Letters to the Editor
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I am not an America-hater
But GOD DAMN IT, I hate some of the things America does!
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Guantánamo will be a stain on America forever
That and all the other atrocities that don't see the light of day.
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The real tragedy isn't even about the medical care
The real tragedy here isn't really even about the apparently lack of medical care (although that is a bit sad, but really, unsurprising).
The real tragedy is that this man, who may now be dying, has spend 5 years of his life imprisoned for no reason. He has entirely missed out on his daughters life, and if he does die, she will most certainly never remember him.
Perhaps she will grow up bitter and angry at the people who took the time she could have had with her father away from her.
Perhaps her anger will turn to something greater, and she will try to exact revenge against the very government and people who she (rightly) hates and blames for stealing her father from her.
That’s just a scenario, but I think its important to understand that the real tragedy of Guantanamo goes beyond the illegal and immoral detention of people who have been charged with no crime. It extends to all of the family, friends and loved ones of those who have been so unjustly incarcerated. Each of them suffers, and will continue to suffer, long after the US government's ill-fated experience with detention camps finally closes.
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america has always been like this.
they told a different story in your school books, but they lied. there's only one cure, real democracy: rule by the people, through citizen initiative, open government, and direct election.
that's what you need to get the direction of the nation in line with the welfare of the people. right now, you've just got elective oligarchy, a different critter entirely. it was designed by the rich and powerful, to preserve their wealth and power. it works fine, for those goals.
if you're part of the other 90%, get behind mike gravel's 'initiative for democracy' or something similar.
time's running out.
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Pretty terrible but ummm -- not so bad compared to California
The California prison system was killing one to two prisoners PER WEEK from medical neglect. Finally a federal judge stepped in and just took control of the prison health care system away from the state.
I guess there's no hope of that happening in Gitmo.
Very sad -- but this is who we are nowadays.
We're a sick sad sadistic country trying to incarcerate our way to paradise.
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Shameful...
...that America has chosen to redefine the meanings and expectations of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. Really shameful.
Even more shameful is the complacency of American media, legislators, and citizens.
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The cost "of" our freedom "to" our freedom
Empire is an unfeeling monster, a clumsy giant without regard to individual life, a brute force moving through time, paving the history of the human race along a cruel path. We live on the shoulders of that giant and enjoy the fruits of its lethal labor. The alternative is either to kill the giant and live on the ground with all the other people or to try to teach the giant to be more sensitive, more humane...an allegory.
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Truly this is sickening
You think the news from Guantanamo can't get any worse, and then this comes along. You think you can't be shocked any more by another Guantanamo outrage, and yet you are.
Up to a point, this man's story is the same as many other Gitmo detainees: his only crime (probably) was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was abducted and left to rot in Gitmo for years without trial. At least he wasn't tortured as far as we know.
So far, so 'normal'. Utterly shameful and a disgrace to a civilized country, but nothing to interest the mainstream media.
But now we have this. Al-Ghizzawi, after years of incarceration, is eventually seen by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal which finds him not to be an enemy combatant. Wrong answer. Try again and come back with the 'right' answer.
And, even worse, it appears his health has been deliberately allowed to deteriorate to the point of death. I suppose it's one less man whose story will embarrass the US when/if he's eventually freed.
This is barbaric and criminal.
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The real question about this is election
is not if Obama or Clinton wins the white house, its will GW Bush and members of administration be sent to prison.
For the sake of all that is and ever was good and just about America I sure as hell hope so!!!!!!!
God Damn those bastards.
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Guantanamo afflicts us all
If the next president and congress doesn't immediately close the gulag of Gitmo and secret prisons, and then appoint judges who actually give a damn about the Constitution, we will have to have another democratic revolution to reinstate the rule of law.
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Pre-meditated murder
What our government is doing is nothing short of pre-mediated murder. If there is any justice Bush, Cheney and all their henchmen will die from the same type of slow, painful death that they have condemned Ms. Gorman's client to suffer. Their callous disregard for human life is absolutely infuriating. Bush and Cheney should have both been impeached years ago for their crimes against humanity and only a cowardly Congress has kept them in power to ruin more lives.
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We need a truth commission
I favored impeachment for Bush, Cheney, and prosecution of all the administration criminals. But, I think they will have a post-presidency that increasingly confines them in a circle of disgust, like Idi Amin or Pinochet.
Nixon could "rehabilitate" because he was knocked out of office. You have to go down to the mat before you can pick yourself up.
The exposes on Bush will continue throughout his lifetime as more records are leaked, more people abroad feel safe to talk about their torture, and more lower level staffers retire or leave their government jobs. A liberal administration that reduces fear of retaliation is Bush and Cheney's worst fear.
We need a truth commission to purge these poisons from our system.
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I don't like Bush and Co.
And I have no problem believing that this adminstration is capable of absolutely anything. But is any of this actually true?
How does a largely unsubstantiated article like this make it to the front page of Salon? Standards, people, standards.