Try to imagine this:
You are an Algerian, living in Bosnia with your wife and two children. You work for the Red Crescent, the Islamic sister organization of the Red Cross. One day in October 2001, Bosnian authorities, acting on a tip from American intelligence, arrest an acquaintance of yours, Bensayah Belkacem. The American authorities claim that he has made several phone calls to Al Qaida members in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Because you know him, you and four others are also arrested. You are accused of planning to bomb the American embassy in Sarajevo.
The case against you quickly begins to unravel:
Part of the case against Bensayah involved the alleged discovery of a piece of paper at his home, bearing a telephone number for an al-Qa'ida operative, Abu Zubayder. "The Bosnian police couldn't get this number to work in Afghanistan or Pakistan," one of the prisoners' lawyers, Stephen Oleskey, says. "Now we believe an announcement that the paper had been discovered was made before it was 'found'."
In January 2002, the prosecutor at the Bosnian Supreme Court admits that there is no evidence against any of you, and the court orders your release. As you leave the courtroom a free man, someone puts a black hood over your head and tie your hands. You hear the wife of your fellow detainee Hadj Boudella scream for help as you are whisked away to a waiting airplane. When the hood is finally removed, you are in a cell in Guantanamo. You are not allowed to contact your family. You have no idea when, if ever, you will be released.
In his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush declares that "our soldiers, working with the Bosnian government, seized terrorists who were plotting to bomb our embassy [in Sarajevo]." The cooperation was not entirely smooth:
[L]awyers defending the Arabs – who had already been acquitted of such a plot in a Sarajevo court – have found that the US threatened to pull its troops out of the Nato peacekeeping force in Bosnia if the men were not handed over. According to testimony presented by the Bosnian Prime Minister, Alija Behman, the deputy US ambassador to Bosnia in 2001, Christopher Hoh, told him that if he did not hand the men to the Americans, "then let God protect Bosnia and Herzegovina".
Three British detainees who are later released from Guantanamo also make a statement about you:
By Bosnians we mean six Algerians who were unlawfully taken from Bosnia to Guantanamo Bay. They told us how they had won their Court case in Bosnia. As they walked out of Court, Americans were there and grabbed them and took them to Camp X-Ray, January 20, 2002. They arrived five days after us. They were treated particularly badly. They were moved every two hours. They were kept naked in their cells. They were taken to interrogation for hours on end. They were short shackled for sometimes days on end. They were deprived of their sleep. They never got letters, nor books, nor reading materials. The Bosnians had the same interrogators for a while as we did and so we knew the names which were the same as ours and they were given a very hard time by those. They told us that the interrogators said if they didn't cooperate that they could ensure that something would happen to their families in Algeria and in Bosnia.
Desperate, you go on a seven month hunger strike. It doesn't work. According to your lawyer, Stephen Oleskey:
"Twice a day he is strapped onto a chair at seven points. One side of his nose is broken, so they put it (the tube) in the other side ... Sometimes it goes to his lung instead of his stomach. He can't say anything because he has the mask on: that's torture."
In October [2004], Boudella attempted to plead his innocence before the Pentagon’s Combatant Status Review Tribunal. The C.S.R.T. is the Pentagon’s answer to the Supreme Court’s ruling last year, over the Bush Administration’s objections, that detainees in Guantánamo had a right to challenge their imprisonment. Boudella was not allowed to bring a lawyer to the proceeding. And the tribunal said that it was “unable to locate” a copy of the Bosnian Supreme Court’s verdict freeing him, which he had requested that it read.
The panel concludes that you are enemy combatants. This term is rather vague. As the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia considers your writ of habeas corpus, Judge Joyce Hens Green asks a hypothetical question:
Could the president of the United States imprison "a little old lady from Switzerland" as an enemy combatant if she donated to a charity not knowing that her money was eventually used to finance the activities of Qaeda terrorists?
Possibly, a government lawyer replied ...
The definition of an enemy combatant, he said, "is not limited to someone who carries a weapon."
"Where is the battlefield?" Judge Green asked, noting that some detainees were not captured in Afghanistan but in places like Africa.
Mr. Boyle said that while the initial war after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was fought in Afghanistan, "the United States is now engaged in a broader conflict with Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization that has a global reach."
Judge Green also asked of the hostilities that the administration argues give the president his broad powers, "When will they end?"
Mr. Boyle said, "I wish I could give you an answer."
Judge Green persisted. "Can it last as long as fundamentalists mount attacks on U.S. citizens?" she asked. "Because the issue of duration is of great importance."
Mr. Boyle said that it was a matter of "the discretion of the president to determine that military force should be deferred."
The Bush administration's claim that you do not have the right to habeas corpus is being challenged in the courts. But as your writ is being considered, Congress passes The Military Commissions Act. You are no longer under the jurisdiction of US Federal Courts. All petitions of habeas corpus from prisoners at Guantanamo are stayed. Your lawyers will have to start the fight all over again.
The government establishes Administrative Review Boards to decide your status on a yearly basis. You face this tribunal for the first time in 2005, after four years in captivity. The charge of bombing the embassy has been dropped, and you are now accused of planning to carry out attacks on American troops in Afghanistan. You are classified as an enemy combatant and detained for a further year. The same thing happens in later hearings. After all, that's what these boards are for.
