Medea Benjamin's Blog, page 17

Judge hears DOJ motion to dismiss case of Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki

By Dooler Campbell & Allie Fry

U.S. drone strikes have killed four American citizens to date. The families of three of the victims are bringing a lawsuit against those responsible for the targeted killings, seeking accountability from the U.S. government. On September 30, 2011, a U.S. drone strike killed five people, including U.S. citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. On October 14, 2011, another strike murdered Al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son Abdulrahman. The Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU are representing plaintiffs Nasser Al-Awlaki, Anwar’s father and Abdulrahman’s grandfather, and Sarah Khan, mother of Samir Khan.

Codepink delegates met with Nasser Al-Awlaki in Yemen in June. In an interview with the delegates, Nasser expressed, “I’m not looking for compensation or anything else. I am looking for accountability. I want the American system of law to tell me at least why the American government killed my grandson.”

Yesterday, the Codepink DC staff helped fill the packed courtroom to hear the oral argument on the defendants’ motion to dismiss. It is imperative that the unconstitutionality of the U.S. government killing its citizens without due process (a violation of our 5th amendment rights) be addressed, but furthermore we cannot stand for extrajudicial killings with impunity, whether the victim is a citizen or noncitizen.

The court opened with the defense explaining its motion to dismiss the case. The Department of Justice is representing former CIA Director David Petraeus, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former Commander of Special Operations Command William McCraven, and Commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) Joseph Votel. The defense argued that this was a delicate matter of national security and was “outside the court’s confidence,” essentially arguing that the President’s kill lists are untouchable by the judicial branch of government. Judge Collyer did not seem pleased with the argument, asking where that logic ends and where the limits are for executive authority. The defense received a lesson from Judge Collyer in how checks and balances work among the three branches of government. She said, “The best thing about the US is that we are a country of law.” When the defense argued that the executive branch in this case is checked by Congress, Judge Collyer corrected him: “Congress cannot interpret law; that is what the courts are for.”

When pressed by Judge Collyer, the defense eventually implied that 16-year-old Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki was not their intended target, and that this was a tragic accident. Both the defense and the plaintiff agree that as a US citizen, Abdulrahman has 4th and 5th amendment rights. The difference is that the defense argues that AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force) against terrorists applies, making Abdulrahman collateral damage in a legitimate strike against terrorist targets. However, the CCR and ACLU argued that AUMF does not apply. This is not Afghanistan; we are not at war with Yemen, and this was outside the context of armed conflict. The defense argued that it is not up to the courts to judge imminent terrorist threats– a dangerous road for us to go down when it comes to executive authority in extrajudicial killings. This essentially strips someone of all rights if the executive branch deems that person an imminent threat (with no definition of the term “imminent,” of course).

Ultimately, we feel hopeful that the motion to dismiss will be denied, but for the wrong reasons. We do not feel sufficiently convinced that the courts care about Abdulrahman as an individual whose life was taken at the hands of the US government, but that the primary concern is the overreach of the executive authority. It appears that as long as the defense can explain what the limits are and where their argument of executive authority ends, and can explain how the killing of 16-year-old Abdulrahman fits within those limits, that the courts could be satisfied. But we, Americans with a conscience, will not be.

To follow the case and for more information, please visit http://www.ccrjustice.org/targetedkillings.

Dooler Campbell is the DC Office Coordinator and a graduate student at the School for International Training, getting their Master’s Degree in Social Justice.

Allie Fry is a junior at Knox College, studying Women and Gender Studies. She is interning in the CODEPINK DC office for the summer of 2013.

 

Call Congress: vote NO on $598.1 billion for drones, nukes and unconstitutional NSA spying

When Congress floats a defense spending bill for fiscal year 2014 that authorizes $598.1 billion in spending, we know that some of that money will be spent for drones that kill and terrorize civilians around the globe. Much of it will go to the manufacturers of weapon systems, or to private contractors who build facilities like the enormous base in Helmand, Afghanistan with the $34 million price tag, still empty and likely to be demolished.

Less well known is the fact that some of this funding will flow to the National Security Administration, the now notorious NSA, which uses it to spy on us all. Yes, the NSA is a Department of Defense program; it does not fall under Homeland Security, which is separately funded. Shocking revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden let us know that the NSA spends our tax dollars to collect and store data on communications from all U.S. citizens and people around the globe, the vast majority of whom are no threat to security, and none of whom have been officially notified that their privacy is thus violated. In fact, Homeland Security employees were recently warned that they would face disciplinary measures if they viewed a Washington Post article reporting on the NSA spying – on them, their families, and their neighbors.

The defense budget gobbles up more than half of the portion of the federal budget which is under the discretion of Congress to spend each year. (The non-discretionary budget contains two big programs – Social Security and Medicare – with their own dedicated sources of payroll tax revenue.) In fiscal year 2013, the Pentagon has recieved 57%, an enormous slice of the pie that dwarfs the slices for programs folks in the U.S. say they care most about: education, health care, jobs, environmental protection, and renewable energy. The President’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 stays the course, again allocating 57% — but the eventual size of the pie slice depends on Congress.

Really, the slice is even bigger than 57%. Nuclear weapons development falls largely under the Department of Energy’s budget, Veterans Administration costs are separately funded, and the NSA may very well have secret budgets for its projects that are so secret even Congress does not get to know about them.

One project we do know about: an NSA facility in Utah being constructed to hold vast amounts of surveilled data will cost taxpayers $2 billion to build, with $12 million allocated just for the infrastructure for 1.7 million gallons of water a day to cool down all those computers.

At what point will the U.S. taxpayers stand up and say enough? Sequester cuts are shutting down Head Start programs, cancer clinics for low-income people, and Meals on Wheels for elders. Schools are closing, student loan rates are doubling, and cities are going bankrupt.

Congress is supposed to represent the people. Your member of Congress needs to hear from you about your priorities for federal spending as he or she decides whether to vote for yet another gargantuan spending bill, HR 2937 Defense Appropriations of $598.1 billion. Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 today and tell your representative to bring our war dollars home and spend them on people’s real needs instead of drones, nukes, and unconstitutional NSA spying.

