neutralize this particular poison, a poison that is inflicting an ever-growing harm upon our nation. It is now the time to choose, and subsequently act, with wisdom and foresight. Please, choose wisely, that we may begin the arduous work of restoring some measure of principled honor to our nation, begin the equally arduous work of restoring respect for the rule of law and begin the work of reclaiming America's reputation in the world.
Mr. Obama, it is so very long past time to repudiate the recently favored but deeply malign governance model of "rule-by-applied-sociopathy". This is the place, this is the issue, this is the time and this is the way to begin that repudiation. The whole world is watching.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I am,
Sincerely, "
but one can also argue about how much Canadian is in him being brought up the kind of anti-Canadian father of his?
in terms of legality, yeah he is a Canadian citizen and Geneva convention bla bla
but in term of normality, you have here a family raised with anti-western values who took advantage of the hospitality of Canada and just went off in Afghanistan training for Al-Qaeda while the father was one the head fanciers for Bin Laden.
there is no black n white here... as a Candian, I don't want him back
he can go live in his father's Egypt, or he can go back in Afghanistan or whatever.. but not Canada.
He made his choice by following his father
The only respectable way to deal with this is, next Tuesday, right after he says "...so help me God", his hand should go straight to his pocket, pull out a pen, and sign the order to close the 'prison' right there at the podium.
Good luck with that.
Login or Register to post comments.