Guantanamo Bay // Current TV

Guantanamo Was "Hell On Earth": Former Gitmo Detainee | | AlterNet

The story of an innocent man and what happened to himself and friends while in Gitmo.

Monkey_Films
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The Torture of Two Innocent Men Who Just Left Guantanamo | | AlterNet

This is a sad and sick story. Is this who we are, America?

Monkey_Films
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Guantanamo prison may have to stay open until 2011

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's commitment to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by next month may be delayed until 2011 because it will take months for the government to buy an Illinois prison and upgrade it to hold suspected terrorists.
The drawn-out construction timetable shows the political risk of Obama's pledge, a delay that could even be extended by congressional opposition to funding the purchase and upgrades for the Thomson Correctional Center, an underused state facility about 150 miles west of Chicago.
Lawmakers in both parties have been wary of bringing detainees to the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder already has decided that self-declared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will be tried in federal court in New York City.
In the Senate, a spokesman for Republican leader Mitch McConnell promised that the GOP would use delaying tactics to prevent funding the Illinois facility and added that he expected support from Democrats.
"I think there will be bipartisan opposition" to bringing detainees to Illinois, Donald Stewart said.
Congress also needs to change a law prohibiting detention in the U.S. of detainees who are not awaiting trial.
The prison in rural western Illinois may not be purchased from the state until March and will need up to 10 months of construction, said Joe Shoemaker, spokesman for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Shoemaker said, "The end of 2010 or the start of 2011 has always been the mark the administration talked to us about."
Obama originally said Guantanamo would close Jan. 22, 2010. While that date proved unrealistic, the president has directed administration officials to move quickly to acquire the maximum-security prison in Illinois.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt on Wednesday would not say when Guantanamo would close.
"The president remains as committed today to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo as he was when he entered office, and substantial progress has been made in recent weeks," LaBolt told The Associated Press. "The detainee population at Guantanamo is now smaller than it has been at any time since 2002.
"We will work with Congress to ensure that we secure the necessary funds to purchase and upgrade the Thomson prison — which will operate at a substantially lower cost to taxpayers — next year," he said.
The failure to meet the timetable may have cost White House counsel Greg Craig his job, since Craig, who is leaving next month, was heading the effort to close the facility.
In addition to any appropriations struggles, current federal law requires that detainees can only be housed in the United States while their trials are pending. That law would have to be changed to cover detainees who have not yet been charged and will not be sent abroad. The change would have to specify that detainees could be kept on U.S. soil for any purpose.
The Justice Department said last weekend that since 2002, more than 560 detainees have departed the military prison in Cuba and 198 remain.
"We're hitting the anticipated bumps" in the timetable for using the Illinois facility, Shoemaker said.
He added that many lawmakers would not vote to change the law or provide the funds until the administration submits a comprehensive plan on the handling of the remaining prisoners.
Federal officials tried on Tuesday to allay fears that moving terror suspects from Guantanamo to Illinois could make the state a terrorist target.
The director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Harley Lappin, told a state legislative panel that a new perimeter fence and other measures would make Thomson "the most secure of all federal prisons in the country."
The 12-member Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability could vote on a recommendation to sell the prison that skirts the Mississippi River, but Gov. Pat Quinn does not have to follow the recommendation.WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's commitment to close the U.S.... more

Viciouspike
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Obama puts off Gitmo closure until after 2011

So what is the excuse? Well, it is said the White House approached lawmakers on the... more

maasanova
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2 years ago
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Supreme Court Rejects Torture Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by four former Guantanamo Bay prisoners... more

The_Global_Report
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2 years ago
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Obama Admin. Wants Yoo Suit Thrown Out

The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing... more

The_Global_Report
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2 years ago
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U.S. to House Gitmo Detainees at Illinois Prison

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is expected to announce on Tuesday that it... more

current89
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2 years ago
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39 comments

US prison population hits 2.3 million all-time high

"New figures meanwhile show the US prison population has reached an all-time... more

ninthstate
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2 years ago
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48 comments

Pentagon drops charges against detainee released from Guantánamo

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/guantanamo/story/1377049.html A day after... more

Future_America
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2 years ago
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Obama Admin. Tries To Kill Guantanamo Suicide Suit

The Obama administration says in newly filed court papers that a Supreme Court ruling... more

The_Global_Report
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2 years ago
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29 Year Old US Citizen Held in NYC Prison 23-hour Solitary Confinement For 3 Years Trial Delayed

"In New York, the trial of a young US citizen who has been held in... more

ninthstate
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2 years ago
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9/11 Trial: Who's REALLY to blame?

With the upcoming trial, 5 men will come face to face with the death sentence for the... more

Dickle
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2 years ago
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Bush: I Want To Close Gitmo And Hold Trials In US Courts

Speaking to the European Union World Summit in Austria on June 21, 2006, George W.... more

Future_America
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2 years ago
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Talk - Ray McGovern - Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights

Talk by 27-year Veteran of the CIA Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for... more

Vierotchka
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2 years ago
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Illinois Prison May Be Path to Closing Guantánamo

WASHINGTON — Top Illinois Democrats on Sunday wholeheartedly embraced the idea of sending terrorism suspects from Guantánamo Bay to a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago, raising the possibility of a major breakthrough in the Obama administration’s efforts to close the military detention facility in Cuba.
But while Gov. Patrick J. Quinn and Senator Richard J. Durbin endorsed housing the detainees at the Thomson Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in a rural area, other local leaders were drumming up opposition to the idea, which could still face considerable opposition in Congress.

For the White House, which confirmed the administration’s interest, it could be the best chance so far to cut through the legal and political knots that have stopped it from closing down the prison camp in Cuba. For supporters in Illinois, it is an attractive economic opportunity. And just as opponents have done elsewhere, some in Illinois cast this plan as an unacceptable risk.

Mr. Quinn and Mr. Durbin, in news conferences to promote the plan, said that turning over the state prison, which is unoccupied, to the federal penal system, and using it for maximum-security inmates including as many as 100 captives from the campaign against terrorism, would create several thousand jobs.

But leading Republicans in the state — including Representatives Donald Manzullo, whose district includes Thomson, and Mark Steven Kirk, who is running for the United States Senate seat once held by Mr. Obama — signed a letter to the president on Sunday strongly opposing any such move.

“As home to America’s tallest building, we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its No. 1 target,” the letter said, referring to the Willis Tower in Chicago, formerly the Sears Tower. “The United States spent more than $50 million to build the Guantánamo Bay detention facility to keep terrorists away from U.S. soil. Al Qaeda terrorists should stay where they cannot endanger American citizens.”

The sharp local debate echoed vehement arguments heard all weekend, after the administration announced that it would try the man accused as the operational leader of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and several co-conspirators, in a federal court in New York, while putting others accused of terrorism before military commissions for an attack on the U.S.S. Cole. That, too, was presented as a step along the path to closing Guantánamo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/us/16gitmo.html?hpWASHINGTON — Top Illinois Democrats on Sunday wholeheartedly embraced the idea... more