America’s Most Reasonable ‘Unreasonable Woman’ Drags Gitmo to Obama: Diane Wilson Exclusive

By Robert S. Becker

No one outdoes Texan Diane Wilson for unflinching, off-the-wall, over-the-fence, ingeniously brilliant protests. That insight struck me after a phone chat about her dramatic, face-to-face White House fence insurgency against relentless Guantanamo abuses. Then, for perspective, I asked her celebrated CODEPINK cohort to pinpoint Diane’s special gifts and activist standing.

“One of a kind,” says the anti-war group’s co-founder, Medea Benjamin, amazed how this “fearless, clairvoyant visionary” brings to every protest action an “enormous compassion” for those wronged by official powers. “She gets it,” Benjamin explained, “how separate parts are linked, intuitively connecting human suffering with key corporate, environmental, legal and political focal points.”

Consistent with hardscrabble, heartland origins – Pentecostal upbringing, mother of five, Native American grandfather, fourth-generation Gulf shrimper – Diane’s heart-felt pragmatism is liberated from both constraints of ideology or fear of bodily injury. Her first book, “An Unreasonable Woman,” sets forth her evolved wisdom: 1) “Prison doesn’t greatly bother me,” and 2) “Risking one’s life can be strangely liberating.”

Fortified with Convictions

Her moral driver, as CODEPINK co-founder, is simplicity itself: justice and empathy for the defenseless against hypocrisy. In action, Benjamin verifies, “Diane enters war zones more courageously than Marines armed to the teeth. Her legendary courage means she goes anywhere, fortified only with her convictions.”

Skeptical about high-falutin theories or defeatist planning, Diane uncorks a tactical tornado that unnerves, even disorients foes. “When you have no voice,” she once said, “no other way to get attention, you think outside the box.” Early on, this “accidental” activist rattled a gang of the nastiest Gulf plastics polluters, with hunger strikes, surveys tying carcinogenic spills with cancer outbursts, knowledge greater than plant managers, climbing a “secure” factory tower, even sacrificing her beloved fishing boat.

Spurred by Bhopal’s (India) deadliest of all environmental crimes, she managed to picket the fugitive CEO’s home, moving on to prisoners’ rights before challenging the Iraqi War kickoff by fence-sitting at the U.N. This past year called for more hunger strikes, confronting the Keystone XL pipeline, and today the moral and political calamity of keeping open a prison that mocks American justice. Along the way, her multiple arrests led to multiple, grimy imprisonments.

The Great Fence Insurgency

Naturally, as one who knows confinement first-hand, Diane figured, “Since Obama had neglected putting Guantanamo on his itinerary, we figured to bring Guantanamo abuses to Obama.” Literally, to his White House residence, to remind this high-sounding exec this accelerating flashpoint must be resolved.

 

Since no one invited the Texas visitor in – or her merry, intense band from CODEPINK – she invited herself, orange inmate jumpsuit and all, climbing over the White House fence. Her wobbly drop-in, alas, met guard dogs and machine-gun-packing security forces who mistook her good citizen mission by arresting her (D.C. trial later this month). Sometimes busy hosts just don’t know how to return southern hospitality.

Though met with skepticism, even CNN sneers about being crazy or rude, genuine patriots still dramatize messages by matching moral force with physical courage. Moral testimony doesn’t mandate brazen ideology, nor call for bloody rebellion. Like Martin Luther King or Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience,” Diane dramatizes conspicuous, human suffering caused by human blundering, whether environmental assaults, failed foreign wars, or perpetual confinement. Like our other great radicals, Diane looks no further than oft-forgotten July 4th ideals: freedom from abuse, equality before the law, neighborly support for the needy, and fair-dealing seasoned with mercy.

Are demands to free unjustly-held, colonial-prisoners not consistent with our Founders, insistent citizens must keep government honest, just as government must serve an honest citizenry? What bonds CODEPINK with Veterans for Peace and Witness Against Torture, and others, bridges them with heroic civil rights protesters whose love of country – and public service – are crowned now with national holidays. Talk about two Americas.

Testifying FOR America

Thus Diane, whose cheerful reasonableness is textured with southern grace, is obliged to call herself an “unreasonable woman,” even an “eco-outlaw.” Note the paradox, outlaw for justice. For the transcendent reason behind CODEPINK reinforces what Glenn Greenwald says about Edward Snowden: “He had not fallen out of love with America, only its government,” believing “America is a fundamentally good country. We have good people with good values who want to do the right thing.”

And Diane’s defiance, like Snowden’s, is not without great cost, forfeiting a house, a husband, a treasured boat, trucks and assets, and repeatedly her liberty. Right now, she’s rebuilding a small barn as residence. “To fight the worst of capitalism, you have to give up materialism,” she confirms, as fear of loss blocks our “duty as Americans to make it right and to correct these wrongs.” Ditto, fellow hunger striker, Elliott Adams, ex-Vietnam paratrooper, “I just can’t sit and enjoy my life when my country is doing such terrible things to these people.”

Compare this unpaid, heroic citizen band who risk all vs. the ever-wary, no-drama Obama. Here’s a military commander who smites any perceived, foreign security menace; who alone okays massive troop retreats when foolhardy wars implode; who oversees invasive spying and civilian-killing drone attacks –and who punishes “enemy combatants” without recourse. And yet, this administration in court defends extra-legal force-feeding of inmates that Obama’s own task force declared not dangerous. Two full years ago.

Such transparent contradictions leave non-violent patriots no choice but enact what the “audacity of now” means. How paltry a president who defers to rightwing Congressional bluster, mouthing “not yet,” “can’t do,” or “time isn’t right.” Reinforcing Diane’s fence insurgency, a federal judge this week exposed Obama’s empty chair, confirming his sole authority to halt “degrading, painful, humiliating” force-feeding and “restart the process of transferring detainees out of the facility.” Her blunt message: just do it.

The Living Slave Compound

Finally, interviewing Diane brought home how Guantanamo replays southern slave compounds ­– horrors once banned now sustained with federal (!) legal sanction. Like African slaves, prison inmates were/are not arraigned, let alone found guilty (even under onerous Patriot Acts), thus capture qualifies as arbitrary and malicious. Talk about being at the wrong place, wrong time. Like seized slaves, inmates are ruled by force, stripped of human rights, and demonstrably tortured.

