Intro: This is an issue I get really fired up about. Amnesty International kicked off an 86-day period of activism this last October, and to do my part, I wrote what you see below and sent it out in email form to several friends and relatives. I got no replies, which surprised me...
Last Wednesday, October 17, marked the one-year anniversary of the president signing the Military Commissions Act into law. The MCA overturned Habeas Corpus for certain detainees in U.S. custody. Habeas Corpus, a legal action that has been around since the early 14th century (and is guaranteed in our Constitution), allows very basic rights for prisoners to know why they are being imprisoned, hear what evidence is being used against them, and petition their detention if they believe it to be unlawful. But now, under U.S. law, anyone that the executive branch declares to be an "enemy combatant" (even if they are an American citizen) no longer has these rights.
January 11, 2008 marks six years since the first detainees arrived at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Guantanamo is a human rights disaster. I'm sure many of you have heard of the allegations of torture brought by former detainees and Red Cross inspectors. I heard the details of some of the alleged torture methods on a radio show several months ago. I was horrified and haven't been able to forget it. They are conditions nobody should have to live in, let alone people who haven't even been charged with any crime. Hundreds of people, including teenagers as young as 13, have been held at Guantanamo for years without knowing why. They have had no charges brought against them, have not been able to hear any evidence against them, and have no hope of a trial or release. They don't get to visit or write to their families. This is a moral issue, not a political one. This is wrong!
Only about 11% of detainees were captured by U.S. authorities and coalition forces; the rest were transferred to U.S. custody (usually from Pakistan) in exchange for large bounties offered for anyone who could possibly be a threat to national security.
To date, there have been 775 detainees brought to Guantanamo, and approximately 355 remain there today. Can you guess how many, total, have been charged with any crime? 600? 200? 50?
Nope. Just 10.
U.S. officials are saying they intend to put 60 to 80 people on trial, and free the rest. What are they waiting for?
Thank you for taking the time to read this far. I do have a point to make: Please write your Congresspeople and ask them to support legislation to restore Habeas Corpus and close Guantanamo. Take two minutes, use these form letters from Amnesty International. It automatically emails your Senators/Representative based on your zipcode.
Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007
Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act
If you know your reps already co-sponsor these acts, send them a thank-you!
To get more information, visit www.tearitdown.org, and sign the America I Believe In Pledge.
Please forward these links on to other people, too! As I write this, the pledge has only 82,593 signatures... I KNOW more people would care about this issue if they knew about it! Americans are a very compassionate people when they really know what's going on.
Again, thank you for reading.
P.S. If you are interested, here's a link to a streamed audio of the (award-winning!) show that first got me involved in this issue: This American Life, "Habeas Schmabeas."
