Andy Worthington: An Archive of Guantánamo Articles, Other Writing and Photos – Part 13, July to December 2012

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Next March it will be eight years since I gave my life over to chronicling Guantánamo and the 779 men (and boys) held there, and campaigning to get the prison closed. I did this initially through my book The Guantánamo Files, and, for the last six and a half years, I have continued to seek the prison’s closure — and to educate people about the men held there and the lies told in the “war on terror” — as a full-time independent investigative journalist.

Nearly four years ago, I began to put together chronological lists of all my articles, in the hope that doing so would make it as easy as possible for readers and researchers to navigate my work — the 2100 articles and pages I have published since May 2007. Unfortunately, I have found it difficult to keep up to date with this project for the last two years, hence this belated entry covering all the articles I wrote from July to December 2012.

In this period, as well as relentlessly covering Guantánamo, I continued to be involved in campaigning to resist the age of austerity cynically introduced by the Tory-led government here in the UK, which is being used to wage a disgusting and disgraceful civil war against the poor, the unemployed and the disabled, and whose main aim is to destroy the state provision of services. In the period covered in this article, my previous efforts to save the NHS from privatisation fed into a campaign even closer to home, as the government and senior NHS managers proposed to severely cut services at Lewisham Hospital, my local hospital in south east London, to pay for the debts of a neighbouring NHS trust that had got into financial difficulties — in part because of ruinous private finance (PFI) deals, providing unjustifiable profits to private companies building hospitals for the government.

It was also in this period that a side line to my writing — cycling around London and taking photos for a huge archive recording the city at this difficult time in its history — began. This took up much of my time, as the 77 photo sets available here reveal, although this year, even though I continue to cycle and record London on an almost daily basis — for health reasons, and to satisfy my curiosity — I haven’t been publishing many photos here (via my Flickr account), and have, instead, been building up an archive for a new website, “The State of London,” that I will be launching soon. I continue to post protest photos, and it’s an aspect of my work that, I have found, complements my writing.

As with most of my work today, the majority of the 89 articles I wrote in this period were made available without any financial backing, an exercise in reader-funded journalism that has only been made possible through the generosity of you, my readers and supporters. If you want to donate to help me to keep working as an independent researcher and commentator, please click on the “Donate” button above. All donations are welcome.

As I explained last month when I published the list of articles I wrote between January and June 2012:

I hope this archive is more than a largely pointless exercise in nostalgia, and that it will be of some use. On Guantánamo, my intention all along has been to puncture the Bush administration’s propaganda about the prison holding “the worst of the worst” by telling the prisoners’ stories and bringing them to life as human beings, rather than allowing them to remain as dehumanized scapegoats or bogeymen.

This has involved demonstrating that the majority of the prisoners were either innocent men, seized by the US military’s allies at a time when bounty payments were widespread, or recruits for the Taliban, who had been encouraged by supporters in their homelands to help the Taliban in a long-running inter-Muslim civil war (with the Northern Alliance), which began long before the 9/11 attacks and, for the most part, had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or international terrorism.

As I explained in the introduction to my four-part Definitive Prisoner List (updated in April 2012), I remain convinced, through detailed research, through comments from insiders with knowledge of Guantánamo, and, most recently, through an analysis of classified military documents released by WikiLeaks, that “at least 93 percent of the 779 men and boys imprisoned in total” had no involvement with terrorism.

The articles I wrote — and the photos I published — between July and December 2012 are listed below, separated into three categories: articles about Guantánamo, articles about British politics, and photos. I hope you find the list useful.