Moreover, echoing the Emancipation Proclamation timing, inmate liberty won’t depend on just law or moral rights, even public opinion, but crass, political expedience, that is, when it suits the president.  In some ways, slaves had more options: escape, freedom up north or in Canada, even the ability to attack slavers and rebel. And one final irony: unlike plantation-enriching slave labor, “productivity” here still serves the Bush-Cheney war propaganda machine, Pentagon prison budgets, and Obama’s hawkish image (what, insurance against impeachment?).

What transcends all irony is a black president who imprisons Muslim detainees under slave conditions. Like President Lincoln, this commander-in-chief ends injustice with a signature, at least force-feeding (a depravity that escaped slave-holders). That force-feeding is depraved comes not just from Judge Kessler but scores of legal experts, hawkish senators (Feinstein), the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, NY Times’ editorials, even those radicals at the American Medical Association.

So, if or when detainees are released, will this lawless government apologize, or compensate them, for violating human dignity (theirs and ours), international law, American due process, and moral bedrocks of Judeo-Christian, western civilization?  So far, to hundreds already released, zero formal regrets.

Final Note: Diane’s intention was to rest atop the White House fence (a tactic she knew well), allowing much longer protest time before security intervenes. But upper body weakness (from 57 days privation) prevented this muscular ex-shrimper from pivoting, thus her awkward-looking, dangerous flop. Had she intended to reach the grass without injury, why not stop, turn, and climb down, feet first? That would have better protected this 64 year-old body. Yet, like another resourceful, unreasonable woman, Cleopatra, Diane proved “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale/Her infinite variety.”   

To experience more of Diane’s infinitely varied, wildly entertaining and heroic escapades, get her two marvelous books on a 25 year life of protest, joy, loss, gain, incarceration, and nervy, targeted, liberating breakouts.

Stand With Texas Women on July 15th

By Allie Fry

July 15 marks the National Day of Action for Abortion Rights. Events have sprung up nationwide to stand with Texas women, who have bravely mobilized to defend their autonomy.

Concerning the violence against women Texas Governor Rick Perry is attempting to enact, he said, “The louder they scream, the more we know we are getting something done.” So a job well done should leave thousands screaming for their rights?

We cannot underestimate how devastating this legislation could be. Concerning pregnancies that endanger women’s lives, Ana Mardoll, a feminist blogger, emphasizes how women with disabilities would be impacted by the proposed abortion restrictions. Mardoll writes that she and her husband have been trying to conceive, but the dangers to her health she could face from that pregnancy may not be apparent before the 20th week cutoff proposed by Texas legislators. She writes, “Which state can I flee to, if my life is in danger from a wanted pregnancy?”

Banning and restricting abortions solves nothing; rather it perpetuates violence against women. Legislation limiting women’s access to health care serves one purpose: to control women’s bodies. The hard fact is that abortions will happen no matter what laws are in place, but instead of at clinics, they’ll happen in back alleys, endangering the lives of women, especially women of color, women with disabilities, and women of lower socioeconomic status.

I had the opportunity to hear poet and activist, Sonya Renee Taylor speak at a Take Back the Night event. Her poem “What Women Deserve” responds to an anti-choice campaign that used the slogan “Women Deserve Better” [than abortion]. Sonya’s powerful words show how this anti-choice rhetoric misses the point entirely:

 “Women deserve better/ than backward governmental policies/ that don’t want to pay for welfare for kids,/ or healthcare for kids,/ or childcare for kids/… They don’t want to pay for shit/ but want to control the woman who’s having it.”

A pro-choice campaign, 1 in 3, publishes women’s stories about abortion in an attempt humanize the debate and strip away the stigma associated with abortion. I told a friend about the campaign and she responded in total disbelief. One in three women in the United States will have an abortion before the age of 45? Really? The answer is yes, and the most devastating thing about this statistic is that abortion is preventable.

Anti-choice campaigns want people to think of pro-choice activists as pro-abortion. To be pro-choice is to be pro-women’s empowerment. If Congress could shift its focus away from stripping women of their bodily autonomy to mandating comprehensive sex education, ensuring access to contraceptives as well as quality health care, child care, and education, and enacting laws that would criminalize, rather than protect, rapists, we would have a much less dramatic statistic.

Instead, we’re stuck teaching BIO 101 to white cis-male legislators and expending our precious activist energies on defending the basic right have ownership of our bodies.

If you are as justifiably terrified and angry as I am, please join CODEPINK DC, DC ISO, and other activists this Monday, July 15 at Lafayette Square at 8PM. We will be standing in solidarity with Texas in a symbolic action. If you’re not in DC, join or start a rally in your community.

RSVP and learn more here.

Allie Fry is a junior at Knox College studying Women and Gender Studies. She is interning in the CODEPINK DC office for the summer of 2013.

“The United States” vs. Bradley Manning

“The United States vs. Bradley Manning.” Instantly this framing infuriates me. Hearing the prosecution being referred to as the United States makes a mockery of a conveniently ignored truth and one of the foundational slogans here at CODEPINK, “Dissent is Patriotic!” Are we not all the United States? I, for one, do not recall signing on to this lawsuit and it is high time we all begin to play closer attention to how often our collective name is haphazardly being used to silence truth tellers. Members from the CODEPINK coalition, alongside other dedicated truth seekers and whistleblower supporters, have been attending the Bradley Manning trial since its conception. I have only had the honor of attending three trial days thus far (July 1st, 2nd, and 8th).

The 1st and 2nd marked the last two days of the prosecution case and it is no surprise that over the weekend defense attorney David Coombs filed motions to dismiss up to seven of the total 22 charges. I personally attribute this to the prosecution’s terrible argument and a lack of cohesive strategy. The stipulation read by the prosecution on the basis of aiding the enemy can be summed up in a nutshell, “Al Qaeda has been using the public internet since the 1990’s.” Of course Al Qaeda is on the internet, along with the vast majority of people and groups on this planet! If that is the best the “United States” can do to prove Manning aided the enemy (enough to land him in prison for a lifetime) maybe we should chalk it up as a win for the defense. It at least explains why Coombs has included the charge of aiding the enemy in his list for dismissal. It seems the prosecution has thrown the 22 charges at the wall with hopes that some will stick.

