Get Ready to Close Gitmo and Stop Torture

President Bush signs the Military Commissions Act, October 17, 2006.

President Bush signs the Military Commissions Act, October 17, 2006.

As soon as the next president of the United States is elected, we’ll go live with an action calling on him to take immediate steps in the first 100 days of his term to close Guantanamo, eradicate torture and ill-treatment, and end impunity for human rights abuses.

Stay tuned and be ready to take action. We’ll need you to send emails and write letters to the president-elect.  Check back here or go to www.amnestyusa.org/100days

Need inspiration? Check out The Video the CIA Doesn\’t Want You to See

Want to take action now? Help the Uighurs

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28 thoughts on “Get Ready to Close Gitmo and Stop Torture

  1. We can't assume that a new president, no matter who it is, will fully respect and protect human rights–it's up to us to keep the pressure on!

  2. I second that Zeke. Talk of change is great, but we should pressure Obama just as hard as we did Bush.

  3. We can’t assume that a new president, no matter who it is, will fully respect and protect human rights–it’s up to us to keep the pressure on!

  4. I second that Zeke. Talk of change is great, but we should pressure Obama just as hard as we did Bush.

  5. If President-Elect Obama knows what is this Nation's best interest…and acts accordingly…the radical jihadists/terrorists aren't going anywhere folks. You should spend your energy with this usually reputable organization (Amnesty International) barking up other trees.
    U.S.A. terror free since 9-11-2001

  6. If President-Elect Obama knows what is this Nation’s best interest…and acts accordingly…the radical jihadists/terrorists aren’t going anywhere folks. You should spend your energy with this usually reputable organization (Amnesty International) barking up other trees.
    U.S.A. terror free since 9-11-2001

  7. That's one of the great things about AmnestyInternational: we bark upALL the trees! Good to see you foun–and are contributing to–the new blog!
    Cheers,
    Zeke
    (From vacation in Jordan. PS Petra is AMAZING!)

  8. That’s one of the great things about AmnestyInternational: we bark upALL the trees! Good to see you foun–and are contributing to–the new blog!
    Cheers,
    Zeke
    (From vacation in Jordan. PS Petra is AMAZING!)

  9. I really do hope that they close down Gitmo because they are just "suspected" terrorist and what about only 2 people have ever been on trial thats just no right…

  10. I really do hope that they close down Gitmo because they are just “suspected” terrorist and what about only 2 people have ever been on trial thats just no right…

  11. GITMO is representative of all the pain, hurt and evil in the world. It is the culmination of all the fear, hate and despair fed by the manipulations of the current administration and acted out on those who have no one to protect and defend them.
    The souls lost inside those walls are forever and permanently inked on each and every one of us in the U.S.
    WE are responsible for them all. All 775 of them.
    In order to begin to right the worng, we must collectively solve the problem of Guantanamo – we must close that prison and ALL secret prisons; We must remember it, using it as a symbol of what we can never allow to happen again in our names.

  12. GITMO is representative of all the pain, hurt and evil in the world. It is the culmination of all the fear, hate and despair fed by the manipulations of the current administration and acted out on those who have no one to protect and defend them.
    The souls lost inside those walls are forever and permanently inked on each and every one of us in the U.S.
    WE are responsible for them all. All 775 of them.
    In order to begin to right the worng, we must collectively solve the problem of Guantanamo – we must close that prison and ALL secret prisons; We must remember it, using it as a symbol of what we can never allow to happen again in our names.

  13. Happy New Year Jan!

    Your post is just drooling with dramatic rhetoric, misinformation or lies.

    o There are about 250 detainees at GITMO and not 775.

    In addition, you must not be aware of:

    o Habeas (the Supreme Court granted enemy combatants habeas petition rights to challenge detention in U.S. court).

    o The Detainee Treatment Act (passed by congress and signed into law in 2005)

    o The current and thorough Combatant Status Review Tribunals and Annual Review Boards

    o Military Commissions

    GITMO detainees are not defenseless individuals, all have the right to counsel, all have the right to challenge the detention, none are being tortured. They have been identified as enemy combatants and the RESPONSIBLE thing to do would be to continue the detention until they are no longer deemed a threat.

    Even President-Elect is starting to get it.

    The bottom line that doesn't seem to sink in some thick skulls are that enemy combatants are afforded more rights now than at anytime in the history of the United States AND al-Qaeda and terrorism is not near the threat it used to be, but does remain a threat.

    Even UBL's driver who was convicted of aiding al-qaeda has served his time and been released to Yemen. Others have successfully challenged detention and because a U.S. Federal Court ordered it, they have been released. If that is not enough to convince you these detainees are not protected and no one defends them…then nothing will convince you.

    I'm sorry you feel they should all just be cut loose, cause that just isn't going to happen. Enjoy watching keith olbermann and reading the washington post.

  14. Happy New Year Jan!

    Your post is just drooling with dramatic rhetoric, misinformation or lies.

    o There are about 250 detainees at GITMO and not 775.

