From the Archive
Glenn Greenwald on John Brennan
Witness Against Torture held a joint vigil with Code Pink today at the White House to oppose President Obama’s nomination of John Brennan. Glenn Greenwald has a related article:
“Prior to President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, a controversy erupted over reports that he intended to appoint John Brennan as CIA director. That controversy, in which I participated, centered around the fact that Brennan, as a Bush-era CIA official, had expressly endorsed Bush’s programs of torture (other than waterboarding) and rendition and also was a vocal advocate of immunizing lawbreaking telecoms for their role in the illegal Bush NSA eavesdropping program. As a result, Brennan withdrew his name from consideration, issuing a bitter letter blaming ‘strong criticism in some quarters prompted by [his] previous service with the’ CIA.
Dreams Deferred at Guantanamo
As our readers may recall, in December of 2005, some twenty-five activists from several Catholic Worker communities journeyed to forbidden Cuba to call attention to the plight of over 500 Muslim men imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay. Rumors had been confirmed by lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights: prisoners at Guantánamo were being subject to cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and torture.
Tariq Ba Odah
His name will sound familiar to many since we last organized a nationwide fast in solidarity with Tariq on September 18, 2015 when his habeus corpus hearing happened in DC.
Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif
They are artists of torture,
They are artists of pain and fatigue,
They are artists of insults and humiliation.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi
He is a 44-year-old citizen of Mauritania. As of January 2010, the Guantánamo Review Task Force had recommended him for prosecution. As of Nov. 20, 2015, he has been held at Guantánamo for 13 years three months.
Ravil Mingazov
Russian Ballet Dancer, Held Without Charge at Guantánamo Since 2002
Samir Nasy Hajan Mukbel
Yemeni Laborer, One of the First Men to Arrive at Guantánamo, Held Without Charge Since 2002
The State of Guantánamo
President Obama thundered last night that “as long as we maintain our common resolve. . . the state of our Union will always be strong.” But so long as Guantánamo remains open, and men are imprisoned without charge or trial, the United States is weak, in fatal breach of its own ideals. Energized by 10 days of protest in Washington, D.C. and the national outcry at the National Defense Authorization Act, we must now strengthen our own resolve to close Guantánamo, end indefinite detention, and secure justice for the victims of US abuse. We can all sign the “We the People” petition by our friends at Close Guantánamo to force the White House to answer to its bankrupt policies. We can all work — in the streets and in our communities — to create a world without torture and the sacrifice of liberty to fear and hatred. Join us.
(more…)
More Than Thirty Anti-Torture Activists Arrested at White House
Message to Obama: No Guantánamo, No Bagram, No NDAA!
Fast for Justice 2012: Day 10
Dear Friends,
