Clipmarks | Gitmo Clips

Bush Denounces 'Dungeon' of Cuba

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:52:25 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: You'd think Bush was speaking of his own dictatorial reign, eh? "Our great nation that believes in human rights and human dignity, blah, blah, blah..." Hahahaha! What a joke! Tell that to the people of Iraq or Afghanistan or the people wasting away in Gitmo! I'd bet Castro's popularity ratings are higher than yours!

Bush, why don't you just STFU? Fix your own country, who is "being repressed by a handful of elites" first, before trying to impose your twisted version of "freedom", on everyone else!

Lift the embargo. The age of the red scare is dead and gone. It's the red, white and blue scare, most of the world is concerned about these days...SIR!

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Bush denounces 'dungeon' of Cuba

Calling Cuba a "dungeon" off US shores, US President George W. Bush said Friday that the US economic embargo would remain in place until Havana fully embraces democratic reforms.

"It's so sad that right off the shores of our great nation that believes in human rights and human dignity exists this dungeon. But someday Cuba will be free," Bush told an audience of Cuban-Americans.

Bush has said the US embargo in place since 1962 must only be lifted after Cuba allows unfettered freedom of speech, frees political prisoners, and holds free and fair elections.

"Until then we won't change, because our message is to the Cuban people, you're being repressed by a handful of elites that are holding back your great potential," he said Friday.

the Castro people are only interested in themselves and their power, and not to the benefit and welfare of the Cuban people," said the US president.

Cuba

urged Washington

to open private lines of credit for food import

And Bush

rejected.

ACLU: Bush Tried to Create 'Gitmo Inside the US'

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:25:53 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Everyone who thinks the Bush Administration has stopped these "standard operating procedures", just because the Supreme Court told them to, raise your hand...

Pfftt!!!

Clip Source: rawstory.com

The US military was using the same procedures employed at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison at other facilities inside the United States where US citizens and legal residents were detained, according to documents released Wednesday.

"These documents are the first clear confirmation of what we've suspected all along, that the brig was run as a prison beyond the law. There was an effort to create a Gitmo inside the United States,"

“Guantánamo was designed as a law-free zone, a place where the government could do whatever it wanted without having to worry about whether it was legal,”

“It didn’t take long for that sort of lawlessness to be brought home to our own country. Who knows how much further America would have gone if the Supreme Court hadn’t stepped in to stop incommunicado detentions in 2004?”

the e-mails suggest that Guantanamo standard operating procedures were being employed in the domestic brigs.

Gitmo release order angers Bush

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:09:57 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: But no evidence suggests these Uighurs are terrorists - they are from China's Xinjiang province, where China wars against separatists. Were detained by Pakistanis, turned over to USA years ago; now, no one will take them.

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

A US judge has ordered the release of 17 Chinese Muslim detainees from the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in what has been seen as a rebuke to the Bush administration

judge

said there was no evidence the men were a security risk and that the US constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause

The Bush administration reacted with anger to the ruling, with a spokesman for the department of justice saying it presented "serious national security and separation of powers concerns and raises unprecedented legal issues".

Many Muslim Uighurs seek greater autonomy for the region and some want independence, however China has waged a relentless campaign against what it calls their violent separatist activities.

The Uighurs, from the Xinjiang province in western China, had been living in a camp in Afghanistan during the US-led bombing campaign

They fled into the mountains and were detained by Pakistani authorities, who handed them over to the US.

Tags: uighurs

District Judge Orders Release Of Uighur Jihadists In D.C. By Friday

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:32:43 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: This is the very nightmare scenario I warned about. The courts' steps are outrageous, but predictable and inevitable. A lot of the blame here, however, goes to the administration and the military. They have long taken the position that radical Islamic ideology is not the problem, and that we need only worry about actively those taking up arms against the United States. They don't want us to talk about jihad — the better to keep us in the dark about jihadist ideology. Thus, the government rationalizes, the Uighurs are not a threat to us, only to the Chinese. That was all the daylight the judges need to say: OK, then release them in the U.S., since no other country — except China, where they'd be persecuted — will take them. The government's self-defeating argument is preposterous. Jihadists — and there is not question that the Uighurs are jihadists — do not recognize distinctions based on the Westphalia world of nation-states.

Clip Source: hughhewitt.townhall.com

Now as the inevitable consequence of that ruling, seventeen hard-core Islamic jihadists who'd come from their homes in China to train at terrorist camps in Afghanistan — captured there by our armed forces, and held since at Guantanamo Bay — are on the brink of being released this week, not for return to China, but into the general population of our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.:

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said it would be wrong for the government to continue holding the detainees, known as Uighurs (WEE'-gurz), who have been jailed for nearly seven years, since they are no longer considered enemy combatants. Over the objections of government lawyers who called them a security risk, Urbina ordered their release in Washington D.C. by Friday.

Former federal anti-terrorist prosecutor Andrew McCarthy put this latest national peril into exactly the right context yesterday, apportioning blame appropriately between the courts and the lawyer-driven position of the Administration:

Tags: scotus habeas corpus, u.s. district judge urbina, uighur jihadists, dar al islam, gitmo detainees

Judge Orders Gitmo Prisoners Released!