David Coombs is a wonderful human being and deserves a shout out. When the trial closes for the day he goes into the waiting room to meet with the people at the trial, thank them for attending, and have generally relaxed conversation with everyone present. It is remarkable how calm and amiable he is, on top of his notable way with words, despite the crushing pressure he is under from supporters and condemners alike.

Then of course, there are numerous closed sessions where classified information gets discussed and the public is kicked out. Due to the progression of the trial and the lack of a substantial prosecution case, I am left to believe that the information discussed has no real impact. But I guess we will never know! Oh the beauty of secret/privileged knowledge.

July 8th sparked a new energy in the courtroom, one that reminded us all of the genuine historical importance of this particular trial. Now that the defense is running the show, I expect more organization and better arguments all around. This shift already became noticeable as the defense took the floor. After all, it does not hurt that transparency and general truth are both on Manning’s side. For the first time the overflow trailer was full of people, many rocking their “truth” t-shirts and “Free Bradley Manning” stickers that Fort Meade so graciously let us keep on (post car search and general rudeness from the majority of the fort entrance security). Coombs began by showing the ‘Collateral Murder’ video Bradley gave to Wikileaks. Sighs, gasps, and general disgust could be heard audibly in the courtroom and the viewing trailer, the images reminding us all of the US military policies and actions that have normalized indiscriminate death and disconnected warfare to the point where soldiers are taunting the people on their screen to grab weapons so they have a reason to kill them. This is the truth that we can thank Bradley Manning for putting on trial.

An observant individual can walk into the blocked off location of the trial (and the base in general for that matter) and feel the emotion. I have spoken with people who are overwhelmed by Bradley’s courage and experiences to the point of tears. After my first day at the trial, I broke down uncontrollably, the solemnity completely overwhelming me. If supporters are feeling such depth in emotional response to the trial and embodying the intensity of solidarity to this degree, one can only imagine how Bradley Manning has felt every day for close to four years.

There is a trial being conducted in our name, one that is open to the public but not being recorded for outside viewing. Where are the people?? It has been nothing short of inspiring to meet the individuals who have flown or driven in from all over the country to pay tribute to Manning’s act of bravery and show him their love and support. But where is everyone else? I realize it is much easier to support from afar and for many it is not practical to leave work/daily responsibilities to attend the trial. So if that is the case, write him letters, do your research, connect with support networks, call the US Department of Defense (703.571.3343 then click 5) and use your voice. Bradley Manning has spent more than three years paying for his act of bravery, much of that time in solitary confinement and under terrible conditions with the threat of the most powerful imperialist in the world looming over him, all to give the public access to the reality of the atrocities being committed as a greater representation of ourselves and the nation we are tied to. Beyond that, Manning walks into the Fort Meade courtroom every day exuding professionalism and respect with his head held high. A small act of solidarity is the least we can do. The culture of whistleblowing is being defined before our eyes, especially in the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks and the seemingly never-ending manhunt that has followed. It is our responsibility to direct and control this undetermined (for now) shift to one we as a nation formed on dissent can be proud of instead of letting the “United States” do it for us.

For daily court updates and more information, visit bradleymanning.org. Do it. I am hearing now that Nathan Fuller, the witness from today, July 10th, spit some truth and blew it out of the water for the defense. Go check it out!

Jessika Seekatz will be entering her last year at San Diego State University this fall, studying Women’s Studies as well as International Security and Conflict Resolution. She is currently interning with CODEPINK in DC for Summer 2013. 

 

 

 

Open the Gates of Guantanamo

By Medea Benjamin

July 1 marks the first day in office for Clifford Sloan, newly appointed Guantanamo closure envoy. Shortly after his May address on counterterrorism, President Obama appointed to the Office of Guantanamo Closure in the State Department, a position that had been vacant since January. The appointment and reopening of the office is the only concrete step the President has taken concerning Guantanamo since his May speech. With over 100 of the 166 remaining prisoners on a hunger strike and over 40 being brutally force-fed, great hopes are being placed on Mr. Sloan to break the impasse.

A key first step in closing Guantanamo is releasing the 86 prisoners who have already been cleared for release. This is something the President can do by invoking the waiver system that Congress put in place. The Secretary of Defense must determine that risk of the detainees returning to militant groups is low and that the transfer is in the interest of national security, then notify Congress of the release 30 days in advance. So far, the Obama administration has never exercised this authority.

A particular problem in the transfer of cleared prisoners is the case of Yemen. Of the 86 cleared prisoners, 56 are Yemeni. President Obama banned the release of Yemeni prisoners in 2010 after a man trained by militants in Yemen attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound plane in 2009 with a bomb concealed in his underwear.

In his May speech, President Obama announced that he was lifting this self-imposed ban. Congress immediately tried to block the President by passing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Bill (NDAA) on June 14 that prohibits using Defense Department funds to transfer detainees to Yemen for one year. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Indiana), passed 236 to 188.

But it is not law, since it has not been passed by the Senate.

Instead, the Senate is trying to ease the way for the President to not only release the cleared prisoners, but close the entire prison. The Senate Armed Services Committee passed a bill on June 13 that would allow the Pentagon to send detainees to the United States for medical treatment, sustained detention, and prosecution. Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) inserted the provisions into the Senate version of the 2014 NDAA, and the Senate should be voting on it in the fall.

The senators most strongly opposed to the closure of Guantanamo include Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Bob Corker (R-TN), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL). In a press release, Senator Inhofe condemned the efforts to close Guantanamo as “letting the terrorists win.”

In a meeting with CODEPINK, Senator Levin’s chief of staff David Lyles suggested that activists focus on helping the bill pass the Senate. But he also emphasized that while all of these issues are being played out in Congress, we should not lose sight of the fact that the President still has the executive authority to transfer the detainees cleared for release and that we should pressure him to do so.

Activists throughout the US have been doing just that. Various petitions to the President have gathered more than 400,000 signatures.  The most prominent was signed by Lt. Colonel and former Chief Prosecutor at Guantanamo, Morris Davis, and promoted by Witness Against Torture.

People have rallied and held vigils in cities and towns, flooded the White House and Southern Command with phone calls and, by the hundreds, fasted in solidarity with the hunger strikers.  The faith community has called Guantanamo a deep moral wound, and 38 senior religious leaders sent the President and Congress a letter calling for the closure of Guantanamo.

Most dramatically, several U.S. citizens — among them military veterans — are now deep into open-ended fasts, risking their health and even their lives in their effort to see Guantanamo closed.  In a dramatic action at the White House on June 26, Diane Wilson, 57 days into her hunger strike, jumped over the White House fence. Twenty-two others, all dressed in orange jumpsuits, were also arrested by refusing to leave the White House fence.

Amnesty International and other organizations are lobbying senators who are on the fence about closing Guantanamo. CODEPINK (link) is collecting signatures to hand-deliver to the new envoy Clifford Sloan (link). Witness Against Torture is recruiting new people to join the US solidarity hunger strike. And CloseGitmo.net is keeping people up-to-date on activism around the country.

“Guantanamo has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law,” President Obama said. With the hunger strike reaching 150 days on July 6, the lives of these prisoners—along with our nation’s reputation, hangs in the balance.

 

Medea Benjamin is co-found of codepink.org and globalexchange.org. She is the author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.

Whistleblowers are the Nation’s Conscience

By Allie Fry

Before starting my internship with CODEPINK, I knew very little about Bradley Manning. What I did know about whistleblowing concerned the Stuebenville rape case.

Anonymous, a “hacktivist” group, was responsible for leaking the names of the Steubenville rapists, fueling necessary (and long overdue) national dialogue about rape culture. The rapists sexually assaulted a young girl and then proceeded to tweet, share photos, and create a video mocking and humiliating her. Anonymous also exposed the role the rapists’ football coach played in covering up their crime. The rapists and their co-conspirators essentially sealed their guilt via social media. Astonishingly, the rapists received a maximum of two years, and the high school renewed and extended their coach’s contract. Meanwhile, Deric Lostutter, after revealing himself as the hacker responsible for the leak, faces up to ten years in prison.

Lostutter, like Manning, should be lauded for his efforts to bring criminals to justice and combat a culture that fosters ignorance and apathy.  Instead, we bring these whistleblowers to trial and let the criminals go virtually unchallenged.

Bradley Manning exposed war crimes, such as the airstrike in Iraq that killed unarmed civilians, including two journalists. Manning’s heroic actions earned him ten months of solitary confinement in conditions the UN would categorize as torture. His trial, which began June 3, marks a crucial moment in U.S. history. Are we a nation that penalizes the individuals who are the very conscience of our country? Are we a nation obsessed with incarceration to support our prison-industrial complex? Or are we a nation that can recognize injustice and put war criminals and rapists behind bars instead of people with low socioeconomic status, people of color, and whistleblowers?

Manning has not endangered our safety but has challenged our ignorance-is-bliss attitude. So it seems a spectacular waste of time to bring Manning to trial while war criminals go free. While I will join CODEPINK in bearing witness to the brokenness of our justice system and showing solidarity with Manning, I am eager for the day when we will attend the trials of the war criminals that Manning exposed.

Allie Fry is a junior at Knox College studying Women and Gender Studies. She is interning in the CODEPINK DC office for the summer of 2013.

US Mayors Call For No Nukes, War Dollars Home

 

The US Conference of Mayors holds an annual meeting to guide federal policy decisions that affect people living in the nation’s cities. Mayors know firsthand the effects of sequestration and other budget cuts to essential services and programs that result from obscenely high levels of military spending. If you count all the nuclear programs funded under the Dept. of Energy rather than through the Pentagon, the share of federal discretionary spending on military is even higher than 57%.
If only Congress and the Obama administration listened to constituents instead of campaign contributors.
Here is the text of the great Mayors for Peace resolution that was unanimously adopted at the conference (PDF).
CALLING FOR U.S. LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND REDIRECTION OF MILITARY SPENDING TO DOMESTIC NEEDS
WHEREAS, in April 2009, President Barack Obama declared in Prague, “as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it. So today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons” and

WHEREAS, in November 2012, the United Nations General Assembly established a working group open to all member states “to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons,” and scheduled for September 26, 2013, the first ever summit-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to nuclear disarmament; and
WHEREAS, adherence to the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons commits each State Party “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament”; and the U.S. Conference of Mayors has regularly adopted resolutions since 2004 calling for the commencement of comprehensive nuclear disarmament negotiations, as put forth by the UN Secretary General in his “Five Point Proposal,” to be concluded and implemented by 2020, as proposed by Mayors for Peace; and
WHEREAS, an historic conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, hosted in Oslo in March 2013 by the government of Norway and attended by representatives of 127 states, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and civil society, including Mayors for Peace, highlighted three key points relevant to mayors as first responders:
“It is unlikely that any state or international body could address the immediate humanitarian emergency caused by a nuclear weapon detonation in an adequate manner and provide sufficient assistance to those affected.

The historical experience from the use and testing of nuclear weapons has demonstrated their devastating immediate and long-term effects. While political circumstances have changed, the destructive potential of nuclear weapons remains.

The effects of a nuclear weapon detonation, irrespective of cause, will not be constrained by national borders, and will affect states and people in significant ways, regionally as well as globally”; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its deep concern that both the May session of the new UN disarmament working group and the Oslo Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons took place without the participation of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, including the United States; and WHEREAS, nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the end of the Cold War, yet an estimated 17,300 nuclear weapons, 94% of them in the possession of the United States and Russia, continue to pose an intolerable threat to humanity; and
WHEREAS, the threatened first use of nuclear weapons remains at the heart of U.S. and Russian national security policies, and nuclear tensions in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and on the Korean peninsula remind us that the potential for nuclear war is ever present; and
WHEREAS, the Administration’s FY 2014 budget request of $7.87 billion for Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons Activities represents an increase of nine percent above the 2012 enacted level – in inflation-adjusted dollars, the highest amount ever, and funds increases for nuclear weapon life extension programs that will result in upgrades to missile and bomber-based warheads, construction of a new uranium processing facility, tritium production and plutonium manufacturing and experimentation, and other programs to sustain the existing stockpile; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Defense has requested an additional $12 billion in FY 2014 to maintain and modernize nuclear weapons delivery systems including a new nuclear–capable heavy bomber, development of a replacement Ohio class submarine by 2031, and extension of the service life of the nation’s 450 Minuteman 3 ICBMs or their replacement in coming decades with new nuclear-armed ballistic missiles; and
WHEREAS, the Air Force plans to spend more than $1 billion over the next six years to develop a guided tail kit to increase the accuracy of the B61 nuclear bomb, and the Pentagon plans to spend a total estimated at more than $336 billion on the new F-35 joint strike fighter, a variant of which will be mated with the more accurate guided B61 bomb based at NATO bases in Europe,
significantly increasing the capability of the non-strategic U.S. nuclear force, and making it more difficult for the Russian military to accept reductions of its own inventory of non-strategic nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS, the Administration’s budget request calls for a 23 percent increase for nuclear weapons research, manufacturing and maintenance over the next five years; and
WHEREAS, nuclear weapons spending is emblematic of Pentagon spending, which has grown by 50% in real dollars in the last 12 years, not including war spending, and nearly all of the “cuts” up for debate are only reductions in the growth rate; and
WHEREAS, in 2012, during a time of continuing domestic financial hardship, the U.S. spent $682 billion on its military, as much as the next 11 top spenders combined, accounting for nearly two-fifths of the world total; and

