http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/guantanamo/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Tue, 27 Jun 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2706/the_senselessness_of_guantamo/ Chicago Lawyer Joseph Marguiles' Guantánamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power (Simon & Schuster) is about as convincing an indictment of Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and at least a few dozen civilian and military advisors as can be imagined in an atmosphere of government secrecy. Margulies, who represents some of the men incarcerated within the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, uses his position as an advocate to, well, advocate. But despite any bias he might harbor as a defense lawyer, Margulies has used his unusual access to top-secret operations to write a book that ought to persuade anybody--regardless of political ideology--that Bush has allowed immoral and probably illegal treatment of fellow human beings. Margulies… Guantanamo Civil Liberties Books War on Terror David Sirota Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:01:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2835/tracking_the_cia_torture_flights/ On September 6, President George W. Bush admitted that the United States detains suspected terrorists in secret CIA-run prisons in foreign countries. He announced that 14 individuals previously held in these secret jails had been transferred to the "detention facility" on Guantánamo Bay Naval Base. The president claimed that no other individuals were currently being held at these CIA "black sites," but refused to disclose the location of said jails. "Doing so would provide our enemies with information they could use to take retribution against our allies and harm our country." In their new book Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights, A.C. Thompson and Trevor Paglen detail how the CIA transports these "detainees" around the globe.… guantanamo criminal justice books war on terror David Sirota Wed, 08 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2890/lawyers_fight_for_habeas_rights/ Inside the White House, President George W. Bush sat at a small desk. Surrounded by generals, congressmen and members of his administration, he signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA) into law. "It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill he knows will save American lives," he declared. Outside the White House, it was raining. More than 100 religious leaders, survivors of torture and concerned citizens gathered to mourn the passing of a cornerstone of American law. Many of the marchers wore soggy orange jumpsuits and black hoods over their faces, representing the more than 400 men who remain imprisoned at Guantánamo. The gap between the Bush administration's agenda and the concerns of the activists outside could… Civil Liberties Judiciary Guantanamo David Sirota Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2966/diary_of_a_guantamo_attorney/ I fell into the world of Guantánamo in October 2005. The Chicago Council of Lawyers had organized a luncheon discussion on the legal issues surrounding the infamous detention facility at the U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba. I received an e-mail thanking me for my attendance (I should have gone but didn't) and asking for volunteers to represent the nearly 200 known unrepresented prisoners at the base. I had assumed that I was well-informed about our criminal president and his assault on the rule of law; it never occurred to me that four years after being captured (and more than one year after the Supreme Court affirmed their right to hearing and counsel) individuals were still being held without legal… guantanamo civil rights David Sirota Mon, 12 Feb 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3024/8_reasons_to_close_guantamo_now/ The first detainees arrived in Guantánamo four months to the day after the 9/11 attacks. From the opening of Camp X-Ray--the first site of imprisonment, notorious for its tin-roofed open-air cages--to the recently completed permanent prison known as Camp 6, critics have called for its closure. Even President Bush has said, "I'd like to end Guantánamo. I'd like it to be over with." Yet he refuses to close it because, he says, it holds detainees who "will murder somebody if they are let out on the street." It's time to look at the powerful reasons to close Guantánamo, both the standard ones enumerated below--and also what may be the most compelling, if unspoken, one of all: Guantánamo must be closed… guantanamo prison civil liberties David Sirota Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3023/inside_americas_gulag/ According to the U.S. government, Guantánamo Bay is leased to Uncle Sam by the Cuban government. However, Cuba does not recognize U.S. claims to the Bay and has not accepted lease payments for decades. Therefore, while Guantánamo is officially Cuban territory, it is effectively a fiefdom of the United States military. Guantánamo's bizarre political status makes it a perfect