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:25:23 GMT

clipped by: citizenbfk
clipper's remarks: Thank God. Seeing my country involved in arresting people without cause, not allowing them legal representation, communication with family, no visits from the International Red Cross, not giving them their day in court, holding them for 'indefinite detention," keeping them imprisoned -- in this case -- for seven years -- and documented torture and abuse of such prisoners -- it's all pretty disgusting.

And more disgusting that these prisoners were also used for propaganda about how these alleged evil men were out to harm us.

And disgusting that thick-headed rednecks, neocon neofascist, and other warmongers went around waving flags about all this and claiming "God was on their side." -- and accusing us as the one's being 'unpatriotic,' when we were the most patriotic of all.

What sickness! What lies!

DEFEAT ALL REPUBLICANS is now Step #1

Step #2 is seeing Bush and Cheney in jail; and all those who aided and abetted their crimes.

The good news? -- this can be done.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Judge orders Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo freed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday, in a rebuke to the Bush administration, ordered the release in the United States of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The judge said there was no evidence the detainees, who have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years, were "enemy combatants" or a security risk, and that the U.S. Constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause. He ordered them brought to the court for a hearing on Friday.

The Uighurs had been living in a camp in Afghanistan during the U.S.-led bombing campaign that began in October 2001. They fled into the mountains and were detained by Pakistani authorities, who handed them over to the United States.

The Uighurs remain at the prison even though the U.S. military no longer considers them "enemy combatants."

Tags: bush, cheney, war_crimes, gitmo

Gitmo prosecutor resigns, protests withheld evidence

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:29:25 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Get this: the prosecutor found the government's withholding of evidence from the defense so unethical as to resign his position as a Commissions prosecutor.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Gitmo Prosecutor Resigns in Protest of Withheld Evidence

A military prosecutor has resigned his position at Guantanamo Bay in protest of a decision to withhold evidence from an accused prisoner. Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld says his office failed to provide discovery to defense attorneys for an Afghan prisoner set to go on trial in December. Vandeveld wrote, “I am highly concerned, to the point that I believe I can no longer serve as a prosecutor at the Commissions, about the slipshod, uncertain ‘procedure’ for affording defense counsel discovery.”

Tags: gitmo, trials

"Google got me to Gitmo"

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:25:26 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

The Authors@Google program welcomed Mahvish Khan to Google's New York office to dicuss her debut book, "My Guantánamo Diary".

"Google got me to Gitmo," is the first line of the book, a young woman's odyssey as she enters the world of Guantanamo Bay Cuba as a translator for the teams of laywers defending the detainees there. Mahvish Khan is an American lawyer, born to immigrant Afghan parents in Michigan. Determined to bring the due process of law to the people imprisoned at Guantanamo, she volunteered to translate for the prisoners. She spoke their language, understood their customs, and brought them Starbucks chai, the closest available drink to the kind of tea they would drink at home. And they quickly befriended her, offering fatherly advice as well as a uniquely personal insight into their plight, and that of their families thousands of miles away.

[Video]

Tags: google, book, afghanistan, united states

"America : The Gift Shop"

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:33:20 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: the PIPELINE: Style on Tap

* September 19, 2008 11:32 AM
* News

National Nightmares for Sale: The Disturbing Mementos of "America: The Gift Shop"

By Gabriel Bell
philtoledano_america1.jpg

After eight years of government that have left a sizable chip on America's shoulder, it's no big surprise that W-era memorabilia isn't exactly flooding the market. Enter photographer Phillip Toledano who previously explored the dirty corners of this country with arresting exposés on offices emptied by the dot-com crash and phone-sex workers. This time, Toledano's "America: The Gift Shop" virtual exhibition takes on the torture, special rendition, and government secrecy with enough cheek to make you gasp, giggle, or groan (depending on your politics). Turning to plastic arts instead of his camera, Toledano has created a conceptual store of Bush administration mementos, including such satirical wonders as a bouncy Gitmo holding cell, an Abu Ghraib bobblehead doll, and a Dick Cheney

Clip Source: pipeline.refinery29.com

National Nightmares for Sale: The Disturbing Mementos of "America: The Gift Shop"

To view the online exhibition go to www.americathestore.com. For more information go to www.mrtoledano.com.

Not Seen on CNN: Denver Police Gitmo Tactics

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:45:03 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks:

They took us in an elevator that went up to a jail cell, and we were told to watch a video of a judge telling us our rights, through the bars. It was surreal, like being in a futuristic movie, like "1984" or "A Clockwork Orange."

They'd keep us for long periods of time in one cage, and then re-handcuff us and move us to another cell, as if something was about to change, but it didn't. It was all psychological.

Clip Source: nobloodforhubris.blogspot.com

I was taken to another area, loaded onto a bus that took us to a warehouse in a Denver industrial park. There were Special Operations Response Team police there, who took our pictures again, printed both hands - not just the fingers, but our whole hand rolled onto the ink - and did a medical check. Then they assigned us to different chain-link cages, maybe 15 feet by 15 feet, all chain link, with a padlock. Between 10 and 20 of us were in one of those cages. Females and males were separated.

