Tomorrow - 12 years of shame!

January 11, 2014 marks 12 years that Guantanamo has remained open. The photo above came from Witness Against Torture, and torture is exactly what the US government is doing in Guantanamo.

Here is a comment from a recent NYT editorial:

Eighty-six of the remaining prisoners — more than half — were designated three years ago for transfer to another country, provided that security concerns could be satisfied. Yet the transfer plan was left adrift in the face of political combat. Even if the new defense bill spurs progress in reducing the detainee population, the delivery of credible justice for those at the Guantánamo prison camp is far from complete.

It is a horrible stain on our country’s honor to have had this prison opened, and then remain open for 12 years. It is also a horrible violation of our Constitution.

Here is a letter to the editor I wrote a couple of months back:

The prison at Guantanamo Bay will be open for 12 years in a couple of months. That is well over a decade of American injustice, in which our Constitutional ideals are shredded and our lack of morality placed on display for the entire world to see. This prison, without trials, evidence, jury or sentencing, has become an effective recruitment tool for extremists rather than a way to reduce violence from extremist groups. It screams of hypocrisy whenever any American official talks about freedom or justice. 

Eighty four of the prisoners in our off-shore concentration camp have been cleared for transfer, yet they remain in Guantanamo. As the US Senate takes up the National Defense Authorization act in the coming days, I urge Senator Hagan and Senator Burr to vote no on any amendment that would only serve to keep the prison open indefinitely. Now is the time to close this dark and shamfull chapter on American history. 

Amazingly enough, some people argued with me that the prisoners there – and other people labeled as terrorists without a trial or evidence presented – are very immoral, which is why we have to behave in an immoral way also. In their small minds, morality is entirely relative.