WHEREAS, our nation’s deep economic crisis can only be addressed by adopting new priorities to create a sustainable economy for the 21st century; and

WHEREAS, as the country was coming out of a long recession, the budget sequester enacted in March is imperiling the economic recovery in cities, with cuts to federal programs such as Community Block Development Grants, Section 8 Housing Vouchers, and Head Start forcing cities, local agencies and non-profits to lay off staff, reduce or eliminate services, delay infrastructure projects and reduce program benefits to low and moderate income families; and

WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace membership has surpassed 5,600 member cities in 156 countries, speaking on behalf of more than one billion citizens, and is approaching 200 U.S. members; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted resolutions in 2010, 2011 and 2012 calling for deep cuts in nuclear weapons spending and redirection of those funds to meet the needs of cities, and adopted an additional resolution in 2011, “Calling on Congress to Redirect Military Spending to Domestic Needs”;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on President Obama to reaffirm his determination, expressed in Prague, to achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons by speaking at the High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament on September 26, 2013 and endorsing the UN Secretary-General’s Five Point Proposal on Nuclear Disarmament; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. government to demonstrate good faith by participating in the August session of the UN disarmament working group by helping “to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons,” and by supporting extension of the working group’s mandate beyond 2013; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. government to demonstrate good faith by participating in the follow-on conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons to be hosted by Mexico in early 2014; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the President and Congress to reduce funding for modernization of nuclear weapons systems, to reduce nuclear weapons spending to the minimum necessary to assure the safety and security of the existing weapons as they await disablement and dismantlement, and redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the President and Congress to reduce military spending and to reinvest those funds in programs to address the dramatic increase in poverty and inequality in our country; take emergency measures to repair the social safety net and protect Social Security and Medicare; create jobs, retrain displaced workers, including military contractors, rebuild deteriorating physical infrastructure, invest in new technologies for a sustainable energy future, and aid local government to restore and maintain vital public services, reemploying teachers, police, firefighters and other workers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its continuing support for and cooperation with Mayors for Peace

SPONSORS
Resolution No. 56, Submitted by: The Honorable Donald L. Plusquellic, Mayor of Akron (OH); The Honorable Ed Pawlowski, Mayor of Allentown (PA); The Honorable John Hieftje, Mayor of Ann Arbor (MI); The Honorable Tom Bates, Mayor of Berkeley (CA); The Honorable Matthew T. Ryan, Mayor of Binghamton (NY); The Honorable Henrietta Davis, Mayor of Cambridge (MA); The Honorable Mark Kleinschmidt, Mayor of Chapel Hill (NC); The Honorable Satyendra Singh Huja, Mayor of Charlottesville (VA); The Honorable Franklin T. Cownie, Mayor of Des Moines (IA); The Honorable Michael A. Tautznik, Mayor of Easthampton (MA); The Honorable Kitty Piercy, Mayor of Eugene (OR); The Honorable Ed Malloy, Mayor of Fairfield (IA); The Honorable Joy Cooper, Mayor of Hallandale Beach (FL); The Honorable Alex Morse, Mayor of Holyoke (MA); The Honorable Mark Stodola, Mayor of Little Rock, (AR); The Honorable Paul Soglin, Mayor of Madison (WI); The Honorable John Stefano, Mayor of New Haven (CT); The Honorable David J. Narkewicz, Mayor of Northampton, MA; The Honorable Chris Koos, Mayor of Normal (IL); The Honorable Frank Ortis, Mayor of Pembroke Pines (FL); The Honorable Michael Brennan, Mayor of Portland (ME); The Honorable Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Richmond (CA); The Honorable Ardell Brede, Mayor of Rochester (MN); The Honorable Stephen Cassidy, Mayor of San Leandro (CA); The Honorable Helene Schneider, Mayor of Santa Barbara (CA); The Honorable Bruce R Williams, Mayor, Takoma Park (MD); The Honorable Neal King, Mayor of Taos Ski Valley (NM); The Honorable Richard D. Schneider, Mayor of South Pasadena (CA); The Honorable Laurel Lunt Prussing, Mayor of Urbana (IL); The Honorable Geraldine Muoio, Mayor of West Palm Beach (FL).

For Yemenis, US Refusal to Release Gitmo Prisoners is a National Offense

By Medea Benjamin

“In Yemen we are close to the bottom in all kinds of measures like income and education, but there’s one statistic where we come out on top: the number of prisoners in Guantanamo,” laughed Mohammad Naji Allaw, a successful Yemeni lawyer who ploughs his firm’s profits into the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms. “Over 90 of 166 Guantanamo prisoners are from Yemen. Most of them, 56 to be exact, have already been cleared by the US government for release but the US government still won’t send them back.”

Our American peace delegation spent the week in Yemen meeting with lawyers, human rights activists, government officials and most importantly, families with loved ones in Guantanamo.

While we were visiting, Congress passed an amendment saying that no US military funds could be used to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo back to Yemen. The families and Yemeni officials we met were outraged. “You mean that after detaining Yemenis for over 11 years without charges and trials, refusing to release even those prisoners who have been cleared of all wrongdoing, forcing them to starve themselves to call attention to their plight, you’re saying that Congress is going to make it even harder to send them home?,” they asked us. “How can this be?”

