Tristan Williamson doesn't really want to talk about his service in the Iraq war. There are aspects of his military service that, of necessity, and at his choice, remain secret.
For the time being, we're willing to allow Tristan (and the Navy) to keep his secrets. What observers will find relevant is that he followed the orders of his commanders and experienced the war intensely.
The methods and practices the United States has pursued in its "war on terror" are something he views with intensity, too.
The unending detention of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, characterized as on sovereign U.S. territory, but at the same time exempt from recognized American norms of due process, has been something of an embarrassment to the outgoing Bush administration. Under the guidance of vice-president Dick Cheney and the military command structure, the detention and treatment of those prisoners (not "prisoners of war," mind you, for that would trigger the sanctions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949) has tarnished this country's image in the eyes of the world.
While Barack Obama, due to take office on Jan. 20, 2009, has pledged to close the camps at "Gitmo," President George W. Bush has extended the authority to keep the camps, including Camp X-Ray, open.
Tristan Williamson, an Iraq veteran, protests.
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tristan will have himself bound in the same manner as those prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are bound. He will be blindfolded, gagged, trussed, and deprived of his hearing throughout his demonstration. The University Center at Indiana University Southeast, in New Albany, Ind., will be the venue for this public protest.
Observers will be invited to record their own views and impression during the event and video of what is expected to be a grueling 8 hours will be recorded for later Internet dissemination.
But let me share with you Tristan's own statement of intention, which will be placed front and center for all to view during the protest.
What you see before you is a demonstration against George Bush’s decision last month to keep Guantanamo Bay open. I’ve subjected myself to the treatment that the United States Department of Defense has deemed as “reasonable” and “not an infringement of any basic human rights”. I have been bound, by my own will, in a D.O.D.-approved “stress position” and have induced sensory deprivation by gagging and blindfolding myself and using two forms of hearing protection to block out any kind of ambient sound. I will remain bound in this position for 8 hours in protest of the unfair treatment detainees, fellow humans, by our government. Keep in mind that my demonstration will only last 8 hours but their torture sessions last up to 21 hours.
During these 8 hours I may lose and regain consciousness many times. I only ask that no one interfere with this demonstration for any reason.
For any concerned authority figures, I have sought and obtained permission from IUS Administrators to hold this peaceful protest in this specific area.
If my demonstration has moved you in any way, positive or negative, please record your thoughts in the notebook I have provided. The video being recorded will be time lapsed and posted on YouTube along with whatever comments I’ve collected in this notebook. Thank you, and remember that any one human’s struggle is every human’s struggle.
Tristan, at my urging, created his own OSticate presence; I'll do my best to chronicle these events, but will step aside if Tris elects to tell his own story. I invite all of you to join me in following his progress.
I warned him that his friends would be taking him to the hospital at the conclusion. While it is far from waterboarding or other tortures sanctioned by our government, it is, as he says, a D.O.D.-approved restraint, clearly designed to "soften up" prisoners, either for docile imprisonment or interrogation.
I have no personal experience of these types of things, but I'm overcome with admiration of this man's patriotism. Your comments are invited. I hope that by next Tuesday, the entire OS community will have been engaged. Please help to spread the word about this demonstration.
This is a new report, but I'd like to share all the OS comments made when this event was first announced.
I am concerned for his health and his safety. So I hope he or his friends are smart enough to have medical attention close by at all times. As you describe it this isn't something he does every day
or that his body is in any way accustomed to. As he describes it "...I may lose and regain consciousness many times. I only ask that no one interfere with this demonstration for any reason."
I think that is too much to ask of any compassionate person. I think that it would be grossly unreasonable to NOT help him if he were in life threatening distress. If he totally deprives himself of sensory and communicating capability how would he alert anyone that this isn't working? Likely he assumes that it will work and even if it didn't then he wouldn't stop it anyway. And it may be even harder to stop with a huge audience. It is a dangerous combination he has set up here. Passing in and out of consciousness is not something medically casual.
He is clearly passionate about this issue. His protest is patriotic and he is clearly brave. But he clearly thinks that nothing serious can go wrong. He could be very wrong about that. Frankly, I doubt very seriously that those who went through this at Gitmo all came out whole.
Please keep us informed and I pray he will be safe.
Monte
But I, too, am concerned.
Our next door neighbor was a German man and his wife. He had been captured by the Americans and held as a POW down South. Eleanor Roosevelt personally intervened to make sure that we treated our POWs with respect and protection. He was a prisoner here for 2 years yet immigrated with his wife because he respected and trusted us. We have lost so much honor and respect these past 8 years. I cannot imagine how we can recover from Guantanamo. I can't imagine what someone innocent who has been held there will do when they are released.
I now hear Bush saying that "it is an interesting question, given that we NOW know the Iraq intelligence was wrong, about whether we should have gone to war." He and his cronies made sure the intelligence was wrong to justify the war and now he's starting to quibble. Maybe he's worried about when he can't hide from anyone and everyone who disagrees with him. Then again, he can hole up in Crawford like the coward he is.
Mr. Canfield - I have thought on what could happen during those 8 hours, as far as my health is concerned. There is a safety precaution we are coming up with to ensure that I face no imminent danger. It consists of a kind of rhythmic beat I'll slap on the floor and it basically lets my friend know that it's time to stop. Of course, it isn't too complicated so that in any case of mental instability I can perform it and it isn't so easy that I may do it by mistake.
As far as a "training regiment" if you will, I've taken some time, each day that period of time growing longer, to train my body in the position which I'll be bound. I've also spent time lying on the floor blind folded and deafened by double hearing protection so that I can build up a tolerance to being alone with my own thoughts with no sensory distractions.
My only trouble may come from dehydration. I'll fast for 12 hours leading up to the 9 a.m. commencement to avoid the need for any bathroom breaks and then it will be 8 more hours with no water. I understand that I'll face dehydration so I've been drinking excessive amounts of water to build up the H2O in my cells and will continue to do so until next Monday. I'm no science major so I have no idea if this will benefit me in any way but it seems logical enough.
Thank you everyone, again, for getting behind me in this matter that means so much to me and my companions. We've decided to work on a piece that catalogs my thoughts leading up to, during, and the weeks following the demonstration and when that's ready for readers' eyes you'll all know.
Thanks again. Do good and avoid evil.
-Tristan
Whatever happens after those 8 hours is worth it to me if one person's eyes widen and mouth drops open...not at what I'm doing but the reasons for which I'm doing it.
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right now, it's only your country on election day. the rest of the time the pollies do as they please. guantanamo is not the worst of it, by any means. don't stop here.
Then I thought about the mothers of the men who were taken away from their homes, with no explanations to them or their families as to where they were being taken or why. I cannot fathom the horror these women must have experienced. Day and night wondering if their child was alive or dead. Not knowing if they would ever see them again. All the while their sons are being tortured by a country that supposedly swept into their country to "save them", but in reality they were merely shifted from a terror whose rules they understood to another terror who believes they are above the need to follow any rules. At that point, ladies and gentlemen, the defenders of Justice and fighters of terrorism became the terrorists.
Tristan, on the 9th when you reach that point where you no longer feel that you can take anymore either physically or mentally focus on the people that are supporting you and sending you strength and love and know that I am one of those people.
God Bless you.