FIRE JOHN YOO!

"Nine members of Force 100, a unit inside the Israeli Defence Forces, are the subject of criminal investigation over allegations that they sexually assaulted a prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention camp in the Negev desert, which human rights groups have dubbed "the Israeli Guantanamo."

"The investigation - a rare occurrence on the part of the US with regard to Israel - could result in the unit being penalised under a landmark peace of legislation known as the Leahy law, which prohibits the state and defence departments from rendering assistance to foreign security force units facing credible accusations of human rights abuses."

"Back in the day of George W Bush's misbegotten 'war on terror', John Yoo, at the time a lawyer in the office of legal counsel, wrote a notorious memo opining that the federal law criminalizing torture would be unconstitutional if applied to the president in times of war. This ominous claim led the senator Patrick Leahy to ask the then attorney general Alberto Gonzales, during a congressional hearing, whether the president could legally order genocide."

Embracing a man whose policies left a trail of death and destabilisation in their wake as a champion of American values lacks any semblance of moral clarity. Cheney, whose hands are stained with the blood of countless innocents from Iraq to Guantanamo, who undermined American democracy and terrorised countless innocent Americans under the "war on terror", should not be celebrated, especially by someone seeking the mantle of progressive leadership -- Howard University law professor Ziyad Motala

San Francisco:

It takes a lot of work by the state, over time, to corrode perceptions of "right" and "wrong." For example, our government has done its best to hide the torture practiced at Guantanamo. Ten years after investigative reporter Jason Leopold filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request concerning the 'forced feeding' of desperate hunger strikers making a 'last ditch' effort to free themselves from indefinite detention, he received copy of a letter sent to Senator Dianne Feinstein by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in defense of the practice.

Exposure and protest of prisoner abuse over two decades has failed to force closure of America's Gulag. Today's survivors truly can't wait for remedy--if that is even possible at this point--of extra-judicial incarceration. We refuse to accept further excuses for delay. President George W. Bush declared his wish to shutter the prison he had opened. Both Obama and the current president promised to do the same. The tail end of Biden's administration may well be the last chance for Guantanamo closure; Trump had planned to enlarge the facility for more 'bad guys'; Kamala Harris has been mum on the issue. But Biden still has a chance to follow his word. In the face of Israeli torture of Palestinians in a manner resembling the notorious US prison, I think it's the least he can do.

Join World Can't Wait and Amnesty International to deliver that message Wednesday, August 7, 6PM at the traffic island (Harry Bridges Plaza) outside the SF Ferry Building.

"I've received a steady stream of mail that dates back to requests I filed in 2017," writes Jason Leopold. The agencies can't and won't explain why it's taken 7 years to turn over these documents. But that's the FOIA for you. If you use it, prepare to play the long game," https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-07-26/foia-docs-reveal-long-awaited-details-on-michael-flynn-mike-pompeo-guantanamo (think Guantanamo).

President George W. Bush declared his wish to shutter the prison he had opened. Both Obama and the current president promised to do the same. The tail end of Biden's administration may well be the last chance for Guantanamo closure; Trump had planned to enlarge the facility for more 'bad guys'; Kamala Harris has been mum on the issue. But Biden still has a chance to follow his word. In the face of Israeli torture of Palestinians in a manner resembling the notorious US prison, I think it's the least he can do.

Join World Can't Wait and Amnesty International to deliver that message Wednesday, August 7, 6PM at the traffic island (Harry Bridges Plaza) outside the SF Ferry Building.

November vigil outside the US Embassy in London managed to catch US Vice President Kamala Harris on her visit. Organizer Sara Birch says she is sure Harris would have heard attendees shouting and cars beeping for the closure of Guantanamo. Photo c/o UK Guantanamo Network

The U.S. held Saeed Bakhouch at Guantánamo Bay for 20 years without charge, then sent him to have his rights violated in Algeria.

The fact of the matter is that there are no good options for these men," said American lawyer Candace Gorman. "Very few of these men have landed on their feet. Most have been treated as pariahs, whether they are at home or in some random country, because of the U.S. propaganda."

Project 2025 is the blueprint to institutionalize dictatorship, says Jim Zirin. Key architects of the Heritage Foundation's plan to return Donald Trump to the White House are intent on dissembling pesident Biden's 2020 victory. 