An archive of Guantánamo articles: Part 13, July to December 2012

July 2012

1. Drone attacks, Guantánamo: In Appeal for Moral Leadership, Jimmy Carter Calls for an End to Drone Attacks and the Closure of Guantánamo
2. Kuwaitis in Guantánamo: My Photos on Flickr: Visiting Kuwait to Campaign for the Last Two Kuwaiti Prisoners in Guantánamo
3. Extradition: Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad: “Extradition” Film Screenings in London, and an Appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
4. Afghans in Guantánamo: US in Talks to Return the 17 Afghan Prisoners in Guantánamo
5. Omar Khadr: Andy Worthington Speaks at Screening of Omar Khadr Film, “You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo,” at Amnesty International, London, July 12
6. Omar Khadr: Bring Omar Khadr Home from Guantánamo: Please Sign the Petition to the Canadian Government
7. Medical abuse at Guantánamo: Pentagon Report into the Drugging of Guantánamo Prisoners Is Released
8. Ibrahim al-Qosi, prisoners released from Guantánamo: US Honors Deal to Release Convicted Bin Laden Cook from Guantánamo to Sudan; 87 Cleared Men Still Await Release
9. Omar Khadr: Free Omar Khadr from Guantánamo! Please Support Senator Roméo Dallaire’s Campaign
10. Extradition: Six Years without Charge or Trial: An Evening of Poetry, Film and Tributes to Talha Ahsan in London, July 19
11. Drone attacks: Families of US Citizens Killed in Drone Attacks in Yemen Take Obama Officials to Court
12. Bagram: Bagram: Still a Black Hole for Foreign Prisoners
13. Guantánamo campaigns: For Ramadan, Write to the Forgotten Prisoners in Guantánamo
14. Close Guantánamo: At Guantánamo, Another Bleak Ramadan for 87 Cleared Prisoners Who Are Still Held
15. Bagram, radio interviews: I’m Off to WOMAD, Back on Monday: Please Listen to Me Discussing Bagram on the Radio with Scott Horton
16. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, military commissions: Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri: The Torture Victim the US Is Desperate to Gag

August 2012

17. Torture: On the 10th Anniversary of Yoo and Bybee’s “Torture Memos,” Col. Morris Davis Reminds Americans About Justice and the Law
18. Torture: Ten Years of Torture: Marking the 10th Anniversary of John Yoo’s “Torture Memos”
19. Shaker Aamer: Close Guantánamo: A Reminder of Why We Demand the Prison’s Closure, and a Call for Support for Shaker Aamer

September 2012

20. Guantánamo, 9/11: Eleven Years After 9/11, Guantánamo Is A Political Prison
21. Guantánamo, 9/11, Bagram, radio: Andy Worthington Discusses Bagram on the BBC World Service, and 9/11 and Guantánamo with Scott Horton
22. Close Guantánamo, 9/11: A Call for 90 Men to be Freed from Guantánamo on the 11th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks
23. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: Lawyers for Adnan Latif, the Latest Prisoner to Die at Guantánamo, Issue A Statement
24. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: A Premonition of Death at Guantánamo: Adnan Latif’s Hunger Strike Poem
25. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: Obama, the Courts and Congress Are All Responsible for the Latest Death at Guantánamo
26. Omar Khadr: Video: On Omar Khadr’s 26th Birthday, Supporters Call for his Return to Canada from Guantánamo
27. Aafia Siddiqui: Andy Worthington Speaks at Event in London Marking Two Years Since Aafia Siddiqui’s Barbaric 86-Year Sentence
28. National Defense Authorization Act: Why Does the Government So Desperately Want Indefinite Detention for Terror Suspects?
29. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo, Omar Khadr, Nabil Hadjarab: This Week at Guantánamo: More on Adnan Latif, Omar Khadr’s Birthday, A French Appeal, and the Release of Cleared Prisoners’ Names
30. Aafia Siddiqui, Guantánamo: Video: Andy Worthington Discusses the Horrors of Guantánamo at Aafia Siddiqui Protest in London
31. Guantánamo media: Obama Releases Names of Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners; Now It’s Time to Set Them Free

October 2012

32. Video, extradition: Video: The Great Extradition Swindle
33. Omar Khadr, prisoners released from Guantánamo: Finally, Omar Khadr Leaves Guantánamo and Returns to Canada
34. Guantánamo media: Andy Worthington and Omar Deghayes Speak about Guantánamo at Peace Conference in Sheffield on October 5, 2012
35. Guantánamo, torture, Presidential election: In US Election, No Time for Guantánamo, But Torture Rears Its Ugly Head
36. Shaker Aamer: EXCLUSIVE: A Demand for “Freedom and Justice” from Shaker Aamer in Guantánamo
37. Extradition: America’s Extradition Problem
38. Video, Shaker Aamer: Video: Andy Worthington Asks Supporters to Sign UK Petition Calling for the Release of Shaker Aamer from Guantánamo
39. “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo”: “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo”: Amnesty Screening in Lewes with Andy Worthington, Omar Deghayes, Caroline Lucas and Norman Baker, October 21, 2012
40: Military commissions, 9/11: The 9/11 Trial: Torturing Justice
41. Guantánamo media: Who Are the 55 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners on the List Released by the Obama Administration?
42. Military commissions, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri: Another Torture Victim on Trial at Guantánamo

