The cell is currently sitting on a part of the National Mall that is directly across the street from the Washington Monument. The monument was built in honor of George Washington, one of our country’s leaders in our fight for independence and democracy - and our first President. Being here makes me wonder what George Washington would have thought of Guantanamo.
Today is the International Day In Support of Victims of Torture - a day to reflect on the injustices and abuses symbolized by Guantanamo and, in my opinion, DO SOMETHING about it. Almost no one I spoke with today knew that June 26th marks the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. But we’re working to change that - over 360 individuals visited the cell, taking a moment to think about the issues surrounding Guantanamo and take action.
No one deserves to be tortured, denied access to a fair trial, and held without charge. I think George Washington would be with us on this one…
–Jen
30 June 2008 at 4:02 pm
It is time people started hearing the truth about what goes on at GTMO. Please stop lying and spreading your propaganda. MSG, U.S. Army <—served at GTMO Detainees are very well taken care of and are not tortured. The cell you are traveling around with is reserved for detainees who bite, spit, headbutt, throw feces on guards and threaten female guards with rape. STOP SPREADING DAMAGING LIES ABOUT THE TREATMENT OF DETAINEES AT GTMO.
MSG, U.S. Army
14 July 2008 at 11:17 pm
Hey Brian, How do you explain Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying GTMO looks bad on the U.S. and that it should be shut down?
15 July 2008 at 8:03 pm
Go ahead and shut it down, but don’t release the detainees. Move them to another detention facility or create another to replace “the big bad evil GITMO”. Looks can be deceiving and we have certain portions of the media and organizations like yours to thank for that. I commented on JZ or ZJ or whomever it was concerning the Admiral’s out of context comments on an earlier blog.
Continued peace and blessings to you Orlando. Thank you for acknowledging my post.
U.S.A. Terror free since 9-11-2001, your Commander in Chief and the U.S. Military says your welcome!!
15 July 2008 at 8:05 pm
** “you are welcome”
20 July 2008 at 1:53 am
Mullen: “I believe from the standpoint on how it reflects on us, it has been pretty damaging.”
There’s not much to take out of context there.
I don’t feel safer with my government and military abducting and torturing people and holding them indefinitely without charge and them denying basic legal rights.
People in the FBI and CIA have said tons of innocent people have been swept up and that by torturing people and throwing away the standard legal process, the government doesn’t have a way to tell the guilty from the innocent, except from those like KSM who gloat about what they’ve done.
This is not protecting apple pie, the 4th of July and the statue of liberty–this is destroying them. Bush is doing a better job of destroying America–by destroying our legal principles and values–then terrorists have.
Therefore I consider people like you who support torture and human rights abuses by the US to be on the same side as terrorists. You want to destroy America and so do they. Guess what? We’re not gonna let you and the terrorists win!
22 July 2008 at 7:47 pm
Read what I wrote Orlando… Go ahead and close GITMO, I don’t care as long as it doesn’t equal RELEASING terrorists. If there was another option, another prison etc… then house them there. The Military isn’t abducting and torturing people. Those responsible for the TRAVESTIES at ABU GHRAIB and BAGRAM have long since had there day in court. The detainees at GITMO are very well taken care of, I’ve seen it with my own two eyes and not what you people read and see on tabloid TV. Admiral Mullen reckognizes that GITMO “LOOKS BAD” and in the very same article is quoted saying something to the effect of it can be closed once there is someplace to MOVE the detainees to and not RELEASE. He doesn’t advocate anything you stand for (other then being against torture and that is why we “U.S. Servicemembers” at GITMO to include interregators don’t do it.)
No standard legal process has ever been “thrown away” and in fact…EVEN PRIOR to the Supreme Court’s ruling granting Habeas Review… those held at GITMO already enjoyed more legal rights then any Enemy Combatants or Prisoners of War in the HISTORY of U.S. Conflicts. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.
You can consider “people like me” anyway you want…I was at first offended that you would suggest I (a 16 year and counting U.S. Army Career Soldier) to be on the same side as terrorists. But then instead of feeling offended, I am just sorry for how ignorant and far from the truth your mind is.
Those with the KNOWLEDGE and those who know what is in the best interest of the World and the U.S. aren’t going to let YOU and your people win. Nor are they going to allow 250plus detainees to return to the JIHAD.
Continued peace and blessings to you Orlando.
U.S.A. Terror Free Since 9-11-2001
22 July 2008 at 10:07 pm
By the way… where did you get the idea I support torture and human right abuses??? Is it because I challenge the garbage you are telling people across the country? When the majority of the people know the truth about what goes on at GITMO your soapbox will vanish. Even the picture on the top of this page is a lie and serves one purpose…to fool people into thinking that it is a scene from GITMO.
22 July 2008 at 10:19 pm
When you tour the country do you explain the “model cell” you are touring with is reserved for detainees who bite, spit, headbutt, throw feces on guards and threaten female guards with rape? Do you talk about the 2 to 3 hours of rec time? The 3 square meals a day? The visits from attorney’s? That all reasonable requests for certain food and comfort items are met? The healthcare that is better then the average Servicemember receives? The mail they are afforded to send and receive? Do you tell them the rest of the detainee population that doesn’t throw urine on guards are living in open bay military barracks style rooms? Of Course you don’t… Instead you perpetuate the false IMAGE of torture… You sir are the one damaging the nation and who embolden our enemy.
