Shut Guantanamo Bay down… here we go again!
How many times do we have to protest this? And why does it seem like people are so comfortably numb over this to the point of acceptance?
This planet is weird. People go nuts over Palestine and forget that 10 times the number are being brutally killed in Darfur yet the issue is completely silent. People go nuts over Jewish rights in the Middle East yet forget the Kurds and Baha’is who have gone through worse for practically decades now. Here we have one of the biggest crimes taking place by a powerful country that is working hard on promoting its interest in our region, yet this too has gone silent.
Can you guys tell me what freedom the US government is talking about, what democracy, when this is what it’s doing to our innocent civilians? No trial, no evidence, no rights. Freedom my ass!
I read this in the paper this morning, and Mideast Youth is in talks now about starting yet another campaign to protest this. Yeah, while some exist, it seems like they’re not doing enough. No action. One petition isn’t going to do anything, keep the pressure up and be consistent. Not only is Guananamo unconstitutional, it’s inhumane! And it needs to stop now.
A BAHRAINI prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has begged to be allowed to kill himself in a harrowing letter to his lawyer.
Juma Al Dossary says inmates are being tortured physically and psychologically on a regular basis and their life is no longer worth living.
He said detainees are also unable to complain to anyone inside the prison camp – alleging it was those in charge of the facility who are abusing them.
“We die here hundred times a day and I swear to God if I have the opportunity, I would end the life of misery, torture and terror I live at the hands of those people,” writes Al Dossary.
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“I want to put an end to this psychological and physical torture by any means. I am looking for an end to my life, for an opportunity that has not come yet.”
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“We are subject here in the psychotherapy unit to horrible and awful torture that I cannot describe,” the Bahraini writes.
“These days are more terrible than those days of Camp X-ray, because we are being tortured physically and psychologically on regular basis and we do not find anyone who can hear our complaints.”
Al Dossary says inmates are being treated worse than slaves and suggests animals enjoy a better quality of life.
“In fact, we are being tortured and our condition is much worse than those in solitary cells,” he wrote.
“We are deprived of everything, as if we are being punished for being in that condition and in that block. Those who are being openly punished in other places have more personal stuff than we do. I cannot describe the degree of our tragedy or the graveness of our misfortune.”
Al Dossary, who signed his letter The Sufferer, claims he can often hear the screams of other inmates being tortured and is constantly fatigued because of the Immediate Reaction Force soldiers storming his and other prisoner’s cells in a bid to terrify them.
“We are facing here the most horrible type of oppression and physical torture, rather terrorising treatment,” he says.
“I am a human being, but a dead one without rights, dignity, humanity or identity.
“It is easy for you to say be patient. But for me, I own nothing, no food, no clothes, no time to sleep – nothing at all.
Read the rest. It’s alarming. If you guys can go to sleep knowing that your fellow citizens are going through this for NO apparent reason… well, I can’t. So we are working on a campaign for his sake and for the sake of those like him. This is unacceptable at all, and others shouldn’t expect us to stay quiet. If no one else is fighting for their rights, then here we are. WE will.
Free Juma, Free them all!
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If you believe it. I don’t. What torture? We can’t even waterboard those terrorist, although our own troops undergo that process in their training. Being forced to stand for hours? I have to do that at work! Being placed in a hot room without airconditioning? Doesn’t that tear at your heart strings? What are the reports from the Red Cresent on the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers? The US servicemen that Al Qaeda captured, what’s the word from their lawers? This is just BS propoganda that those that wish to believe, believe.
Oh yeah. Guantanamo is a 5-star hotel in Malaysia actually. This is just a late April fools, Rancher! Way to figure us out!
We can’t even waterboard those suspected terrorist
ohh… what the fuck are the US servicemen doing in…
Israel and US solider thing… what about them? Stick to the topic.
