Watch the videos recorded inside our replica of a cell at Guantánamo touring the US. See how people inside the cell react at the experience. Then record your own message and add your voice to the thousands protesting illegal US detentions.
We just came across this cartoon by Pulitzer winning cartoonist Tom Toles of the Washington Post and thought it was great.
See you in Denver–next Cell Tour stop is the Democratic National Convention August 25 - 28. And the Republic National Convention after that: Minneapolis - Saint Paul, September 1 - 4.
ZJ
PS If you’re attending either convention, please wear orange—we can’t let them forget torture and illegal detention!
“Close Guantanamo!”
The New York Times today released a story explaining the results of a Senate Arms Services Committee hearing on interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay. The hearing revealed the sad irony that interrogation tactics used by the CIA against detainees at Guantanamo Bay were ripped straight out of a playbook used by Communist captors against American soldiers in the Korean War. Back then, the United States denounced these tactics as torture.
How is it that the tools used by a state notorious for its human rights violations, and denounced by the United States are now being employed by the United States itself?
What’s worse, an American sociologist during the Korean War helped to create a training regimen to expose American soldiers to Communist techniques, to inoculate American soldiers against these techniques. Why? To counter military fears after reports revealed many American captives had been brainwashed and forced to falsely confess to crimes.
It is bad enough our government is using its old enemies’ tools against its new enemies. It is even worse that they justify using these techniques by saying it yields valuable information they need to protect our country, when they know full well that the information extracted from such methods is most likely false.
This confirms what Amnesty International USA has been saying all along: torture and harsh interrogations do not yield reliable information, violate human rights, and only damage our reputation throughout the world.
The United States was founded on the principle of justice for all. It is time to live up to that principle. Give the detainees fair trials – if they are found innocent, set them free, and if they are found guilty, punish them according to the law.
Why should we expect others to live up to standards we can’t meet ourselves?
–Ilana
Christopher Hitchens, writing for Vanity Fair, voluntarily underwent waterboarding to determine for himself, from an outsiders point of view, if it is indeed a reasonable addition to the interrogation process. After entering the debate, calling the practice “extreme interrogation”, Hitchens decided to settle the matter the best possible way; trying it himself. Would firsthand experience induce a change of heart?
Well, from the title of Hitchens’s article, “Believe Me, It’s Torture”, we have our answer. The current administration is rationalizing to deem it acceptable interrogation. Borne of the rampant fear-mongering that lingers to this day from after the September 11th attacks, America is heading down a path of becoming as immoral as the values it is fighting against. Though my opinion is not an uncommon one (luckily), I’ll state it anyways: America, lead by example. I know its clichéd advice, but clichés become clichés for good reason; they are the plain and simple truth.
There are those who need to be detained and interrogated, and I am not implying that interrogation need be of optimum comfort. Still, human rights cannot be thrown aside because we are at war. The real moral litmus test of a country is not at a time of peace, I can tell you that much.
We must demand that our government live up the standard it demands of others; take and treat non-combatants and prisoners of war according to the guidelines set out in the Geneva Conventions and do not use torture in interrogation techniques. Hint: if soldiers are being trained to resist a certain torture technique, that means it classifies as torture, even when it is called interrogation to the public here.
–Faigy Abdelhak
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
I’m so happy. The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that detainees at Guantanamo have a right to file habeas corpus petitions in U.S. courts. (They must have been convinced by the Guantanamo Cell Tour.) I’m happy because this is the best way to determine who should be given a fair trial and who should be released.
I’m unhappy though because the military commissions are still on the books and therefore unfair trials are still in the works. But this ruling is progress. The crucial thing now is to make sure Congress does not try to pass bad legislation in response.
I just looked at Lindsey Graham’s website, and his statement contains this chilling line: “I will also explore the possibility, if necessary, of a constitutional amendment to blunt the effect of this decision when it comes to protecting our men and women in the military and our nation as a whole.”
Can someone, anyone, please present (you can post it right in the comments section of this post) a logical and factual argument that shows why denying people fundamental legal rights makes members of the U.S. military and the U.S. as a whole, safer?
Can someone please also offer a logical and factual argument that shows how torturing people makes members of the U.S. military and the U.S. as a whole, safer?
Otherwise, it’s just rhetoric, plain and simple.
Go ahead, surprise me! My mind is open to being persuaded, but the burden of proof is on you–I’m for following the law.
I love dogs. They’re fuzzy. They’re fun to play with. They smile a lot. It’s rare that a dog will subject you to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or to indefinite detention without charge or fair trial at Guantanamo or other US controlled facilities. (But if you’re a squirrel, watch out.)