    In addition, you must not be aware of:

    o Habeas (the Supreme Court granted enemy combatants habeas petition rights to challenge detention in U.S. court).

    o The Detainee Treatment Act (passed by congress and signed into law in 2005)

    o The current and thorough Combatant Status Review Tribunals and Annual Review Boards

    o Military Commissions

    GITMO detainees are not defenseless individuals, all have the right to counsel, all have the right to challenge the detention, none are being tortured. They have been identified as enemy combatants and the RESPONSIBLE thing to do would be to continue the detention until they are no longer deemed a threat.

    Even President-Elect is starting to get it.

    The bottom line that doesn’t seem to sink in some thick skulls are that enemy combatants are afforded more rights now than at anytime in the history of the United States AND al-Qaeda and terrorism is not near the threat it used to be, but does remain a threat.

    Even UBL’s driver who was convicted of aiding al-qaeda has served his time and been released to Yemen. Others have successfully challenged detention and because a U.S. Federal Court ordered it, they have been released. If that is not enough to convince you these detainees are not protected and no one defends them…then nothing will convince you.

    I’m sorry you feel they should all just be cut loose, cause that just isn’t going to happen. Enjoy watching keith olbermann and reading the washington post.

  15. Most of the detainees at GTMO should be released as they do not represent a threat to the security of the US; the problem is where and to whom and under what caveats if any, and how do we handle the ones we need to keep under lock and key. That's not to say a few of the released won't pick up a gun when they get home and take potshots at US troops which is a very bad thing, but they won't be coming back to the US to conduct attacks here (at least one would hope that the improvements made to homeland security would prevent such a thing…no certainty there of course.).

    The problem is what to do with all these detainees including the ones that are real threats to our national security. Their home countries don't want them. We don't want them. No one wants them.

    GTMO was born of the unhappy confusion within the USG in the early days of OEF over how to treat detainees suspected of terrorist activity – should they be treated as a law enforcement or national security imperative or some synthesis of the two. They were frankly something of a hot potato as no one really wanted responsibility for them – yes we wanted any intell and public diplomacy value they had, real responsibility no.

    With no disrespect meant to any of the posters here, I do agree that Jan Strain's characterization of the problems of GTMO, which are real and painful, is inaccurate and overstated, but I also think that Kemo1972's post is a little too blithe regarding the "rights" that finally have accrued to the inmates of GTMO as well as disregarding the inflammatory nature of GTMO and what it symbolizes in rest of the world community that is vulnerable to the preachers of violent radicalization. Unfortunately public perceptions both domestically and abroad regarding GTMO negate any putative intelligence we are gleaning from the few detainees of value we're holding. Another solution has to be found to this problem.

    I salute all of you for caring about this issue no matter what side of the divide you fall. It's why I put on our country's uniform and why I responded to 9/11by getting back into uniform – we all have the right to express our thoughts and organize in civil and lawful pursuits to act on them without fear of government retribution (although I can't protect you against your fellow bloggers, sorry).

  16. Most of the detainees at GTMO should be released as they do not represent a threat to the security of the US; the problem is where and to whom and under what caveats if any, and how do we handle the ones we need to keep under lock and key. That’s not to say a few of the released won’t pick up a gun when they get home and take potshots at US troops which is a very bad thing, but they won’t be coming back to the US to conduct attacks here (at least one would hope that the improvements made to homeland security would prevent such a thing…no certainty there of course.).

    The problem is what to do with all these detainees including the ones that are real threats to our national security. Their home countries don’t want them. We don’t want them. No one wants them.

    GTMO was born of the unhappy confusion within the USG in the early days of OEF over how to treat detainees suspected of terrorist activity – should they be treated as a law enforcement or national security imperative or some synthesis of the two. They were frankly something of a hot potato as no one really wanted responsibility for them – yes we wanted any intell and public diplomacy value they had, real responsibility no.

    With no disrespect meant to any of the posters here, I do agree that Jan Strain’s characterization of the problems of GTMO, which are real and painful, is inaccurate and overstated, but I also think that Kemo1972’s post is a little too blithe regarding the “rights” that finally have accrued to the inmates of GTMO as well as disregarding the inflammatory nature of GTMO and what it symbolizes in rest of the world community that is vulnerable to the preachers of violent radicalization. Unfortunately public perceptions both domestically and abroad regarding GTMO negate any putative intelligence we are gleaning from the few detainees of value we’re holding. Another solution has to be found to this problem.

    I salute all of you for caring about this issue no matter what side of the divide you fall. It’s why I put on our country’s uniform and why I responded to 9/11by getting back into uniform – we all have the right to express our thoughts and organize in civil and lawful pursuits to act on them without fear of government retribution (although I can’t protect you against your fellow bloggers, sorry).

  17. All who want them free accept them in your neighborhood and dont whine when they kill your family!

  18. All who want them free accept them in your neighborhood and dont whine when they kill your family!

  19. Now that Gitmo is being closed and American soldiers will be instructed to stop torturing suspects? by waterboarding, sticking light sticks into the rectums of detainees and other inhuman acts will our international credibility be restored. And do we have a chance of regaining our status as a world leader?

  20. Now that Gitmo is being closed and American soldiers will be instructed to stop torturing suspects? by waterboarding, sticking light sticks into the rectums of detainees and other inhuman acts will our international credibility be restored. And do we have a chance of regaining our status as a world leader?

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