haven for the parallel legal universe the Bush administration has created for "enemy combatants." This parallel legal universe is populated by the likes of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. On January 17, Gonzales shocked the Senate Judiciary Committee with his statement that "the Constitution doesn't say, every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right… civil rights guantanamo prison David Sirota Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3019/interrogations_behind_barbed_wire/ His psychiatrists call it "Groundhog Day." José Padilla--the once-renowned "dirty bomber" who is now little more than a dim light in the government's galaxy of desperadoes--has spent almost five years in solitary confinement. Whenever his lawyers attempt to discuss his case with him, he has the same response, begging them over and over again not to. When they try, his face seizes in tics and his body contorts uncontrollably. "Mr. Padilla may be suffering from some form of brain injury," writes a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated him for his lawyers. His story illuminates what has happened to many prisoners of America's war on terror. In addition to being tormented psychologically, Padilla and other Guantánamo detainees say the U.S. military has… guantanamo prison torture David Sirota Thu, 29 Mar 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3083/reading_harry_potter_in_guantamo/ The prisoners at Guantánamo Bay--or Azkaban, as one of my clients, a Harry Potter fan, calls it--have had no access to a hearing in a court of law. Instead, Guantánamo's inmates are subjected to two kangaroo procedures: Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) and Administrative Review Boards (ARBs). The CSRTs are the tribunals that determine whether an individual is an "enemy combatant." Needless to say, the cards are stacked against the prisoner from the get-go. The tribunals are allowed to rely on hearsay evidence and information acquired though coercion. Any evidence deemed "secret" is withheld from the prisoner. Can you imagine trying to defend yourself against evidence kept secret from you? Amazingly, my client Abdul Al-Ghizzawi (a Libyan national who ran… guantanamo war on terror David Sirota Tue, 01 May 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3128/the_guantnamo_hunger_strike/ Guantánamo is in the grips of a hunger strike--an age-old form of protest that marked such world events as the fight for women's suffrage and Indian and Irish independence. The U.S. military's response to the hunger strike is not surprising: punitive force-feeding, a dangerous and painful approach. In March I was treated to a grisly demonstration of this procedure at a conference of Guantánamo attorneys in London and Oxford. We also met with members of the British Parliament and ambassadors from our clients' countries of origin (as well as ambassadors of countries that might be willing to offer asylum to former prisoners). But one of the main topics of the discussion was the current hunger strike, which is only now… guantanamo prison war on terror David Sirota Thu, 24 May 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3197/locking_attorneys_out_of_guantnamo/ In recent weeks, disastrous court decisions have set back the cause of the hundreds of men and boys languishing in Guantánamo. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. has ruled that the Military Commissions Act (which strips Guantánamo inmates of habeas corpus rights) is a viable law, and the Supreme Court has told us Guantánamo attorneys that we must work within the framework of the Act before the Court will determine whether it is constitutional. The question before us: Can we salvage any of the miniscule progress we have made in the Guantánamo litigation given these disastrous decisions? The government is using the appellate court decision and the Supreme Court's inaction to try to keep us habeas attorneys away… civil rights guantanamo torture David Sirota Thu, 14 Jun 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3226/torture_by_another_name/ On May 15, America was treated to a televised celebration of war, torture and indefinite detention--the South Carolina Republican primary debate. Blending politics with Hollywood, moderator Brit Hume spun a hypothetical question involving the proverbial "ticking time-bomb" scenario. The candidates all tried to out-do each other over who could be trusted to best disregard fundamental constitutional principles. It was close, but the award went to Mitt Romney who declared: "I'm glad they're at Guantánamo. I don't want them on our soil. I want them on Guantánamo, where they don't get the access to lawyers [Mitt: it is our soil and we lawyers are still there.] ... My view is we ought to double Guantánamo ... And enhanced interrogation techniques have… civil rights guantanamo torture David Sirota Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3267/get_me_out_of_gitmo/ The U.S. media is slowly developing a bark when it comes to the Bush administration's unconscionable detention policies. The