Guantanamo and US Senate/House of Representatives

A link to, and discussion of my interview yesterday, about the men still held indefinitely without charge or trial at Guantánamo, and the Biden administration’s slowness in releasing prisoners already approved for release, and moving towards the prison’s eventual closure, with Chris Cook, for his Gorilla Radio show in Victoria, Canada. Chris and I have spoken many times before over the years, and he is always an extremely well-informed host.

Publicizing an important letter to President Biden from 75 members of the House of Representatives, led by David Price (D-NC), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and also pointing out that the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban must not lead to cynical right-wingers seeking to derail efforts to close Guantánamo.

An important letter from 24 Democratic Senators to President Biden, urging him to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, including, most significantly, a call to release all the prisoners who are not going to be charged with crimes. The signatories include Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

A cross-post, with my own introduction, of a detailed proposal for how Joe Biden can close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, written for Just Security by Benjamin Farley, currently a 9/11 trial attorney, and, from 2013-17, Senior Adviser to the Special Envoy for Guantánamo Closure at the State Department.

Promoting a letter to defense secretary Mark Esper, initiated by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and also signed by 14 other Senators, asking for clarification of what the Pentagon is doing to protect the prisoners at Guantánamo, and US military personnel, from the coronavirus COVID-19.

My report about the passage of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which maintains restrictions on the release of Guantánamo prisoners, and on any moves towards the prison’s closure. These, sadly, have been part of the NDAA for many years, since the Republicans took control of Congress under President Obama. Sadly, although Democrats took control of the House in the 2018 midterms, they were unable to amend the repressive Guantánamo legislation in the final version of the NDAA that was consolidated with the Republican-controlled Senate.

A cross-post of a statement of intent for 2020 – a US Presidential Election year – by the Close Guantánamo campaign, which I co-founded in 2012 with the US attorney Tom Wilner, with links to the new campaign posters for 2020, marking 6,575 days of the prison’s existence on January 11, and subsequent posters for 6,600, 6,700, 6,800 and 6,900 days.

My analysis, cross-posted from the Close Guantánamo website, of the significance – regarding Guantánamo – of Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives last November. Led by Rep. Adam Smith, Democrats, via the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), are trying to prevent Donald Trump from being able to bring new prisoners to Guantánamo, and are also trying to ease restrictions on the release of prisoners, and work towards the eventual closure of Guantánamo. The House and Senate versions of the NDAA are currently being consolidated.

Promoting — and providing some background to — a new action by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), urging Americans to write to their elected representatives urging them to vote to drop the ban on the transfer of Guantánamo prisoners to the US mainland for any reason — including for trials and for medical treatment — that has been part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) since 2011.

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