I love it when people whine about us not doing something for Israel and the US on this website. Our reason is very simple: we do things for people who actually need it. Not for people who already have the freedom, money, and resources to do what we do. People in Israel and the US are perfectly capable of helping themselves and each other, so here’s a thought, do it if your heart is with these causes, don’t expect a bunch of Arab activists to do the work for you.
Like it or not – we’re doing this campaign. We know these people, we know their families, don’t come here and accuse us of bullshit and tell us it’s propaganda. “What terrorism?” haha that’s easy for you to say at the comfort of your own home. Where is your evidence against any of this?
Ooooo look you just described the working condition of all the labourer’s in all the third world countries.
At the end of the day you get to go home after you do your work, these guys don’t. Get the point now?
Why is it not germane to the subject that Al Qaeda and the Sadrist cut off their prisoner’s heads yet we should be condemned for interrogation techniques that are so benign that we use them on our own troops for training. These are the worst of the worst captured. We’ve already recaptured some of the “suspected†terrorist that we already let go. A lot of American and Iraqi lives have already been saved by information we have gotten from Club Gitmo. The conditions at Gitmo have been inspected by all kinds of agencies and politicians, what this guy is describing I believe to be pure fiction.
How can you be so sure of that, if many of them are merely suspects and are left to rot there without a trial?
Secondly, terrorists or not, what’s going on at Guantanamo is simply unconstitutional. Even the Supreme Court ruled it out, it’s entirely illegal, so tell me why isn’t it shut down yet?
Unconstitutional? Hate to break it to you buddy but the United States Constitution only applies to United States citizens.
Look, since you and I are normally on the same page I’ll help your little campaign. If Al Dossary is telling the truth then I agree he has been mistreated. For the last three years I have trained our prison staff in our Use of Force policy. I worked for The GEO Group, the multinational company that specializes in prison construction and management and is the company operating the prison in Gitmo. While each prison is unique, Use of Force policies usually all have the same CYA aspects, (Cover Your Assets). A large international corporation is not going to do anything that could jeopardize the company, free market competition and all that.
From Wikipedia
“The first man is meant to go in with a shield. On this occasion the man with the shield threw the shield away, took his helmet off, when the door was unlocked ran in and did a knee drop onto Jumah’s back just between his shoulder blades with his full weight. He must have been about 240 pounds in weight. His name was Smith. He was a sergeant E5. Once he had done that the others came in and were punching and kicking Jumah…
GEO use of force policy states, and again this is the policy for my prison but I bet it is pretty standard; a cell extraction team must have a video camera recording all aspects of a cell extraction. If there is no tape these guys are in trouble, what Al Dossary is describing would be a violation of any law enforcement Use of Force Policy. Keep me informed.
the reason the united states government claims to bring freedom and democracy to some places and not to other ones is quite simple and utterly unacceptable. they want to protect u.s. interests, while creating some new ones. darfur has nothing to offer my government, neither side has anything to trade for our steadfast defence of democracy where ever it may be threatened.
guantanamo will not begin the process of closing until january 2009. believe me the silence is not deafening in the states. unfortunately, the people that run this country mostly grew up in a mono-cultural society, and believe completely that they are doing god’s work. it is hard for them to see the world in fresh terms. again, this is unacceptable, but in a representative democracy, we can only vote for people willing to run for office. our choices are often between a turd sandwich and a giant douche.
public school integration and cable television, followed by the internet, have been responsible for an entire generation to be more tolerant mulit-cultural young americans. we will rise from the ashes of our fractured system and once again set a decent example in the world. that is the best that anyone can hope for. i formally apologize to the world on behalf of those of us here in the u.s. that do not walk around with an american flag wrapped around there heads so as to not see or hear the truth that is so obvious to the rest of the world. i am sorry my generation came about at the same time when the life expectancy of those in power looks to be another fifteen to twenty years. we are chipping away at the mountain slowly, but every day more icepicks join in the effort.
may our grandchildren learn from our mistakes, may they grow into a world that looks at the current way two solve problems as “quaint.”