John Yoo, a former Justice Department official and authorof the infamous torture memos during the Bush administration, has composed a justification for retaliation prosecutions. 

Andy Worthington suggests the US Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling should come as no surprise; 22 years of Guantanamo demonstrated the tyranny of successive administrations.

"Presumptive immunity" from prosecution may impede executive resolve to release victims of American injustice (where if no laws can prevent the president from doing whatever he wants, how was torture criminal in the first place?), BUT ENABLES PRESIDENT BIDEN TO AT LAST DO THE RIGHT THING, independent of political deliberation. With the very legitimacy of American jurisprudence in question, this may be the last best chance to end this deplorable episode of history. But it's going to take determined struggle of masses of people who hate what's transpired in their name; we can't depend on US courts. 

It's easy to forget about Guantánamo Bay, posits Lawrence Douglas.

"Back in the day of George W Bush's misbegotten 'war on terror,' John Yoo, at the time a lawyer in the office of legal counsel, wrote a notorious memo opining that the federal law criminalizing torture would be unconstitutional if applied to the president in times of war. This ominous claim led the senator Patrick Leahy to ask the then attorney teneral Alberto Gonzales, during a congressional hearing, whether the president could legally order genocide. At the time, Gonzales refused to answer, dismissing the question as hypothetical. Now the supreme court has offered a clear and shocking answer to the senator's question,"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/05/supreme-court-presidential-immunity-threat-american-democracy

C/o Witness Against Torture:

As if written for this day, an article in Al Jazeera reminds us that torture like that in Guantanamo not only haunts the lives of its survivors, but happens over and over, in places like Israel. "Lawyers and activists say the Israeli treatment of Palestinian prisoners bears all the hallmarks of 'US-style' abuse and torture."

As we decry all torture everywhere, we continue to let Guantanamo survivors know they are not forgotten. This is the final, final June campaign pitch (really!) from Guantanamo Survivors Fund. Deep, deep gratitude to those of you who have donated. If you haven't donated yet, now is a good time! Click this link to donate online or write a check to Guantanamo Survivors Fund -- and then tell your friends.

Photo c/o Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/horrific-testimonies-israeli-army-tortures-palestinians-gaza-physically-and-psychologically-enar

John Yoo, the former Bush administration lawyer (who himself escaped prosecution for his role in constructing legal justifications to torture detainees), has an essay in National Review arguing for revenge prosecutions, proffers political columnist Jonathan Chait.

"Do unto others as they have done unto you," urged the shameless Berkeley Law professor, misappropriating the 'Do unto others as you would have done to you,' maxim. "In order to prevent the case against Trump from assuming a permanent place in the American political system," said Yoo, "Republicans will have to bring charges against Democratic officers, even presidents."

The civil trial of Al Shimari v CACI is the only one by survivors of Abu Ghraib against a military contractor that has reached trial, wrote Center for Victims of Torture observer Yumna Rizvi.

"The trial marks a significant moment in the legal battle for justice and redress for Abu Ghraib and, more broadly, the US torture programme. It represents a culmination of relentless efforts by the victims themselves, human rights advocates and legal experts to shed light on the dark underbelly of the US 'war on terror.'" 

Outside the US Supreme Court February 9, 2005. Photo by Larry Downing

In National Review magazine, John Yoo, the legal architect of the George W. Bush administration's torture program, urged Republicans to retaliate against Democratic elected officials. "In order to prevent the case against Trump from assuming a permanent place in the American political system, Republicans will have to bring charges against Democratic officers, even presidents," Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote.

Photo by Paola Chapdelaine for The New York Times

"America's monster" Abdul Raziq was trained, armed, even celebrated, by the United States and its allies. American military leaders waged a war outside international law. Reporters Azam Ahmed and Matthieu Aikins spent more than a year investigating abuses by American-sponsored forces in Afghanistan: "The culture of lawlessness and impunity flew in the face of endless promises by American presidents, generals and ambassadors to uphold human rights and build a better Afghanistan." 

It was a mistake to "keep a really bad criminal because he was helpful in fighting worse criminals," reflects Gen. John R. Allen, below. Photo by Bryan Denton: