On January 11, I was one of several speakers at a rally to mark the 9th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo outside The White House (organized by, and including speakers from the Center for Constitutional Rights, Witness Against Torture, Amnesty International USA, and September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows), as well as other groups, including The World Can't Wait. The other speakers, as mentioned here, were Tom Parker, Amnesty International USA's advocacy and policy director of terrorism, counterterrorism and human rights, Pardiss Kebriaei, Center for Constitutional Rights staff attorney representing men detained at Guantánamo, Valerie Lucznikowska of September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Frida Berrigan of Witness Against Torture, and peace activist Kathy Kelly reading out a statement by former prisoner Omar Deghayes. For more on the context of the days calls for urgent action from President Obama, Congress and the American people, see my article, The Political Prisoners of Guantánamo.
Note: The photo at the top of this article (click to enlarge) is by Sarah Hogarth, whose many photos of the day's protests are available here, and I hope to be posting some of my favorite images in a separate article soon.
Throughout the 2008 campaign, then Senator Obama promised that his administration would bring transparency and accountability to the White House and to his administration and that he would close Guantanamo by the end of 2009.
Since he came to office, the conditions at Guantanamo did improve somewhat but what he did not do was close Guantanamo, nor did he release the detainees, nor did he allow them their Constitutional rights and guarantees to include their ability to hold the US accountable for the abuse and torture they endured; Nor did President Obama stop many of the abuses started under Bush from the Patriot Act to warrantless wiretapping (in fact he expanded Bagram) to holding "suspects" without charge for years!
PRESIDENT Obama has refused to allow transparency and has refused to hold those who committed the crimes of torture and abuse accountable; He has even attempted to stop other nations from bringing charges against those who, under the last administration, committed crimes against the Geneva Conventions and against the laws of many countries (including our own), that include using those countries for black sites and transporting renditioned civilians through them.
Thanks, Jaq. How lovely to hear from you. I got back from the States yesterday, and am feeling rather exhausted right now after a frenetic week of events, buoyed up only by the excellence of all the activists, lawyers and supporters I met — oh, OK, and the double espressos too!