fact that the great majority of Guantánamo's prisoners have never (and will never) be charged with any crime seems to be sinking in. Following Colin Powell's Johnny-come-lately call for Guantánamo to be shut down "not tomorrow but this afternoon," many major newspapers ran editorials denouncing the prison camp. Still, the mainstream media falls prey to distractions and distortions when it comes to Guantánamo. A recent spate of articles have focused on those few Guantánamo detainees who do not want to be deported to states where they fear they will endure (more) torture and detention or because our government claims that various… guantanamo media David Sirota Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3291/gitmos_last_honest_man/ In late June, a brave whistleblower submitted a devastating affidavit to the Supreme Court, which prompted the court to reverse itself and hear the latest Guantánamo cases challenging the Military Commissions Act. Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham's affidavit exposed Guantánamo's kangaroo tribunals for the sham that they are. Luckily, the only tribunal on which Abraham sat considered the case of my client, Abdul Al-Ghizzawi. Abraham, a California lawyer in the Army Reserves, was assigned to the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants (OARDEC) in 2004. He served as an inter-agency go-between, compiling information on Guantánamo's prisoners from various government offices. The information was gathered into a dossier and presented as evidence to the combatant status review… civil rights guantanamo David Sirota Tue, 02 Oct 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3338/inside_the_secret_facility/ The "Protective Order," issued by the U.S. Federal Court for the D.C. District, establishes the ground rules for the "attorney client relationship" with our Gitmo clients. These are the rules that we (habeas counsel) must follow or else face being held in contempt of court. The attorney-client privilege is one of many legal niceties that disappeared under the protective order. We are also barred from telling a client "secret information" from his files. (The absurdity is underscored by the fact that we cannot even tell a client "secret evidence" that he originally provided.) Although the protective order is a legally binding, the military routinely disregards it and the courts routinely turn a blind eye. When I meet with my client,… censorship civil rights guantanamo David Sirota Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:00:01 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3374/suicide_and_spin_doctors/ Now that the U.S. military has "cleared" my notes, I can tell you about my July meeting at Guantánamo with my client Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi. Al-Ghizzawi was visibly shaken when I entered the meeting room and he immediately told me of his despair over the May death of a fellow inmate, a young Saudi man named Abdel Rahman Al Amri. Al-Ghizzawi knew that Amri had been suffering from Hepatitis B and tuberculosis, the same two conditions from which he himself suffers. Like al-Ghizzawi, Amri had not been treated for his illnesses. Al-Ghizzawi, now so sick he can barely walk, told me that Amri, too, had been ill and then, suddenly, he was dead. Al-Ghizzawi also mentioned that Amri had engaged… guantanamo prison torture David Sirota Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3427/third_times_the_charm/ Most courts, in what passes for the civilized world, will not admit evidence obtained under torture. That is why our government had to set up a new system to avoid these "technicalities." Under the Military Commissions Act (MCA), which Congress passed in September 2006, the Bush administration can avoid presenting real evidence in hearings for Guantánamo detainees. It seemed like an easy concept for these war criminals but like everything else that they have concocted on the fly there are a few problems. The MCA allows the government to rely on the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CRSTs), the initial non-public hearings that were hastily pulled together after the Supreme Court held in 2004 that the detainees had a right to… censorship civil rights guantanamo David Sirota Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3462/catch_22_in_the_21st_century/ When I visited my client Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi at Guantánamo on Sept. 25 and 26, he brought with him two letters that he had been working on since summer. The letters, written in Arabic, were six pages and one page in length. The six-page letter described the torture he had endured since bounty hunters picked him up in Afghanistan in late 2001. The one-page letter contained instructions upon his death. Al-Ghizzawi wanted to spend our meeting going over the letters so that if they got "lost" in the mail, the information would be recorded in my notes. We spent most of our first of two meeting days with al-Ghizzawi reading his letters to me and elaborating or explaining as necessary,… censorship guantanamo David Sirota