In June 2008, The Supreme Court rules 5-4 that the Military Commissions Act is unconstitutional and that you have the right of habeas corpus. On 20 November 2008, US District Court Judge Richard Leon rules that the government has no credible evidence to justify your detention, or that of four other detainees: "To allow enemy combatancy to rest on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with this court's obligation; the court must and will grant their petitions and order their release." The evidence against you is classified, but it is revealed that only one anonymous source exists for the claim about the planned attacks in Afghanistan. Only Bensayah Belkacem is to remain at Guantanamo, because he "showed an intent to support anti-American fighters in Afghanistan."
The government establishes Administrative Review Boards to decide your status on a yearly basis. You face this tribunal for the first time in 2005, after four years in captivity. The charge of bombing the embassy has been dropped, and you are now accused of planning to carry out attacks on American troops in Afghanistan. You are classified as an enemy combatant and detained for a further year. The same thing happens in later hearings. After all, that's what these boards are for.
In June 2008, The Supreme Court rules 5-4 that the Military Commissions Act is unconstitutional and that you have the right of habeas corpus. On 20 November 2008, US District Court Judge Richard Leon rules that the government has no credible evidence to justify your detention, or that of four other detainees: "To allow enemy combatancy to rest on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with this court's obligation; the court must and will grant their petitions and order their release." The evidence against you is classified, but it is revealed that only one anonymous source exists for the claim about the planned attacks in Afghanistan. Only Bensayah Belkacem is to remain at Guantanamo, because he "showed an intent to support anti-American fighters in Afghanistan."
Unusually, Judge Leon asks the Department of Defense not to appeal his ruling, as he thinks seven years behind bars should be enough. Two of your fellow detainees are released. However, Bosnia does not want you back, and you fear for your life if you return to Algeria. As you are now stateless, you remain in captivity.
On May 15, 2009 you and two of your fellow detainees are finally released from Guantanamo and shipped to France. There are rumors that you had to sign a promise not to sue the US government for kidnapping before you were released.
You have spent 7 years and 7 months in captivity, and now we're done with you. Don't let the prison door hit you in the ass, terrorist! Get lost!
But hey, you're just a Muslim. You have no rights. Your life is not important, certainly not when compared to the lives of Americans. If they feel threatened by your existence, they have the right to lock you up and throw away the key. You hate them for their freedoms. You're one of the worst of the worst. They are Defenders of Freedom. If they do something, it can't be wrong.
Right?
On May 15, 2009 you and two of your fellow detainees are finally released from Guantanamo and shipped to France. There are rumors that you had to sign a promise not to sue the US government for kidnapping before you were released.
You have spent 7 years and 7 months in captivity, and now we're done with you. Don't let the prison door hit you in the ass, terrorist! Get lost!
But hey, you're just a Muslim. You have no rights. Your life is not important, certainly not when compared to the lives of Americans. If they feel threatened by your existence, they have the right to lock you up and throw away the key. You hate them for their freedoms. You're one of the worst of the worst. They are Defenders of Freedom. If they do something, it can't be wrong.
Right?
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Rick Lucke
Tim4change
AtHomePilgrim
Zyskandar Jaimot
Kent Pitman
RicTresa
Salon.com
Comments
The naivete is in believing that American Interests involve justice and human rights. Frankly, American Presidents, will only work for American interests. So, the notion that a "new president" would be different always seemed shallow to me. The other notion that a "good president" would absolve us of our sins is another shallow construct that seems to have taken hold.
We as citizens of America are responsible right along with those who ordered and executed those actions. I am not hearing about our role. Our silence.
Monte
I can't draw that line.
thanks Norwonk for a valuable insight into our own dark side. keep wonking.
His family do not help his case here in Canada. They do not hide their politics and the media has a field day with it. So the Canadian governemnt and the Canadian people remain silent.
There are just too may stories like this. It is time to end what is going on in Guantanamo and se that it never happens again.
thank you for publicizing this.
Goddamn.
Do they still ask "Why do liberals hate America?" since Obama was elected? I don't know. But I got an answer for them.
Rated.
By the way, I wanted to high-five Sen. Levin in that clip - I haven't seen him on other issues or anywhere else, but I'll be looking that bloke up. A damn good smack-down of a farcical "strategist".
JK Brady: I know the case you're talking about. And from what I have read, it seems this kid was just another child soldier. I really can't see why he should be treated any different than any other captured guerilla soldier - if anything, his age should have been an argument for letting him go. Why they think he's a dangerous terrorist is beyond me.
"His family do not help his case here in Canada. They do not hide their politics and the media has a field day with it. So the Canadian governemnt and the Canadian people remain silent."
That really says it all, doesn't it? So what if his parents are Al Qaida sympathizers? Since when did that justify the imprisonment of a young boy? Of course, he'll be an angry young man by the time he gets out of Gitmo.
Well, I got one better. The 19 year old that makes my lattes can read dogs' minds. Really. Just ask him. He's standing there at Starbucks, his eyes go out of focus, I can tell he's in the PetCo next door.
An unearthly howl overtakes the universe.