November 2012

43. Shaker Aamer: When Justice Fails: US Refuses to Confirm that Shaker Aamer Will Be Freed from Guantánamo
44. Military commissions: Conservative Judges Demolish the False Legitimacy of Guantánamo’s Terror Trials
45. Close Guantánamo: President Obama, It’s Time to Fulfill Your Promise to Close Guantánamo
46. Radio, Close Guantánamo: Andy Worthington Discusses the Need to Close Guantánamo on the Michael Slate Show
47. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: The Banality of Evil: How the US Killed an Innocent Man at Guantánamo
48. Shaker Aamer, Guantánamo events: Guantánamo: Andy Worthington Discusses Shaker Aamer at Hull University Amnesty Society, November 27, 2012
49. Guantánamo media: On Guantánamo, the New York Times Abdicates Responsibility
50. Shaker Aamer: A Photo of Shaker Aamer After Eleven Years in Guantánamo
51. Torture: The Long Pursuit of Accountability for the Bush Administration’s Torture Program

December 2012

52. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: An Impossible Suicide at Guantánamo
53. Close Guantánamo: Will Guantánamo Ever Be Closed?
54. Guantánamo events: Supermaxed: Andy Worthington Speaks at Stop the War Guantánamo Event, Goldsmith’s College, December 12
55. Guantánamo media: Andy Worthington and David Remes Discuss Guantánamo on Revolution Truth
56. Shaker Aamer: Free Shaker Aamer: Last British Resident in Guantánamo Sues British Government
57. Torture, extraordinary rendition, film reviews: Torture, Torture Everywhere
58. Guantánamo, radio interviews: Andy Worthington Discusses the Urgent Need to Close Guantánamo with Peter B. Collins

An archive of articles about British politics, July to December 2012

July and August 2012

1. Banking crisis: When Will Immoral, Unprincipled Bankers Be Held Accountable for Their Crimes?
2. Banking crisis: Criminal Bankers Are Not Above the Law
3. Save the NHS: NHS Chief Quits, Calls Austerity a Weapon to “Dismantle the State”
4. UK austerity, disability: Doctors Urge Government to Scrap Callous Disability Tests
5. Housing crisis: Unaffordable London: The Great Housing Rip-Off Continues
6. Olympics: Olympics Disaster: The G4S Security Scandal and Corporate Sponsors’ £600 Million Tax Avoidance
7. Olympics: The Dark Side of the Olympics: Kettling Cyclists and Telling Fairytales About Our Heritage
8. UK austerity, disability: Where is the Shame and Anger as the UK Government’s Unbridled Assault on the Disabled Continues?

September 2012

9. UK austerity, disability, photos: Photos of the Paralympics Demonstration Against Atos Healthcare in London
10. Save the NHS: Disgusting! As Tories Lurch to the Right, Criminal Jeremy Hunt Takes Over Health
11. Occupy Wall Street: On Occupy’s First Anniversary, We Are Still the 99 Percent, and the 1 Percent Are Still the Problem
12. Occupy movement, housing crisis: A Future for Occupy? Why We Need A Campaign for Genuinely Affordable Housing
13. Housing crisis: The First Squatter Is Jailed Since Being Homeless Was Criminalised by the Tories

October 2012

14. UK austerity, disability: Call Time on This Wretched Government and Its Assault on the Disabled
15. UK austerity, protest: Kick This Government Out! March for “A Future That Works” in London on October 20
16. UK austerity, protest, photos: Photos: The Best Placards and Banners from “A Future That Works,” the TUC March and Rally in London
17. UK austerity, protest, photos: Photos: A Riot of Colour, Solidarity and Indignation on the TUC March in London
18. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save the NHS: Act Now to Stop the Hatchet Falling on South London Accident and Emergency Services