We in the United States want to protect our interests and you find that unacceptable? Whose interests should we champion? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Mars?
Rancher, my point is that your leaders have no business butting in and claiming they want “peace” and “democracy” for us when it rarely practices what it preaches. And keeping your folks safe by terrorizing other innocent civilians isn’t something to be proud of or something that needs to be justified.
Secondly, Guantanamo is unconstitutional. Not my words, rather your Supreme Court’s, which ruled it out, and said it’s unlawful… over a year ago! So, tell me again, why is this still open if even the Supreme Court finds it unacceptable? Why doesn’t the US follow its own laws?!
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Oh yeah.. so much for that being a great day for the rule of law, which the US doesn’t even seem to follow!
First, SCOTUS did not say that Gitmo was unconstitutional; it said that the tribunals were. The logic escapes me why we should confer Geneva Convention rights to terrorist who never signed the agreement much less follow it but you’re right; it is the law. To the best of my knowledge the government has followed the law since the judgment was handed down. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not sure why you say that Gitmo shows we don’t really support Democracy or peace so I can’t address that. At best you can make the claim we don’t support the rule of law but then you must show that since the SCOTUS decision we have broken the law with tribunals or whatever. As an aside I would like to thank you for having a reasonable debate with me. That is why I think this forum is so valuable; so many sites are just a bunch of like-minded individuals cheerleading each other.
Good morning Rancher,
Then perhaps I shall correct myself. Maybe Gitmo itself is not unconstitutional but I think its practices certainly are. I still think it’s wrong to hold suspects without trial for such a long period of time and under such poor conditions. Why should “innocent until proven guilty” only apply to U.S citizens, because the rest aren’t worthy of such rights?
I mean, I have no problem with the U.S trying to protect itself against terrorism but certainly not when it terrorizes others in the process and abuses civil rights in the name of the Patriot Act or anything like that. I, like probably many others here, have never been to the U.S so I have never experienced this first-hand. But I do have a lot of pre-conceived opinions about the U.S, I will admit that, due to articles I read and people whose stories I trust. My father used to go to Boston often for seminars and conferences, and they used to interrogate and humiliate him for many hours. My uncle was left in a detention cell for almost 18 hours with no phone call, lawyer, or even food, which turned us all off of ever going to the U.S. due to fear of this type of mistreatment. So, why should I believe that what’s happening in Guantanamo is a lie, if a lot of things, especially personal things, allows me to find it true? It doesn’t seem like uncommon behavior to be honest. In recent years we heard of horrifying stories in Iraq (especially Abu Ghraib), knowing that U.S maries and servicemen are certainly capable of committing these atrocities. If I have evidence (Juma’s letters) that point towards his reality, why should I believe otherwise, if there is no evidence that goes against his claims? Why would a guy being detained for this many years, without a fair trial, lie, just for the sake of it?
Why would Juma use his opportunities just to spread propaganda? It doesn’t make any sense that he would do that. I mean, it’s not like the guy is made-up, he’s real, and his family here in Bahrain exist and are worried about him. His lawyers exist. This case is valid. I don’t see why or how it doesn’t deserve to be faught for. It wouldn’t be anti-USA, in fact tons of American activists are already trying to close Guantanamo down, rather it’s just for the sake of human rights. We’d be leading the same campaign if Gitmo was being led by our own government, that doesn’t make us traitors or racists. That makes us decent human beings rallying for the freedom of others who deserve it.
More horrible news for the people who insisted that this is “propaganda:”
Saudi Gitmo Inmate Found Dead
Excerpt:
Anyone dare to justify this?
Bravo US government for proving once again that the current administration is run by hypocrites and the same type of dictators whose countries it loves to invade. This is a major human rights violation and must be addressed with total seriousness. Too bad your citizens are too busy with American Idol to actually give a fuck about what’s going on in their names.