(Caption: Millie the beagle, a good example of a lovable dog.)
Those of you who’ve read my previous posts (collectively known as “mom”) may have picked up on the fact that I frequently battle melancholy in the course of fulfilling my well-paid duties as a human rights campaigner with Amnesty International. Are we making a difference? Are we part of the problem? Are we just a medicinal leech from Lithuania feeding on the bloated, greed-wracked, hate-filled, war-ravaged corpse of humanity, sucking out a tiny bit of poison from its blood just to get the bastard one day closer to the death of the sun?
And you know I usually find inspiration in the little human rights victories–and the big hearts of Amnesty volunteers–but today, our last day in Portland, it was–like so many times before–a dog that saved me. Millie is a beagle. From what I can tell, she enjoys barking at other dogs, eating her own drool and drinking from toilets. I’m guessing she also likes long walks on the beach and rolling in dead seals. But Millie is so much more than a germ carrier–she’s perpetual positivity in motion, with a GTMO orange collar to boot: in other words, pure joy just a head scratch away.
Millie’s human, Pete (remember to write that blog post!), volunteered at the cell each day–and put in tons of time before the Portland stop to make sure Portland people showed up. So did Liz and Leo (you two give me hope I’ll find true love), Eileen (great sense of humor–please remember to send that receipt), Stephen (great photos), David (future Amnesty researcher) and many others. It was a pleasure spending time in the trenches with everyone–thank you very much. Stay orange.
Thanks also to Portland–over 1,000 of your citizens visited the cell and hundreds and hundreds signed the tearitdown.org petition and the postcard to Bush (I’d say 1,000 but I know that guy who threatened to stab me didn’t sign)–all while providing tasty fish and chips and my daily gyro (dude, no lamb) from the Spartan food stand near the cell on Monument Square. “Mediterranean” food court food is becoming my cell tour staple. It’d be fun to be the world’s foremost expert on tzatziki. PS I’m sorry but lobster rolls are gross.
I’m on the A train now going home via the NYC subway system–it’s nuts: kids are screaming, the A/C’s off and it’s a zillion degrees–but I’m happy to sleep in tomorrow, to not wear orange for a few days, to not have some fool bark at me about how I love terrorists, about how I’m an idiot and a coward, about how he’s been incarcerated in cells smaller than this, about how he’s not drunk and about how a terrorist would cut my head off so of course we better torture and murder them first to defend our freedoms and way of life ’cause those people are animals…
But in Portland I also saw the future, and it was good. A 10-year-old kid visited the cell with his mom, turned to her and asked–with an utterly perplexed look born, at least as I remember it from my own lost youth, of the growing realization that the world of adults is maddeningly, brazenly, shamelessly dumb–a magnificently simple, earnest question, one that seems to have escaped the Yale educated (hyphen there? I went to Berkeley) supercomputer housed between the beagle ears of America’s Commander in Chief: “if someone doesn’t get a fair trial, how do we know they’re guilty?”
Mission accomplished.
- ZJ
It was wonderful to see so many Maine citizens — at least 1,100 — come to Amnesty International’s replica of a Guantanamo Bay prison cell over the three days that the cell was set up in Portland’s Monument Square. Many were clearly moved and disturbed by the sight and the size of the cell built to hold a detainee for 22 hours per day for a period of long years.
On the other hand, there were some who criticized Amnesty International for its stand seeking the right to a fair trial for people they consider “the worst of the worst.” In our own opinion, the most important people who came to Monument Square were those who had not made up their minds about the rights of those detainees, who were worried both about what terrorists could do to the United States but also about what secret detentions at Guantanamo, Baghram, and other prisons were doing to the Constitutional rights of everyone, American citizens and others, and who were sorting through their conflicting thoughts.
There were also people who had not known anything about Guantanamo before coming to Monument Square last week. We learned a lot by talking with visitors to the cell and trying to sort out the real issues with them.
As Amnesty International volunteers in Portland, it was a privilege to talk with some of these people and let them know our position that torture is always wrong without exception, that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and that we believe in the worth and dignity of each person. Amnesty International is doing a great service by demanding that our government bring charges against all people for whom there is evidence of wrongdoing or else release them, and by helping to educate the public about the issues.
We were very impressed that an amateur theatrical group, a professional theatre company, a sculptor, several religious groups and congregations, and a veterans group, and a number of peace and human rights organizations lent their voices to this protest in Portland.
Leo and Liz Barrington
Portland, Maine
“These people really do need a fair trial”
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