November 2012

19. Save Lewisham Hospital: Please Sign the Petitions to Prevent the Closure of Lewisham Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department
20. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham A&E: As Petition Nears 5,000 Signatures, I Tell South London Press, “People Will Die”
21. Save Lewisham Hospital: Lewisham Residents Rally to Save Hospital from Tory Butchers
22. UK politics, education: Protest Groups Challenge the Tories’ Mission to Wreck England’s Schools and Universities
23. UK austerity, benefit reform: Ex-Children’s Minister Sarah Teather Condemns Government’s Benefit Cap as Cruel and Immoral
24. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital from Tory Destruction: Huge Rally on Saturday, Public Meeting Next Wednesday
25. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital A&E: Photos of the Massive Protest on November 24, 2012

December 2012

26. UK austerity, disability: The End of Decency: Tories to Make Disabled People Work Unpaid for Their Benefits
27. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital: Photos of the Protest and Sham Consultation on December 4, 2012
28. UK austerity, benefit reform: The Death of Empathy in Cruel, Heartless Britain
29. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital: Last Chance to Respond to Consultation – and Vigil on Thursday
30. Housing crisis: Wake Up to the Injustice of Britain’s Housing Crisis
31. UK austerity, disability, benefit reform: End the Tory Butchers’ Assault on the Disabled: For New Year, Please Sign the War on Welfare Petition

My photos of London (and other places in UK and Europe)

July 2012

1. My Photos on Flickr: Bermondsey and the River Thames, June 2012
2. My Photos on Flickr: The Isle of Dogs and Regent’s Canal, July 2012
3. My Photos on Flickr: London At Night – Canary Wharf, Millwall, Greenwich and Deptford
4. The Power of Greed: Photos of Canary Wharf
5. In Search of the Olympics: Photos of a Journey from Limehouse to Stratford
6. Rivers at Dusk: Photos of My Journey from Stratford to Canary Wharf
7. Street Art, Sunshine and the River: Photos of Deptford and Greenwich
8. Green London: Photos of Nunhead, Dulwich and Blythe Hill
9. Docks, Wharves and Water: Photos of a Journey Along the Thames from Deptford to Tower Bridge
10. Sun, Sky and Property: A Photographic Journey along the Thames from London Bridge to the Isle of Dogs
11. Photos: The Olympic Torch in Lewisham, and Some Last Thoughts on the Dodgy Games
12. Real Life in South London: Photos of a Journey through Nunhead, Peckham, Walworth and Borough
13. The Olympics Minus One Day: Photos from the Frontline in Stratford

August 2012

14. Photos from WOMAD’s 30th Anniversary Festival, Wiltshire, July 2012 (1/2)
15. Big Skies and Global Beats: Photos from WOMAD’s 30th Anniversary Festival (2/2)
16. The Wealth of Empire: Photos of the City of London in the Rain
17. Union Jack Summer: Photos of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics
18. Jamaican Independence and a Giant Tent: Photos of a Visit to the Olympic Site at the O2
19. Photos of a Journey Across the Thames on the Olympics Cable Car
20. Real London: Photos of New Cross, Bermondsey and the Old Kent Road
21. Photos of London At Night: From the Olympics at Greenwich to Deptford and Surrey Quays
22. A Place to Call Home: Photos of Brockley from Winter to Summer
23. Architecture on an Epic Scale: Photos of Arriving in Rome, Visiting St. Peter’s and the Vatican
24. Photos of Rome: A Storm, the Hills and the Tiber at Night
25. Churches, Temples, Fountains and Piazze: Photos of the Historic Centre of Rome
26. Parks, Water and Dreams: Photos of a Journey from Surrey Quays to Central London
27. Photos of The Pantheon and Il Vittoriano in Rome: Transcendental Illumination and a Show of Power
28. Echoes of Ancient Rome: Photos of the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill
29. Glass, Light and Fantasies: Photos of the City of London At Night
30. Photos of the Olympics: In Search of the Paralympic Torch
31. Photos of Lewisham: Hills, Rivers, Secret Corners and Blatant Skyscrapers

