18.2.12
Last month, when I was in the US to campaign for the closure of Guantánamo on the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Bush administration’s “war on terror” prison, I paid a visit, during my 30-hour visit to San Francisco and the Bay Area, to KPFA in Berkeley for an interview on “The Morning Mix with Project Censored,” which also featured the wonderful singer/songwriter David Rovics, Pardiss Kebriaei of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Almerindo Ojeda of UC Davis, who runs the university’s Guantánamo Testimonials Project.
That half-hour show is here, and it was regarded by the producers as covering so much important material in such a short amount of time that a decision was made to run an extended version, as part of a fundraising drive, on February 17, and the resultant two and a half hour show is available here, and is embedded below.
Featuring, yet again, myself, Pardiss, David and Almerindo, and also Stephanie Tang of The World Can’t Wait, the extended show allowed each of us half an hour to discuss various aspects of “The Indefinite Detention and Targeted Killing of the Rule of Law” in the US, and I was delighted to have time to discuss, in detail, the scandalous, but under-reported story of how right-wing judges in the court of appeals in Washington D.C. have rewritten the rules regarding the Guantánamo prisoners’ habeas corpus clams to such an extent that it has become impossible for any of the prisoners to have their petitions granted, even if the government has nothing at all reliable as evidence.
I was also glad to be asked about the new “Close Guantánamo” campaign, which I am working on with the support of attorneys for the Guantánamo prisoners, and about the contentious National Defense Authorization Act, with its dreadful provision for the mandatory military custody of terror suspects, and lawmakers’ restrictions on the release of prisoners from Guantánamo, which also allowed me to discuss the largely overlooked waiver included in the NDAA, allowing the administration to release prisoners without Congressional interference if the President can find the courage to do so.
If you have two and a half hours to spare, I recommend listening to the whole show, and I was particularly delighted that my segment, at the start of the show, came immediately after David Rovics had sung his powerful song, “Guantánamo Bay.”
This is how KPFA described the show:
Welcome to a special broadcast by Project Censored on Pacifica Radio. Join Mickey Huff, along with co-hosts Dr. Peter Phillips; Dr. Andy Roth, the associate director of Project Censored; and Abby Martin of Media Roots. Today’s special program is “Brought to Justice? — The Indefinite Detention and Targeted Killing of the Rule of Law.” Joining us will be investigative journalist Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files and co-director of “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo“; Pardiss Kebriaei, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who has represented a number of the men detained at Guantánamo and is also counsel in Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, which concerns targeted killings by the executive in zones outside of armed conflict. We will also have music and commentary from one of the most notable political folk musicians of our time, the one and only David Rovics. We hear from Dr. Almerindo Ojeda, professor of linguistics and director of the Guantánamo Testimonials Project at University of California, Davis; and we round out today’s special with Stephanie Tang of World Can’t Wait.
Andy Worthington is 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. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in June 2011, “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” a 70-part, million-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011, and details about the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and available on DVD here — or here for the US). Also see my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and please also consider joining the new “Close Guantánamo campaign,” and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.
Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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5 Responses
Uganda Persecution of Gays Starts Before the Kill the Gays Bill Passage; It’s Up to Us to Protect the First Amendment; How Rick Santorum Ripped Off Veterans; and more…. | DailyQueerNews.com says...
[…] “Brought to Justice?—The Indefinite Detention and Targeted Killing of the Rule of Law”. Read more […]
...on February 20th, 2012 at 8:17 am
Andy Worthington says...
Bennett Hall wrote:
KPFA has a long and storied history in the Bay Area – welcome to the Bay Area Andy…
...on February 22nd, 2012 at 4:41 am
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, Bennett. Yes, I’ve been interviewed many times for KPFA — I always get invited into the studios when I’m in the Bay Area, which is excellent, and I’ve also done shows by phone.
...on February 22nd, 2012 at 4:42 am
Andy Worthington says...
George Kenneth Berger wrote:
I’m digging this, Andy.
...on February 22nd, 2012 at 4:43 am
Andy Worthington says...
And thanks, George. Good to hear from you.
...on February 22nd, 2012 at 4:43 am