How could we explain this to the mother of Abdulhakeem Ghaleeb, who hasn’t seen her son since he was 17 years old in 2002, a mother who can’t eat a meal in peace, knowing that her son has been on a hunger strike since February 6 and is now so weak he can’t speak? How can we explain this to 12-year-old Awda, who was in her mother’s womb when her father Abdulrahman Al Shubati was carted off to the island gulag, and here she was, holding his picture with tears streaming down her cheeks? What could we say to Ameena Yehya, whose brother had been sending home letters with beautiful drawings of flowers and scenes from their village, but stopped even writing five years ago because he is too hopeless to lift his pen? Or to Ali Mohammed, who said that on video call arranged every two months with the Red Cross he barely recognized his brother—a lifeless skeleton with sunken eyes and a big, inflated nose from where the feeding tube is forced down his nostrils?

We couldn’t bear to tell them the truth: that their sons, husbands, fathers and brothers are simply pawns in the US game of politics where one party is always trying to “out hawk” the other, where concern about winning the next election far eclipses any respect for the rights of the prisoners. And we didn’t have the heart to tell them that most American have become so consumed by fear after 9/11 that they think that holding these prisoners in Guantanamo indefinitely somehow makes them safer?

So instead we hugged and cried together. Our delegation explained that we are totally opposed to this cruel policy. We told them that over 300,000 Americans have signed petitions calling for Guantanamo to be closed. We talked about Americans like CODEPINK co-founder Diane Wilson and Veterans for Peace Elliott Adams who are risking their own lives on a long-term solidarity hunger strike—Diane since May 1 and Elliott since May 17. We showed them photos of our protests outside the White House. I mentioned that I even interrupted President Obama’s national security speech on May 23, demanding that he take action to release the 86 prisoners cleared for release. But gnawing constantly on our minds was the fact that we are just not doing enough, not caring enough, not creative enough, not strategic enough to force a change in policy.

In 2009, President Obama had cleared 56 Yemenis for transfer home, 26 immediately with 30 others to follow. But days after Christmas Day attempt to bomb an aircraft as it was landing in Detroit, Obama placed a moratorium on the transfer of Yemeni detainees. The would-be bomber, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, who had hidden plastic explosives in his underwear, told U.S. investigators that he’d been recruited for the mission in Yemen by Anwar al Awlaki, the US-born cleric who was later killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

Human Rights Minister Hooria Mashoohouras heard US officials say that Yemeni government is not stable enough or strong enough to make sure the released prisoners don’t take up arms against America. They have told her that even if some of the prisoners were totally innocent and unjustly imprisoned, now—after 11 years behind bars—they probably hate the US so much that they’ll want revenge. In our meeting with Mashoohourshe threw up her arms in exasperation. “So you abuse these men and then you keep abusing them because they might hate you for your abuse? Is that the way the US justice system works?,” she asked.

Mashhour said the Yemeni government has already agreed to assign 10 government ministries to monitor repatriated detainees to ensure they don’t threaten the United States. The returnees, she said, would receive counseling, job training and other aid. She also explained how she went to Washington DC in May to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to release the cleared Yemeni prisoners, but left empty handed, complaining that she was never received at the White House.

Now the US government is setting up another obstacle: it wants Yemen to set up a rehabilitation center, but it has not committed money to fund it. Many people we talked to in Yemen believe the US government should not only fund the rehabilitation center, as this is a problem that the US created and Yemen has no money, but that it should also compensate the prisoners who have been wrongly imprisoned.

Instead, the US Congress is trying to cut off funds that could even be used to send the prisoners home. The Congressional amendment passed on June 14 is designed just for Yemen, prohibiting Department of Defense funds from being used to repatriate Yemenis. This doesn’t become law unless it is passed by the Senate and signed by the president. So there’s still time to stop it.

When we spoke about this amendment to Nadia Sakkof, an extraordinarily talented young women who is one of the key organizers of the National Dialogue Committee, she sprung into action. “Excuse me,” she apologized, running over to her computer, “but this is simply unacceptable and I must do something about this right now.” She fired off a message of outrage to her contacts in the U.S. Congress and wrote a letter to her colleagues at the National Dialogue Committee, asking them to join her in complaining to the US government about this new affront. By the end of the next day, 136 members of the National Dialogue had signed on and she had delivered the letter to the US Ambassador.

The following day, June 17, we planned the first-ever protest of Yemenis and Americans outside the US Embassy in Sanaa. Our 7-person delegation arrived at 10 am, thinking that perhaps a few dozen Yemenis would join us. After all, it was a weekend, the place was hard to get to, and they had very little notice in advance.

We waited, we heard a commotion. Marching up with street, in bright orange jumpsuits, were several hundred Yemeni families and their supporters. They were chanting “Freedom, freedom, where are you? Human rights, human rights, where are you?”

After the chants and speeches, we brought out a letter to send to President Obama, via the Embassy, in the name of our delegation and the Yemenis. One by one, starting with the women, the Yemenis came up to sign the letter. The ones who couldn’t write stamped their fingerprints. Even the children signed. The guards allowed a few of us to cross the barricades so we could deliver the letter to an Embassy representative. We also reiterated to the Embassy staff that earlier in the week, Ambassador Gerald Feierstein had promised to us he would meet with some of the families, and we hoped he would fulfill that promise.

At the end of the rally, we visited the National Dialogue Committee, which has been meeting for several months to co-build the foundations for a more democratic, peaceful nation. We brought orange ribbons for delegates to wear as armbands to show support for the Guantanamo prisoners. Even the security guards and reporters wanted to wear them. The 300 armbands we had quickly disappeared, with people asking for more. The support for the prisoners among the different political parties and independents at the National Dialogue is nearly universal. They say the refusal of the administration to release the Yemenis is an affront to the nation’s pride.

Attorney Mohammad Naji Allaw told us he has lost faith in Obama but he still has faith in the American people. We must work together to turn a noble page in American history. These prisoners are nearing death; time is running out. Please, go back and tell your friends in America that these are real human beings with real families, all of whom are suffering every day. The American people must do more to stop this.”

Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of www.codepink.org and www.globalexchange.org. She is the author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.

CODEPINK Delegation to Yemen-Day 2

by Jodie Evans

CODEPINK Peace Delegation in Sana’a, Yemen with family members of prisoners extra-judicially detained at Guantanamo Bay.

