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On the 5th Anniversary of Guantanamo
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by Kathy Stone, W A M M
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Seventy-one mock prisoners, dressed in orange jumpsuits and hoods, traveled through Minneapolis skyways and buildings downtown on January 11 to remind people of the national disgrace and urge for its closure.
Opponents of the ongoing human rights abuses at Guantanamo chose Thursday, January 11, the fifth anniversary of the day that the United States brought the first detainees to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as the day to say “No more excuses! Stop the abuses!” New UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, like his predecessor, has called for closure of Guantanamo. Five years is long enough.
The United States has brought more than 700 prisoners from 40 countries to Guantanamo since 2002. More than half are still held there. Of the 435 detainees currently being held at Guantanamo, only 10 have been charged with terrorism-related offenses. Of the 245 that have been released to their home countries, 205 were freed without being charged or were cleared of charges related to their detention.
After all the worldwide calls for closure of the detention facility, after human rights organizations, lawyers and constitutional scholars, news reports and photos have documented long-running abuse, including torture, nothing has changed for the prisoners at Guantanamo.
Members of WAMM’s T3 (Tackle Torture at the Top) committee, War Resisters League, Anti-War Committee, and Veterans for Peace organized the local protest in collaboration with the Witness Torture protest held in Washington D.C.
Timeline at Guantanamo (Compiled by Kathy Stone)
November 13, 2001: Bush issues Presidential Military Order giving himself the power to detain non-citizens suspected of connection to terrorism as an enemy combatant. Under the order, a person could be held indefinitely, without charges being filed against him or her, without a court hearing, and without entitlement to a legal consultant.
January 11, 2002: U.S. brings first detainees to Guantanamo. The plane that arrives from Afghanistan is carrying 20 men.
February 27, 2002: Two-thirds of detainees go on a hunger strike.
March 11, 2003: Federal Appeals Court rules that detainees have no legal rights in the United States.
July 30, 2004: Pentagon creates Combatant Status Review Tribunals to review detainee’s “enemy combatant” status on a case-by-case basis. Lawyers are banned.
August 26-28, 2004: 23 prisoners attempt suicide.
January 25, 2005: U.S. announces plan to investigate allegations of abuse
May 2005: A published report alleges copies of the Koran were mishandled by guards, sparking worldwide protests. U.S. later confirms five cases of mishandling.
February 16, 2006: UN human rights investigators call for the immediate closure of the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.
June 10, 2006: 3 Guantanamo prisoners, two Saudis and one Yemeni, take their own lives. Department of State spokesperson Colleen Graffy calls the suicides a “good PR move to draw attention.” Their suicide notes are not made public.
June 21, 2006: Bush response to worldwide angst and anger over the three suicides: “I’d like to end Guantánamo. I’d like it to be over with. One of the things we will do is we’ll send people back to their home countries... There are some who need to be tried in U.S. courts. They’re cold-blooded killers... And yet, we believe there’s a— there ought to be a way forward in a court of law, and I’m waiting for the Supreme Court of the United States to determine the proper venue in which these people can be tried.”
June 10, 2006: 25 activists arrested at U.S. Mission to the United Nations while calling for an end to torture and for the closure of Guantanamo.
June 29, 2006: Supreme Court rules (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld) that previous efforts to try Guantanamo detainees under military war crimes were unconstitutional. The ruling re-confirmed the right of U.S. citizens to habeas corpus even when declared an enemy combatant.
October 17, 2006: Congress strips Writ of habeas corpus out of Bill of Rights as part of the Military Commissions Act. The Act designates that the withdrawal of habeas corpus applies to only non-US enemy combatants, resident aliens, and those giving comfort and aid to them “in breach of an allegiance or duty to the United States.”
October 19, 2006: Bush signs Military Commissions Act into law. Keith Olbermann, MSNBC “Countdown” commentator says we now have “A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from.”
November 14, 2006: Center for Constitutional Rights files war crimes lawsuit in Germany against former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Attorney General Gonzalez and former CIA Director Tenet over prisoner torture.
November 14, 2006: CIA confirms existence of two Presidential Orders authorizing detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects overseas.
November 17, 2006: U.S. military announces plan to build a $125 million courtroom complex at Guantanamo for holding war-crimes trials for terror suspects. The compound will accommodate up to 1200 people, and would include three courtrooms, dining rooms, offices and sleeping accommodations for administrative personnel, lawyers, journalists and others involved in trials. It would also include a high-security area to house the detainees on trial. The contractor who “wins” the bid for the construction project will be required to complete work by July 2007.
December 15, 2006: The U.S. will continue to hold detainees indefinitely, even if there is insufficient evidence to bring them to trial, U.S. State Department legal adviser John Bellinger tells the Daily Telegraph (UK).
January 9, 2007: A U.S. delegation including Cindy Sheehan and Medea Benjamin of CodePink, departs for Cuba and plans to march to the gates of Guantanamo and demand its closure. |
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© 2007 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete February 2007 Index - click here
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