Pentagon Vigil Program and Litany

From the Archive

Program for Dorothy Day Catholic Worker–Witness Against Torture Pentagon Vigil, January 9, 2023

(Prepared by Art Laffin)

OPENING/INTRODUCTION

LITANY

SONG: Courage

Courage, Muslim Brothers

You Do Not Walk Alone

We Will Walk With You

And Sing Your Spirit Home

SILENCE

Poem of Guantanamo Prisoner

SONG: A Beautiful Sound (by Peace Poets)

We hear a beautiful sound

It is the breaking of chains

We see a path full of hope

We have found the way

Let them go home

Let them go today

Poem of Guantanamo Prisoner

SILENCE

SONG: Courage (New Version-Lyrics by Art)

Courage Muslim Brother

We Seek Your Liberty

We Will Stand With You

Until We All Are Free

CLOSING Song: Vine and Frig Tree

And every one ‘neath their vine and fig tree

Shall live in peace and unafraid

And every one ‘neath their vine and fig tree

Shall live in peace and unafraid

And into plowshares turn their swords,

Nations shall learn war no more

And into plowshares turn their swords,

Nations shall learn war no more

_____________________________________________________________________

Before he died in Guantanamo on September 8, 2012, Adnan Latif declared:

“Where is the world to save us from torture? Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness? Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?”

Adnan Latif: We and many others hear your cry and that is why we are here today!

(From Witness Against Torture–Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Pentagon Vigil Litany, January 9, 2023)

Opening/Intro

Good Morning. We greet all Pentagon workers and police in a spirit of peace and nonviolence. Since 1987 the DDCW has vigiled here each Monday to uphold God’s command “Thou shalt not kill” in nonviolent resistance to an Empire that sanctions global violence and killing as evidenced through its vast war machine worldwide that includes over 800 military bases (including in Guantanamo), its military intervention in numerous countries, and its policy to threaten the use of nuclear weapons to control and protect its strategic national security interests.

We, members of the Dorothy Day CW and Witness Against Torture (WAT), come to the Pentagon, the center of warmaking on our planet, to say YES to love, justice and life and NO to the death-dealing policies of a warmaking empire. God calls us to love and never to torture, opress, kill and wage war.

Witness Against Torture formed in 2005 when 25 Catholic Workers and other peacemakers from the U.S. went to Guantánamo Bay Detention site and attempted to visit the detainees being held at the facility. For the last 16 years members of WAT have fasted and engaged in numerous nonviolent actions to call for the closing of Guantanamo. This is day 4 of Witness Against Torture’s 5 day “Fast for Justice” marking the 21st year when the first detainees were taken to Guantanamo on January 11, 2002. We call for the immediate closing of Guantanamo, for an end to the crime of torture and indefinite detention, for an end to Islamophobia, and that those responsible for the crime of torture and indefinite detention of those imprisoned at Guantanamo be held accountable, and that reparations be made to all those who have been and continue to be detained and tortured.

___________________________________________________________

LITANY

About 779 prisoners have been held by the U.S. military at Guantánamo since the prison opened on January 11, 2002. Of those, 735 have been released or transferred, including one who was transferred to the U.S. to be tried and subsequently convicted. Today, 35 men continue to languish at Guantanamo, never knowing their fate, with no resolution to their cases in sight. We need to see these men as members of our own blood family and act on their behalf.

Refrain: End the Crime of Torture–Close Guantanamo Now

We remember and pray for all victims of the U.S. empire, including the 9 men who have died at Guantanamo since its opening. Adnan Latif was one of these men who have been all but forgotten. Latif, who spent more than ten years in Guantanamo without ever being charged with a crime, would often go on a hunger strike to protest his unjust confinement. A Yemeni citizen, poet, father and husband, Latif was subject to severe beatings, druggings and torture. He had been cleared for release at least four separate times yet continued to be imprisoned. On September 8, 2012, Latif was found dead in his cell. No independent investigation has been conducted into his death, or the deaths of the other eight detainees.

Refrain: End the Crime of Torture–Close Guantanamo Now

In Latif’s own words he asks: “Where is the world to save us from torture? Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness? Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?” Adnan Latif: We and many others hear your cry and that is why we are here today!

Refrain: End the Crime of Torture–Close Guantanamo Now

We call for an independent investigation into the death of Latif and those who died at Guantanamo! In the name of the detainees who continue to be unjustly held at Guantanamo, we call on all people of goodwill to implore President Biden to issue an executive order to Close Guantanamo immediately!

Refrain: End the Crime of Torture–Close Guantanamo Now

We also remember today all those who have died and continue to suffer from the brutal U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen. The U.S. continues to provide direct military support and weapons to Saudi Arabia for this war.

The war in Yemen has killed over 150,000 people. According to UNICEF, more than 11,000 boys and girls have been killed and injured during the war and 2.2 million are malnourished. We demand an end to this war and all U.S. involvement, including helping to refuel Saudi planes, targeting and sharing intelligence.

New Refrain: The Children are Dying–End the War in Yemen

Since 2010, according to The New York Times, the United States has sold the Saudis 30 F-15 multirole jet fighters, 84 combat helicopters, 110 air-to-surface cruise missiles, and 20,000 precision guided bombs. A Lockheed Martin made bomb was used in the Saudi bombing of a school bus in Yemen on Aug. 9, 2018 killing 40 children. We demand an immediate end to this immoral and criminal war!

Refrain: The Children are Dying–End the War in Yemen

Please join us as we commit to ending, torture, oppression, racism, Islamophobia and war. Together let us heed the biblical mandate: “to proclaim liberty to the captives…to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon and from the prison those who sit in darkness,”(Lk. 4:18 and Is. 42:7) to beat all the swords of our time into plowshares and train for war no more.

Now is the time to Close Guantanamo, end all torture and indefinite detention, end the war in Yemen and ALL wars, transform the Pentagon into a center that serves life, convert the war economy to one centered on peace, justice and meeting urgent human needs, and create the Beloved Community!