War Criminals Watch's blog

World Can't Wait Left Forum Panel - 6/16/2013

Eleven years since the building of the US prison at Guantánamo, and nine years after disclosures of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, US policy has settled into de facto indefinite detention of thousands.  Included in the Democratic Party talking points of 2008 was a call to close Guantánamo; in 2012 they did not discuss it.  Meanwhile, the largest body of prisoners held without the right to habeas corpus is in the US prison at Bagram, Afghanistan.   The majority of prisoners at Guantánamo began a hunger strike in Feburary 2013 as a desperate call for public attention, as conditions for them have worsened under Obama.

Through an act of tremendous courage and self-sacrifice, Edward Snowden has revealed the most massive government spying in history into the communications and activities of billions of people on the planet.

If you are outraged by these revelations, by the trampling on fundamental rights, and by the war crimes being carried out in our name--you needed to be at NYC Cooper Union Great Hall this past Wednesday night June 19th.

A multi-media presentation with an ongoing slide show of art against torture.

Eleven years since the building of the US prison at Guantánamo, and nine years after disclosures of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, US policy has settled into de facto indefinite detention of thousands.  Included in the Democratic Party talking points of 2008 was a call to close Guantánamo; in 2012 they did not discuss it.  Meanwhile, the largest body of prisoners held without the right to habeas corpus is in the US prison at Bagram, Afghanistan.   The majority of prisoners at Guantánamo began a hunger strike in Feburary 2013 as a desperate call for public attention, as conditions for them have worsened under Obama.

We will not be Complicit…We DO NOT Consent!   No Government Spying on Whole Populations.

Hands Off Snowden & Manning.   Close Guantanamo NOW.

An Evening of Conscience: Hands Off Snowden & Manning! Close Guantanamo NOW!

The Great Hall at Cooper Union, Manhattan       June 19,2013 -  7pm

by Debra Sweet          This afternoon we learned that Edward Snowden, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton (a private contractor for the National Security Agency), claimed responsibility for the biggest intelligence leak in U.S. history. In an interview with The Guardian, Snowden said,

firedoglake.com journalist Kevin Gosztola has been reporting on the Bradley Manning trial. On Sunday Gosztola was at World Can't Wait Left Forum panel and discussed the historical importance of the Bradley Manning case, the military’s efforts to muzzle the press, and the prosecution’s notion that Manning lacked agency — Gosztola disputed the Army’s assertion that Manning acted as an “agent” of wikileaks, hence committed espionage.

Attorney Jesselyn Radack also spoke at the Left Forum panel on whistleblowers. Radak discussed the treatment whistleblowers receive from the Government as well as her own experiences as an attorney who represented pariahs — individuals some regard as people of conscience but whom the federal government sees as enemies of the state.

Former NSA employee Thomas Drake spoke at the World Can't Wait Left Forum panel on Sunday. Drake discussed his attempts to report “high crimes and misdemeanors,” committed by intelligence agencies after 9/11, to the federal government. Drake recalled how his life changed after he became the subject of an FBI investigation in retaliation for his whistleblowing activities.

You’re invited to mark Torture Awareness Month.

Healing a Culture of Torture - 6/25/2013

Lutheran Church of the Reformation - 212 E. Capitol St.

Washington DC  20003

Reception: 6:30 pm Presentation: 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Featured Speaker:

• Juan Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

Panel Responders:

On Sunday, April 7, 2013, H. Candace Gorman esq., former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and former National Security Administration executive and whisteblower Thomas Drake spoke at the Third National Conference of Historians Against the War called "The New Faces of War," which was held at Towson University. Gorman participated on a panel called "Indefinite Detention and War Against Iran: How Are These Strands of US Foreign Policy Connected?" These videos were produced by Stephen Roblin and Spencer Compton.