Medea arrived at 2 a.m and joined us on the beautiful rooftop of Burj al Salam hotel.  Over breakfast, we contemplated our itinerary, at every hour, at opposite sides of Sana’a, we were scheduled for a meeting. We decided we had to split up.  Bob Naiman of Just Foreign Policy, Terry Rockefeller of 9/11 families for Peaceful Tomorrows and I chose to go to the US Ambassador meeting while the other three, Medea Benjamin and Tighe Barry of CODEPINK and Pam Bailey, an independent journalist, went off to meet with Prime Minister Basindwa and Human Rights Minister Hooria Mashhour.  The other team were greeted by Yemen media when they arrived at the Prime Minister’s house, they were excited to see U.S. Peace Activists .

12 P.M., U.S. Embassy, Sana’a, Yemen:

We sat down on the couches outside the offices and near a table set for 40 guests, waiting to be called in. Ambassador Gerald M. Feierstein’s delightful Information Officer told us we have an hour with the Ambassador because at one o’clock he was hosting a luncheon. It was noon.

The Ambassador comes in, greets us warmly and we launch into introductions. Bob tells Ambassador Feierstein he is key to the issues we had come to Yemen about. The Ambassador responds with “I am not key”. But since we’ve arrived, we’ve heard from numerous people that he is the puppet pulling all the strings. They’ve even nicknamed him “Sheikh Feierstein” for his strong interference and influence in the decision-making process, but apparently “Sheikh Feierstein” didn’t think so.  It reminded me of my visit to the White House with the 300,000 signatures that demanded Obama to send the prisoners cleared for release from Guantanamo back home.  They all play that same tune of “who me, I have no power around here.”

We open the topic of Guantanamo and he tells us that McCain had just visited a few weeks ago showing his support for closing Guantanamo and releasing the prisoners. And that the Saudi’s had just been in town as well to discuss the “model” system they have created for reintegrating Guantanamo prisoners and it sounded like funding for the reintegration program in Yemen was underway. He said “it was the Saudi’s program that would give the US citizen’s confidence the prisoners wouldn’t go back to doing what they were before.”  Forgetting, I assume, that they were cleared for release for no wrongdoing since 2007.  But his monologue was going at a clip, and I didn’t want to interrupt.

I perked up when he said, “Solution to violent extremism is not drones, they will not end the threat.  The solution to violent extremism is economic and social development.”   WOW.  Why don’t their behaviors match what they know to be true?  He continues, “It is far better to have Yemeni’s take on the challenges than the U.S..”  But what he says is not matching his actions.

When we started getting into the discussion of drone strikes, our information just did not match and it reminded me of the layers of blindness and disconnect that happen to people in power, especially one like the Ambassador who lives behind walls.  He didn’t believe that there were any drone strike mistakes in Yemen and he refused to acknowledge something that everyone knows to be true, that children had been killed and that drone strikes contribute to the growing and strengthening of AQAP.  What the Ambassador was claiming, differed significantly from what we heard the day before by those who are impacted directly by it and who work on these issues.  When I mentioned UNICEF has even set up a fund to support and provide drone survivors with medical treatment in Jordan,  he looked shocked.

Ambassador Fierstein  goes on to say, casualties caused by U.S. drone strikes have been exaggerated by the US media, but of course fails to mention the Al-Qaeda exaggeration in Yemen.  Yemen Polling Center, an independent think-tank in Sana’a, recently published their research “Perceptions of the Security Sector”, and they found that on the list of the 10 greatest security threats, AQAP wasn’t one. But Fierstein and the Obama administration refuse to listen to the Yemeni people and are instead, deciding for the Yemeni people what their biggest threat is. Using that to justify the lethal program and further militarization.

CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans with two little girls whose uncle is imprisoned in Guantanamo. Photo Credit: Pam Bailey

The meeting continued for over two hours and the sounds of the attendees coming for lunch began to grow louder. The guests were waiting patiently to be seated.  As we wrapped up our meeting, we secured three promises with the Ambassador.  An answer about the policy around drones strikes in Yemen, so Bob can report about it.  A meeting with the family members of Guantanamo prisoners, and a meeting with those working on reintegration and rehabilitation for members of Al-Qaeda.  Right before leaving, I asked one quick question to the Ambassador, “What were your thoughts on Dirty Wars?”, I asked.  He looked back, blank faced and then over to his information officer, who says. “Jeremy Scahill”.. “Ah, I won’t watch anything Jeremy did, he is too ideological.” responds the Ambassador.  As they begin to show us out the door,  I suggested to the Ambassador that he consider watching it, since Yemen has a big role in the film.  His information officer agrees to do a screening, if I get him a DVD.

We left pleased with what we learned and what was promised to 5 hours of testimonies by the Guantanamo families that were heartbreaking. You can follow a bit of it on my twitter @MsJodieEvans.  At the end of the testimonies the families agreed to meet with the U.S. Ambassador next week and the rest of the supporters would be outside the U.S. Embassy in a vigil.  Already human rights and activist groups are signing on to join us.  I end the day shocked that it took a few people coming from the US to connect these family members who have been suffering for 12 years to the US representative in Yemen, they have never been heard by a US Ambassador.  I go to bed hopeful that with a collective effort, we can make this happen.  They were so happy to have told their stories to us today, imagine what it will do to be finally heard by a US official.  Their hearts were pouring out with grief.

One of the most heartbreaking things I learned is that they are outcasts here in Yemen because they have a relative in GITMO.  There is this belief that if the prisoners are languishing in Guantanamo Prison, they must be a terrorist. With so much stigma attached to Guantanamo, relatives in Yemen are deeply marginalized. The young girl can’t go to school, sisters have been divorced by their husbands, parents have died from heartbreak, lives have been totally broken.  It was very hard to sit through the stories.  But in the end, the joy of being a listener gave them and us hope.

Tomorrow we meet with more families.  We are filming their stories to create a 30 minute show for LinkTV. Oh dear 1am.

p.s. because there is sketchy electricity this is getting posted a day late, but I add a cause for celebration.  The Ambassador’s office HAS committed to the meeting before Ramadan which starts Tuesday the 9th of July.  Yippeeeee!