[pjw] FACTS: 21 Years of Guantanamo

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello IAG supporters

Said I would send these facts out yesterday, but... time flies.

In honor of today being the 32nd anniversary of the "Gulf War" part 1, I 
have updated our "scorecard" picket sign:

https://www.pjw.info/images/iraq32ylsign.jpg

As mentioned before, GHW Bush picked yesterday (King's actual birthday) as 
the deadline for Iraq to get out of Kuwait, then he waited a whole 24 
hours to start bombing.

ANYWAY, this is the fact sheet about Guantanamo we handed out on Friday, 
feel free to share, and as noted before you can download a printable copy 
here:

https://pjw.info/Guantanamo21ylfacts.pdf

Thanks
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

30+ People, 21 Years and Many 
Human Rights Violations in Guantanamo
January 13, 2023

January 11 marked 21 years since the U.S. opened its notorious detention 
facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2002. At one point, roughly 770 
prisoners were held there. In 2023, 35 people remain in indefinite 
detention. Only nine have charges pending against them, one is serving a 
life sentence after being convicted, and two are serving sentences based 
on plea deals (CloseGuantanamo.org, 10/28/22).

Thus, over 95% of the detainees have been released, often after spending 
more than a decade in the detention facility, due to there being little to 
no evidence that they posed a threat or were linked with terrorism. Most 
of the remaining 35-- twenty men-- have been cleared for release, while 
three are actually considered "forever prisoners." Some of those facing 
charges will likely not be convicted because much of the evidence against 
them was obtained in part through torture (NPR, 11/14/19), which then 
continued at Guantanamo in the form of the force feeding of hunger 
strikers. At least nine detainees have died in custody (Reprieve.org, 
8/19/18). Guantanamo's oldest inmate Saifullah Paracha was finally released 
in 2022 at age 75.

Many of the torture techniques were confirmed in the 2014 Senate report on 
post-9/11 CIA "interrogations." The non-governmental organization Reprieve 
noted in 2018: "The vast majority of detainees in Guantanamo (86%) were not 
captured by US forces. Instead the Government filled the prison with 
people they bought for bounties. The US flew planes over parts of 
Afghanistan and Pakistan offering $5,000 for any 'suspicious person.' This 
amounted to approximately seven years' average salary for most people in 
the area, encouraging them to turn over innocent men in exchange for  a 
life-changing amount of money. Since then, it has turned out they got it 
wrong most of the time. It didn't even take long for those in charge to 
see their mistake-- as early as 2002, Guantanamo's operational commander 
complained that he was being sent too many 'Mickey Mouse' detainees."

The prison has become a political football, with President Obama promising 
to close it as he entered office in 2009 but never doing so, President 
Trump pledging to "fill it up with bad guys" but instead releasing one 
person, and President Biden has accepted Congressional provisions which 
prevent him from using funds to close down the prison (Stars and Stripes, 
12/29/21). However, Biden expressed concerns about a provision in the 2023 
National Defense Authorization Act which bars funds from being used to 
transfer prisoners to the US (Reuters 12/23/22).

Guantanamo has been referred to as "the most expensive prison on earth." 
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) estimates the prison costs $540 
million per year to operate, or over $13 million per detainee. The New 
York Times in 2019 (September 16) said that in 2012 the per-prisoner cost 
at a "SuperMax" prison in Colorado was $78,000 a year, and estimated 
running Guantanamo cost $7 billion since it opened. While this is a drop 
in the bucket of the $8 trillion that the "War on Terror" has cost since 
2001 (Watson Institute, September, 2021), it is a waste of taxpayer money 
and a blight on a country that claims to believe in the rule of law.

Amnesty International (AI), the Center for Constitutional Rights, and 
others continue to call for the prison to be shut down. AI notes that "the 
existence of an offshore prison for Muslim men who are denied due process 
of law is a blatant example and encouragement of Islamophobia and racism."

On Jan. 11, 2023, Witness Against Torture, AI, Center for Victims of 
Torture, and others held a rally at the White House calling to shut 
Guantanamo down.

The US has only brought one prisoner from Guantanamo to the US for trial 
(the Guardian, 7/10/18). All the other inmates are being held with no end 
in sight on the island of Cuba without prosecution. Holding detainees 
indefinitely without charge or trial is an unacceptable violation of human 
rights and only serves to inspire backlash against the United States in 
acts of violence which are considered terrorism. Keeping the prison open 
is making us less safe, not more secure. It is far past time to shut 
Guantanamo down.

Local groups organizing the January 13, 2023 Portland action include the 
Peace and Justice Works (PJW) Iraq Affinity Group and Amnesty 
International Group 48 (Portland).

This flyer was prepared 
in January, 2023 by the
Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group
PO Box 42456                                         iraq at pjw.info
Portland, OR 97242               www.pjw.info/Iraq.html
(503) 236-3065                     Contact us about our meetings!
Meetings usually 2nd Tuesdays, 7 PM; next one is February 14.