"They pumped in cold air, in these big white tubes, all night and all day the next day.

We asked them to turn off the cold air, but they didn't

"Eventually they put all of us in metal leg shackles, and re-handcuffed us in pairs, with our right hands together — right hand to right hand - so it was difficult to move. . .

We were utterly confused. We did not understand why we were being detained. We hadn't been read our Miranda rights. We didn't know what we'd done to merit such a violent response

Netflix for terrorists

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:06:05 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: gatewaypundit.blogspot.com

Jason Mattera from Young America's Foundation is in Denver this week and posting video from the streets of Denver.

Yesterday he put on his orange jumpsuit to petition DNC protesters in support of Netflix and MSNBC (and Jihad Olympics!) for the poor, deprived Gitmo detainees. The part in the Amnesty International travelling Gitmo cell was terrific.
They were all for it:

[Video]

Too much. HotAir has more clips from Jason's day as a Gitmo detainee.

The People's Press Collective assisted Jason during his stay here in Denver.

Also, The Peoples Press Collective covered the illegal immigration protest and have several videos from earlier today.

While several of the protesters were supporting open borders others had their own agenda.

Tags: guantanamo, terrorists, dnc, convention, netflix, politics, funny

McCain's Memory

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:59:01 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.democrats.com

Like many older Americans, McCain's memory is playing tricks with him. For example, he forgets key facts.

Like how many homes he owns:

Like the $1M lawsuit he filed in 1990:

Like the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003:

Like Election Day is in November:

He also has a tendency to say one thing... and then forget he ever said it. Here are some great examples, courtesy of georgia10. Is McCain simply lying, or suffering from "senior moments"? We report, you decide.

On how safe it is in Iraq:

On the possibility of tearing down the Ninth Ward:

On economics:

On Saddam Hussein:

On Samuel Alito:

On the Gitmo lawsuit, Boumediene v. Bush:

Biden vocal, consistent Gitmo opponent

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:28:34 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "[The Bush administration] has destroyed faith in America's judgment. And it has devalued America's moral leadership in the world. Instead, this administration has focused to the point of obsession on the so-called "war on terrorism" and produced a one-size-fits-all doctrine of military preemption and regime change ill suited to the challenges we face. It has made fear the main driver of our foreign policy. It has turned a deadly serious but manageable threat -- a small number of radical groups that hate America -- into a ten-foot tall existential monster that dictates nearly every move we make. Even if you look at the world through this administration's distorted lens, you see a failed policy."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Sen. Biden has been unstinting in his opposition to the prison at Guantánamo Bay. In June 2005, he called for Guantánamo to be closed, telling ABC News that it had "become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

also voted against the much-criticized Military Commissions Act of 2006, which reintroduced military trials at Guantánamo after they were declared illegal by the US Supreme Court, and in May 2007 he co-sponsored the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act, which not only called for the closure of Guantánamo, but also proposed moving prisoners against whom a case could be built to the maximum security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and releasing all those who had not been charged. In July 2007, he followed this with proposals for a National Security with Justice Act, which sought to "prohibit extraterritorial detention and rendition

Tags: biden

Denver defends 'secret jail' built for DNC

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:36:09 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: This is getting ridiculous--but we'll see what happens at the convention...surely it won't be like Chicago '68...WILL it?

Clip Source: www.9news.com

DENVER - Activist groups say the converted warehouse poses a threat to civil liberties. The city maintains the facility is needed in case of mass arrests during the Democratic National Convention.

The makeshift holding center, dubbed "Gitmo on the Platte" by activists, is located on city-owned property near Steele Street and 38th Avenue. Newly-installed security cameras guard the exterior, chain-link fences and barbed wire form cells inside.

"We feel the city should be ashamed of this secret prison they've set up," said Re-create '68 organizer Glenn Spagnuolo.

Spagnuolo and other activists gathered outside the formerly-secret facility on Friday to protest the city's plan to use it as a processing center for all those arrested outside the DNC.

"The public was never going to view this place, it was just found out," Spagnuolo said. "They got caught with this place. They told our lawyers in negotiations that this place didn't even exist."

In Case You Missed These Stories

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:11:16 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Clip Source: www.consortiumnews.com

Coney Island Guantanamo Sideshow

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:46:50 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: http://www.disinfo.com/content/story.php?title=Coney-Island-Sideshow-Has-Guant%C3%A1namo-Theme

Clip Source: www.disinfo.com

Coney Island Sideshow Has Guantánamo Theme

Some people look at Coney Island and see a paradise of carefree entertainment. Others see a cesspool of gritty squalor. Few are those who gaze upon its shrieking kids, grizzled wanderers and fast-talking flimflam artists and see an opportunity for engaged political discourse.

But it was just that improbable impulse that drove the artist Steve Powers to open the new “Waterboard Thrill Ride” on West 12th Street, just off Surf Avenue, in the shadow of the Cyclone and a mere corn dog’s throw from Nathan’s.

It looks at first like any other shuttered storefront near the boardwalk: some garish lettering and a cartoonish invitation to a delight or a scam — in this case there’s SpongeBob SquarePants saying, “It don’t Gitmo better!”