September 2012

32. Green London: Photos of Surrey Quays, Brockley, Telegraph Hill, Blackheath and One Tree Hill
33. Chasing Clouds in Greenwich: Photos of a Journey East Along the Thames
34. Industry and Decay: Photos of a Journey Along the Thames from Greenwich to Woolwich
35. Lost Glories: Photos of a Thames Journey from Woolwich to Thamesmead
36. Prisons and Abandoned Factories: Photos of a Journey from Belmarsh to Plumstead
37. Visiting Abruzzo: Photos of a Journey by Train from Rome, the Valle Peligna and Torre dei Nolfi
38. A Photographic Journey around Fitzrovia, Central London’s Former Bohemia
39. Retail Frenzy: Photos of Oxford Street on a Saturday
40. Crowds and Culture: Photos of Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross and the Southbank Centre
41. The Old and the New: Photos of a Journey through Waterloo, Borough and Bermondsey
42. Photos of Deptford: A Life By The River Thames
43. London Skies: Photos of Big Fluffy Clouds
44. The Road North: A Photographic Journey from Tottenham Court Road to Camden

October 2012

45. Alternative London: Photos of Camden High Street
46. At Dusk: Photos of the Regent’s Canal from Camden Lock to St. Pancras Basin
47. Development Frenzy: Photos of the Regent’s Canal from St. Pancras Basin to King’s Cross
48. Photos of Blackheath and Greenwich: Olympic Memories and Other Journeys
49. Green London: Photos of Crystal Palace, the Isle of Dogs, Ladywell and Brockley
50. Sunny Sunday: Photos of the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf
51. Photos of Limehouse, Shadwell and Wapping: Art, History and the Summer Sun
52. Beautiful Dereliction: Photos of the Thames Shoreline by Convoys Wharf, Deptford
53. The Colours and Characters of Soho: Photos of Berwick Street and Around
54. Back Streets and Shop Fronts: Photos of Soho
55. Between Bridges: Photos of Wealth and Loss in Bankside, Between Blackfriars and London Bridge
56. Eating and Commuting: Photos of Borough Market and London Bridge
57. Photos: The Open-Air Street Artists of Ashby Mews, Brockley

November 2012

58. Pumpkins and Skeletons: Photos of Halloween in London
59. Photos: Autumn on Hilly Fields, Brockley
60. Beside the River Thames: Photos of a Journey from Clink Street to Butler’s Wharf
61. Photos of the River Thames: The Solace of the Shore and the Fire of Sunset
62. Reflections on Mortality: Photos of Autumn in Brockley Cemetery
63. From Deptford to Bermondsey: Photos of a Summer Journey Through London’s History
64. Photos of Commercial Road: The 21st Century Rag Trade
65. Photos of Shadwell: School, Street Art, Studios and Railway Bridges
66. Development and Decay: Photos of Commercial Road in Stepney and Limehouse
67. Shops, Ships and Union Jacks: Photos of a Surreal Tour Around Canary Wharf
68. Photos: Autumn Sunset in Hilly Fields, Brockley
69. When Night Falls: Photos of Lewisham, Greenwich and Deptford

December 2012

70. Photos: Greenwich Early and Late
71. Photos: Early Morning Amongst the Graves of St. Alfege Park, Greenwich
72. Photos of South East London At Night: Tunnels, the River and the Surrey Canal
73. Blue Skies and Golden Light: Photos of the River Thames in September
74. Top of the World: Photos of Nunhead Allotments, and the View from the Hill-Top Reservoir
75. Memories of Summer: Photos of the Thames Festival on London’s South Bank
76. Photos: Christmas in London, 2012
77. A Winter Wonderland: Photos of the Scottish Highlands in Perthshire

Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer and film-maker. He is the co-founder of the “Close Guantánamo” campaign, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here — or here for the US).

To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to Andy’s RSS feed — and he can also be found on Facebook (and here), Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Also see the four-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, and “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” an ongoing, 70-part, million-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011. Also see the definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all Andy’s articles.

Please also consider joining the “Close Guantánamo” campaign.