“I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will!” Obama

“We are waiting. 1-21-09!” Activists

On January 11, the 7th anniversary of the opening of the detention camp for “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo, 30 protesters brought Guantanamo to the brunch crowd on Lincoln Rd. Mall, Miami Beach, FL. Organized by Miami for Peace and the Miami chapter of Amnesty International, participants in orange jump suits, with signs, slogans, and flyers, spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon picketing and mingling to raise awareness and encourage locals and tourists alike to join the Fast for Justice, organized by Witness Against Torture. Many focused their participation in this 100-day fast to close Guantanamo in the time between January 11 and Obama’s inauguration; 1-19, Bush’s last day, was especially popular for fasting among South Florida participants. CODEPINK Women for Peace, a group that has campaigned to close Guantanamo pretty much since it was opened, maintained a steady presence in Washington, fasting and attending confirmation hearings for Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder; they attended garbed in orange jumpsuits.

In solidarity with demonstrators around the world, South FLorida protesters walked to support Obama’s promise to close Guantanamo, to end torture, to restore habeas corpus – in short, to live up to the Constitution of the United States, and to insist that he fulfill this promise sooner, rather than later. Why the concern? As many as 245 men are still being held in the Guantanamo camp, some since the camp opened, with no formal charges leveled, no due process, no rights to see the “evidence” against them; essentially these men have been held for years, with no nope in sight. There have been repeated accusations of dehumanized treatment by the US military, even torture. Hunger-strikers are force-fed. While the Bush administration, which opened the camp where it is to avoid having to follow US law, insisted for seven long years that the camp held the “worst of the worst,” the record tells otherwise. In the last three months alone, courts or tribunals have found 24 detainees to be held improperly. Over the years, one after another, hundreds of detainees have been found blameless or quietly released with no explanation. Witness Haji Bismullah, held for nearly six years. It turns out that he not only was not an anti-US terrorist in Afghanistan, but he actually fought the Taliban!

Heartened by Obama’s promise, waiting for him to be inaugurated and make good on this promise, imagine the discouragement to come home from this action and learn that he has already backed down from the promise to close Guantanamo during his first 100 days in office. According to Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK: “We are encouraged by Obama’s actions today [1-21] to suspend trials [for 120 days], but we are concerned that he may keep Guantanamo open for another year.” Later that same day, Obama drafted an executive order formalizing that one-year deadline.

“I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture.” Obama

“We are watching.” Activists

Here, President Obama’s choice of Eric Holder for Attorney General is encouraging. During his confirmation, Mr. Holder affirmed that “Waterboarding is torture,” something held as true since the Spanish Inquisition by all but the Bush administration, which saw it as merely “enhanced interrogation.” Holder is opposed to farming out interrogation to CIA subcontractors, insisting that interrogators adhere to the Geneva Convention. What a concept!

The damage done by the Bush administration’s casual treatment of torture is well illustrated by a comment made to the protesters: “I believe we should torture and that we should continue to torture them for the full length of the sentence.” There is much work to be done by the new administration, not only to end torture, but to bring a significant segment of our people back to our country’s fundamental values.

“We’re going to restore habeas corpus.” Obama

“No more Camp X-Rays!” Activists

We’ve got mixed signals on this one. While Obama has promised to close the camp at Guantanamo, that can be only the beginning, as this is not the only such facility. There are detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world, centers whose means of operation have been opposed from the beginning, not only by progressives and peace activists, but by such respected officers as Brigadier General David M. Brahms, USMC (Ret.); Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn, USN (Ret.); Army Colonel (Ret.), former U.S. Deputy Ambassador (resigned), and current CODEPINK peace activist Ann Wright; and so many more. In fact, while Guantanamo has received most of the press and protest, there are concerns that Guantanamo might be the “shining jewel” of detention, that the other facilities, especially those run by the CIA in virtual secrecy, are hell holes. Obama is expected to include closure of these camps in his first-week executive orders. No details are yet available.

We must, as a nation, follow our own laws, our cherished principles. Obama himself has cited habeas corpus, the right to be brought before a court or judge, so as to avoid illegal detention, as the essence of who we are. Despite his clear opposition to torture and repeated statements supporting civil rights (at least for Americans), Holder seems balanced on the fence on this one; referring to Guantanamo detainees, he stated: “There are possibly many other people who are not going to be able to be tried but who nevertheless are dangerous to this country ... We’re going to have to try to figure out what to with them.”

“Don’t just move them – Due Process!” Activists

The devil is in the details. Obama has already backed off his promised timetable, which missed the moral “immediately.” We see repeated media reports of other nations willing to accept detainees, but with precious little information regarding that status of those people when “accepted.” Now we see worries in the new administration about the “danger” presented by people who have been held illegally for years, uncertainty about what to do with them. The US is not a nation that locks up people who might be dangerous. The examples in our past – the shameful determent of US citizens of Japanese ancestry during WWII, the McCarthy travesty, the forcing of Native Americans into the reservation system – are cited as horrors in our history. We expect better. We demand better.

Note: Obama’s handling of Guantanamo & other camps is a developing story, with new information released daily.