Continued peace and blessings to you,
MSG, U.S. Army
29 July 2008 at 8:00 pm
Orlando, ZJ and the rest-
You all seem like very compassionate and righteous people and despite the tone of some of my posts… I respect your opinions and have respect for Amnesty International and for 95% of the worthy causes. However… you have completely missed the mark on the GITMO detainee issue. If my posts have done little to nothing to change your views then we will just have to agree to disagree. I encourage you to stay true to your beliefs and fight the good fight for freedom and against tyranny and torture. Just be careful with spreading false perception and understand all sides / concerns / and what is reality when it comes to the detention, the treatment, and the care of detainees at GITMO. ESPECIALLY when it comes to the U.S. Military. Those in charge down at GITMO and those responsible for the everyday well-being and care of dangerous men take pride and take that job very seriously. It angers some to a great length that many in the general public are convinced we are torturing them… when in reality, if they really knew how well the detainees are cared for they would be very surprised. Anyway…that’s it. I’m more then ready to keep a civil debate going and look forward to a response from either my previous post in this blog or my previous post in ZJ’s Boumediene vs. Bush blog. Take care gentlemen,
U.S.A. Terror free since 9-11-2001
Brian
29 July 2008 at 11:02 pm
Brian,
Part of our campaign is calling for five UN experts previously denied unconditional access–four Special Rapporteurs and the chairperson of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention–to visit without restrictions Guantanamo and other US-run detention centers. And to offer such access to international human rights organizations, including the ICRC and Amnesty International. If you are concerned about what’s really happening at Guantanamo then please join our call for indepedent observers to have full access.
Best,
ZJ
30 July 2008 at 2:46 pm
I can tell you the ICRC has full access.
30 July 2008 at 2:58 pm
Amnesty International is an activist group and independent from government. Even members of the Military without the appropriate security clearances don’t have free reign about the faciliy. If it were my call, I wouldn’t allow it access to a military run, highly classified and maximum security detention facility either. Sorry!
30 July 2008 at 3:50 pm
Start by removing the staged or fake photo from your website…spreading lies and telling less then half truths across the country…maybe Amnesty International will be granted access like the ICRC. Early on they reported (confidentially, but it has since been leaked) concerns about interogation techniques they felt were tantamount to torture. Over the last several years they have been very helpful in shaping GITMO into what it is today. I wasn’t there back in ‘03, ‘04 etc.. in ‘07 or ‘08 there is nothing going on that you or I or any American should be ashamed of.
5 August 2008 at 9:18 pm
Good news and Bad News for you guys.
Good news (as far as you are concerned) he won’t spend a day at GITMO, bad news (as far as you guys are concerned) This terrorist will never get a “fair-trial”. Go ahead and have a moment of silence for him!!
USA Terror Free since 9-11-2001
Story below:
Al-Qaeda confirms fighter’s death
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar was an Egyptian national
An internet message from al-Qaeda has apparently confirmed that the group’s top chemical-weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, has died.
The al-Qaeda message did not specify the cause of his death, though he was widely reported to have been killed in an airstrike in Pakistan last week.
Taleban officials had told the BBC he died in the raid, but false reports of his death have circulated in the past.
The US, which has a $5m (£2.5m) reward on his head, has not yet responded.
It is believed that the US carried out last week’s raid over Pakistan’s South Waziristan region.
The al-Qaeda statement, dated 30 July, was posted on a website used by Islamist militants.
The message, signed by al-Qaeda’s chief in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, said Midhat Mursi was among a group of “heroes” who had joined “the caravans of martyrs”.
“An expert may have gone, but he has left behind - thanks be to God - experts whom he trained,” the statement said.
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 55, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was an Egyptian national.
The US government’s Rewards for Justice website described him as “an explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of al-Qaeda”.
12 August 2008 at 2:29 pm
Another one bites the dust and won’t spend time at GITMO. This is much better then capturing them.
Al-Qa’eda’s Abu Saeed al-Masri ‘killed on Afghan border’
A senior commander of al-Qa’eda has reportedly been killed in recent clashes with Pakistani forces on the Afghan border - the fourth leader of the terror group to be killed in as many weeks.
By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 8:35AM BST 12 Aug 2008
Abu Saeed al-Masri, said to be among the top leadership in the terror group, was killed in fighting in the hotly disputed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“He was believed to be among the top leadership of al-Qa’eda,” the senior security official in Pakistan said.
Al-Masri, which means Egyptian, was the senior most Al Qa’eda operative to have been killed in Pakistan’s tribal belt since the death of his compatriot, Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Al Qa’eda chemical and biological weapons expert, last month.
Al-Qa’eda have yet to confirm the latest death, but did acknowledge the earlier killings.
In a web statement they said Abu Khabab al-Masri and three other commanders had been killed. It did not give details on when or how they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe al-Masri died in an American airstrike on a compound near the Afghan border.
Pakistani officials have said six people were killed in that strike, in the country’s lawless South Waziristan tribal region.
The first Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose real name is Midhat Mursi, had a $5 million bounty on his head from the United States.
He is accused of training terrorists to use poisons and explosives, and is believed to have trained suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.
U.S.A. Terror free since 9-11-2001