[pjw] FACTS: 15 People Remain After 23 Years: Close Down Guantanamo!

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group supporters:
Below is the text of the fact sheet we will start handing out in about 2 
hours at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

You can find a printable version at
https://www.pjw.info/Guantanamo23ylfacts.pdf

This adds a few tidbits from a New York Times article that ran yesterday, 
such as the estimated cost per prisoner with only 15 people left ($36 
million per year) and why the CIA doesn't want the remaining people 
released to other countries (they might spill the beans on what was done 
to them and by whom).

Feel free to share!
dan handelman
peace and justice works Iraq Affinity Group

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Guantanamo: 15 People Remain After 23 Years. Close the "Detention Center" Now! 
January 10, 2025

On January 11, 2025 it will be exactly 23 years since the U.S. opened its 
infamous detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Early on after the 
start of the "war on terror," about 770 prisoners were held there. As of 
January 7, only 15 people remain in indefinite detention. Six have never 
been charged, and only two are there following convictions. The other 
seven face charges for attacks that took place in 2000, 2001 and 2002 
(Associated Press, January 7).

President Biden signed the latest National Defense Authorization Act into 
law in December, which includes a prohibition on using money to transfer 
people to US soil or to shut the camp down. Yet he released three 
prisoners in December and one on New Year's Day 2025-- before releasing 
eleven more on January 7.

Now, over 98% of the detainees have been released, often after spending a 
decade or more in the detention facility, due to there being little or no 
evidence that they posed a threat or were linked with terrorism. Some of 
those facing charges will likely not be convicted because much of the 
evidence against them was obtained through torture (NPR, 11/14/19). 
Inhumane treatment has also included force feeding hunger strikers. At 
least nine detainees have died in custody (Reprieve.org, 8/19/18). The US 
had to build wheelchair ramps for the aging inmates, the oldest of whom, 
Saifullah Paracha, was released in 2022 at age 75.

Torture techniques were confirmed in the 2014 Senate report on post-9/11 
CIA "interrogations." The group 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," 
with an offer of $5000 for people in Afghanistan and Pakistan to identify 
"suspicious" people. "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. It turned out they 
got it wrong most of the time. As early as 2002, Guantanamo's operational 
commander complained that he was being sent too many 'Mickey Mouse' 
detainees." On January 9, 2025, the New York Times reported that one 
reason the CIA does not want more prisoners released is they fear 
information on the torture and torturers can be used by other countries 
against the US.

The prison has become subject to politics over human rights. President 
Obama promised to close it as he entered office in 2009 but never did so. 
In his first term, President Trump pledged to "fill Guantanamo up with bad 
guys." Nobody was added to the prison, but he released one person. Biden 
seems to be working on releasing as many people as possible before Trump 
takes office again on January 20. Even if to make a point about 
"terrorism," it's not clear why anyone concerned about government spending 
would agree to keep the detention center open after that.

Guantanamo has been referred to as "the most expensive prison on earth." 
In recent years, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) estimated the 
prison cost $540 million per year to operate. The Times estimated on 
January 9 that with only 15 people left, that will amount to over $36 
million per detainee. In September, 2019 the Times said the 2012 
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 
miniscule compared to the cost of the "War on Terror" since 2001 of $8 
trillion (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, 2025, at noon eastern time, Witness Against Torture, AI, 
Center for Victims of Torture, and others will hold 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). 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 might be considered terrorism. Keeping the prison open is 
making us less safe, not more secure. Close the "detention center" now! No 
more forever prisoners!!!

Local groups organizing the January 10, 2025 Portland action include the 
Peace and Justice Works (PJW) Iraq Affinity Group and Amnesty 
International Group 48 (Portland).

This flyer was prepared in January, 2025 by the
Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group
PO Box 42456 
Portland, OR 97242 
(503) 236-3065 
iraq at pjw.info 
https://www.pjw.info/Iraq.html
Contact us about our meetings!
Meetings usually 2nd Mondays, 5 PM; next one is January 13.