Check the videos out at:

http://warcriminalswatch.org/index.php/take-action/70-reports-on-educational-events-a-films/1645-4-8-13-videos-from-world-cant-wait-panel-at-historians-against-the-war-conference

On Saturday, Day 115 of the prisoners’ hunger strike, we heard that the US had released a prisoner from Bagram, and two from Guantanamo back to their home country of Mauritania. We soon learned that only the prisoner in Bagram went home. Other than Omar Khadr (a child when he was captured and sent to GTMO), who was sent to Canada in 2012, no prisoners have been released since August of 2010. See Andy Worthington's stories of the Mauritanian prisoners, still waiting for justice.

by Debra Sweet          US Government Begins 12 Week Military Trial of Bradley Manning Read reports, view photos/videos from protests around the country.  Saturday, we gathered at Ft.

June 2013 War Criminal Appearances

George Bush      6/13-13 - Lakeside CA - protest

by Debra Sweet          The powerful Close Guantanamo NOW message signed now by 1700 people including notable artists and writers, appeared in The New York Times just before President Obama spoke Thursday on how he will carry forward a “just” war, normalizing, and in some ways escalating U.S. use of targeted assassination and indefinite detention.  

by Debra Sweet               The timing could not be better for our message to appear in The New York Times.  We are making a major push today for $9,703 to place the ad immediately for publication on stand-by this week. President Obama will give a major speech Thursday at the National Defense University in Washington, reportedly about drones and Guantanamo. 

by Debra Sweet         While promoting the message to Close Guantanamo that we are raising funds to publish in The New York Times, we  have been hearing, especially in the Twitterverse, that people think, because Obama promised to close Guantanamo, and says that Congress is not allowing him to do that, the main problem is with Congress.

by Debra Sweet  Yesterday, Pentagon officials claimed the president has authorization to pursue war without limits of time or space, saying the Authorization of Use of Military Force passed in 2001 means war could go on, as Dick Cheney said, "for generations."

by Debra Sweet          If you haven't signed and donated to publish the Close Guantanamo ad in The New York Times, please do so now & make it count DOUBLE: we get matching funds from a generous donor up to $5,000 by noon Friday, May 17.

by Debra Sweet                     My friend Stephen Phelps, Senior Minister at The Riverside Church, signed The New York Times ad on closing Guantanamowe plan to publish next week, and sent a note saying he would “begin to send the hope around to some others.”  This hit me strongly.  For the last four+ years, since Obama promised to close it, nothing hopeful has come out of Guantanamo.

by Debra Sweet          We’ve been pondering hard on what more we can do to create a political situation where Obama has to back down, release at least a few of the men at Guantanamo, and be forced into closing the prison. All of our frequent protests, petitions, call-ins, editorials and op-eds are part of what's needed.

Here is the list of appearances/Protests of War Criminals for May, 2013. If any of these war criminals are in your area, please plan something around their appearance. We will be happy to help you get things started.  You may access posters and leaflets on our website - http://warcriminalswatch.org/index.php/downloadable-materials/173-posters-a-leaflets

by Debra Sweet               The April month of protest against US drone warfare and surveillance ended very strongly in Syracuse Sunday with a protest of hundreds of us at Hancock Air Force Base, where drones — unmanned aerial vehicles — are piloted over Pakistan, Afghanistan, and perhaps Yemen, Somalia and other countries.  Picture the starkness of the political clash.

by Debra Sweet            President Obama seems to fear that the hunger strike of the Guantanamo prisoners endangers the United States' reputation. He doesn't want them to die. So we learned today when he was questioned by a reporter. See Obama's remarks, and pertinent commentary from Kevin Gosztola: Obama’s Deluded Remarks Ignore His Role in Keeping Prisoners at Guantanamo.

by Debra Sweet.      From Reprieve, UK:     Tear gas and shotguns – Guantanamo detainee gives first inside account of raid. Younous Chekkouri, a detainee who has been cleared for release but remains held in Guantanamo, has given the first inside account of the raid carried out by prison authorities on Saturday 13 April.

by Debra Sweet  On April 18, 2013, Rochester Indymedia interviewed Debra Sweet, an anti-war organizer and director of The World Can't Wait. She will be going to Syracuse, NY on April 26-28th for the “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence (see the Facebook event).