Andy Worthington's Blog

Senate Passes Bill to Help Close Guan... Save the NHS: Demonstrate in London t...

Andy Worthington: An Archive of Guantánamo Articles, Other Writing and Photos – Part 13, July to December 2012

Please support my work!

Next March it will be eight years since I gave my life over to chronicling Guantánamo and the 779 men (and boys) held there, and campaigning to get the prison closed. I did this initially through my book The Guantánamo Files, and, for the last six and a half years, I have continued to seek the prison’s closure — and to educate people about the men held there and the lies told in the “war on terror” — as a full-time independent investigative journalist.

Nearly four years ago, I began to put together chronological lists of all my articles, in the hope that doing so would make it as easy as possible for readers and researchers to navigate my work — the 2100 articles and pages I have published since May 2007. Unfortunately, I have found it difficult to keep up to date with this project for the last two years, hence this belated entry covering all the articles I wrote from July to December 2012.

In this period, as well as relentlessly covering Guantánamo, I continued to be involved in campaigning to resist the age of austerity cynically introduced by the Tory-led government here in the UK, which is being used to wage a disgusting and disgraceful civil war against the poor, the unemployed and the disabled, and whose main aim being to almost entirely destroy the state provision of services. In the period covered in this article, my previous efforts to save the NHS from privatisation fed into a campaign even closer to home, as the government and senior NHS managers proposed to severely cut services at Lewisham Hospital, my local hospital in south east London, to pay for the debts of a neighbouring NHS trust that had got into financial difficulties — in part because of ruinous private finance (PFI) deals, providing unjustifiable profits to private companies building hospitals for the government.

It was also in this period that a side line to my writing — cycling around London and taking photos for a huge archive recording the city at this difficult time in its history — began. This took up much of my time, as the 77 photo sets available here reveal, although this year, even though I continue to cycle and record London on an almost daily basis — for health reasons, and to satisfy my curiosity — I haven’t been publishing many photos here (via my Flickr account), and have, instead, been building up an archive for a new website, “The State of London,” that I will be launching soon. I continue to post protest photos, and it’s an aspect of my work that, I have found, complements my writing.

As with most of my work today, the majority of the 89 articles I wrote in this period were made available without any financial backing, an exercise in reader-funded journalism that has only been made possible through the generosity of you, my readers and supporters. If you want to donate to help me to keep working as an independent researcher and commentator, please click on the “Donate” button above. All donations are welcome.

As I explained last month when I published the list of articles I wrote between January and June 2012:

I hope this archive is more than a largely pointless exercise in nostalgia, and that it will be of some use. On Guantánamo, my intention all along has been to puncture the Bush administration’s propaganda about the prison holding “the worst of the worst” by telling the prisoners’ stories and bringing them to life as human beings, rather than allowing them to remain as dehumanized scapegoats or bogeymen.

This has involved demonstrating that the majority of the prisoners were either innocent men, seized by the US military’s allies at a time when bounty payments were widespread, or recruits for the Taliban, who had been encouraged by supporters in their homelands to help the Taliban in a long-running inter-Muslim civil war (with the Northern Alliance), which began long before the 9/11 attacks and, for the most part, had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or international terrorism.

As I explained in the introduction to my four-part Definitive Prisoner List (updated in April 2012, I remain convinced, through detailed research, through comments from insiders with knowledge of Guantánamo, and, most recently, through an analysis of classified military documents released by WikiLeaks, that “at least 93 percent of the 779 men and boys imprisoned in total” had no involvement with terrorism.

The articles I wrote — and the photos I published — between July and December 2012 are listed below, separated into three categories: articles about Guantánamo, articles about British politics, and photos. I hope you find the list useful.

An archive of Guantánamo articles: Part 13, July to December 2012

July 2012

1. Drone attacks, Guantánamo: In Appeal for Moral Leadership, Jimmy Carter Calls for an End to Drone Attacks and the Closure of Guantánamo

2. Kuwaitis in Guantánamo: My Photos on Flickr: Visiting Kuwait to Campaign for the Last Two Kuwaiti Prisoners in Guantánamo

3. Extradition: Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad: “Extradition” Film Screenings in London, and an Appeal to the European Court of Human Rights

4. Afghans in Guantánamo: US in Talks to Return the 17 Afghan Prisoners in Guantánamo

5. Omar Khadr: Andy Worthington Speaks at Screening of Omar Khadr Film, “You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo,” at Amnesty International, London, July 12

6. Omar Khadr: Bring Omar Khadr Home from Guantánamo: Please Sign the Petition to the Canadian Government

7. Medical abuse at Guantánamo: Pentagon Report into the Drugging of Guantánamo Prisoners Is Released

8. Ibrahim al-Qosi, prisoners released from Guantánamo: US Honors Deal to Release Convicted Bin Laden Cook from Guantánamo to Sudan; 87 Cleared Men Still Await Release

9. Omar Khadr: Free Omar Khadr from Guantánamo! Please Support Senator Roméo Dallaire’s Campaign

10. Extradition: Six Years without Charge or Trial: An Evening of Poetry, Film and Tributes to Talha Ahsan in London, July 19

11. Drone attacks: Families of US Citizens Killed in Drone Attacks in Yemen Take Obama Officials to Court

12. Bagram: Bagram: Still a Black Hole for Foreign Prisoners

13. Guantánamo campaigns: For Ramadan, Write to the Forgotten Prisoners in Guantánamo

14. Close Guantánamo: At Guantánamo, Another Bleak Ramadan for 87 Cleared Prisoners Who Are Still Held

15. Bagram, radio interviews: I’m Off to WOMAD, Back on Monday: Please Listen to Me Discussing Bagram on the Radio with Scott Horton

16. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, military commissions: Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri: The Torture Victim the US Is Desperate to Gag

August 2012

17. Torture: On the 10th Anniversary of Yoo and Bybee’s “Torture Memos,” Col. Morris Davis Reminds Americans About Justice and the Law

18. Torture: Ten Years of Torture: Marking the 10th Anniversary of John Yoo’s “Torture Memos”

19. Shaker Aamer: Close Guantánamo: A Reminder of Why We Demand the Prison’s Closure, and a Call for Support for Shaker Aamer

September 2012

20. Guantánamo, 9/11: Eleven Years After 9/11, Guantánamo Is A Political Prison

21. Guantánamo, 9/11, Bagram, radio: Andy Worthington Discusses Bagram on the BBC World Service, and 9/11 and Guantánamo with Scott Horton

22. Close Guantánamo, 9/11: A Call for 90 Men to be Freed from Guantánamo on the 11th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks

23. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: Lawyers for Adnan Latif, the Latest Prisoner to Die at Guantánamo, Issue A Statement

24. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: A Premonition of Death at Guantánamo: Adnan Latif’s Hunger Strike Poem

25. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: Obama, the Courts and Congress Are All Responsible for the Latest Death at Guantánamo

26. Omar Khadr: Video: On Omar Khadr’s 26th Birthday, Supporters Call for his Return to Canada from Guantánamo

27. Aafia Siddiqui: Andy Worthington Speaks at Event in London Marking Two Years Since Aafia Siddiqui’s Barbaric 86-Year Sentence

28. National Defense Authorization Act: Why Does the Government So Desperately Want Indefinite Detention for Terror Suspects?

29. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo, Omar Khadr, Nabil Hadjarab:
30. Aafia Siddiqui, Guantánamo: Video: Andy Worthington Discusses the Horrors of Guantánamo at Aafia Siddiqui Protest in London

31. Guantánamo media:

October 2012

32. Video, extradition: Video: The Great Extradition Swindle

33. Omar Khadr, prisoners released from Guantánamo: Finally, Omar Khadr Leaves Guantánamo and Returns to Canada

34. Guantánamo media: Andy Worthington and Omar Deghayes Speak about Guantánamo at Peace Conference in Sheffield on October 5, 2012

35. Guantánamo, torture, Presidential election: In US Election, No Time for Guantánamo, But Torture Rears Its Ugly Head

36. Shaker Aamer: EXCLUSIVE: A Demand for “Freedom and Justice” from Shaker Aamer in Guantánamo

37. Extradition: America’s Extradition Problem

38. Video, Shaker Aamer: Video: Andy Worthington Asks Supporters to Sign UK Petition Calling for the Release of Shaker Aamer from Guantánamo

39. “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo”: “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo”: Amnesty Screening in Lewes with Andy Worthington, Omar Deghayes, Caroline Lucas and Norman Baker, October 21, 2012

40: Military commissions, 9/11: The 9/11 Trial: Torturing Justice

41. Guantánamo media: Who Are the 55 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners on the List Released by the Obama Administration?

42. Military commissions, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri: Another Torture Victim on Trial at Guantánamo

November 2012

43. Shaker Aamer: When Justice Fails: US Refuses to Confirm that Shaker Aamer Will Be Freed from Guantánamo

44. Military commissions: Conservative Judges Demolish the False Legitimacy of Guantánamo’s Terror Trials

45. Close Guantánamo: President Obama, It’s Time to Fulfill Your Promise to Close Guantánamo

46. Radio, Close Guantánamo: Andy Worthington Discusses the Need to Close Guantánamo on the Michael Slate Show

47. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: The Banality of Evil: How the US Killed an Innocent Man at Guantánamo

48. Shaker Aamer, Guantánamo events: Guantánamo: Andy Worthington Discusses Shaker Aamer at Hull University Amnesty Society, November 27, 2012

49. Guantánamo media: On Guantánamo, the New York Times Abdicates Responsibility

50. Shaker Aamer: A Photo of Shaker Aamer After Eleven Years in Guantánamo

51. Torture: The Long Pursuit of Accountability for the Bush Administration’s Torture Program

December 2012

52. Adnan Latif, deaths at Guantánamo: An Impossible Suicide at Guantánamo

53. Close Guantánamo: Will Guantánamo Ever Be Closed?

54. Guantánamo events: Supermaxed: Andy Worthington Speaks at Stop the War Guantánamo Event, Goldsmith’s College, December 12

55. Guantánamo media: Andy Worthington and David Remes Discuss Guantánamo on Revolution Truth

56. Shaker Aamer: Free Shaker Aamer: Last British Resident in Guantánamo Sues British Government

57. Torture, extraordinary rendition, film reviews: Torture, Torture Everywhere

58. Guantánamo, radio interviews: Andy Worthington Discusses the Urgent Need to Close Guantánamo with Peter B. Collins

An archive of articles about British politics, July to December 2012

July and August 2012

1. Banking crisis: When Will Immoral, Unprincipled Bankers Be Held Accountable for Their Crimes?

2. Banking crisis: Criminal Bankers Are Not Above the Law

3. Save the NHS: NHS Chief Quits, Calls Austerity a Weapon to “Dismantle the State”

4. UK austerity, disability: Doctors Urge Government to Scrap Callous Disability Tests

5. Housing crisis: Unaffordable London: The Great Housing Rip-Off Continues

6. Olympics: Olympics Disaster: The G4S Security Scandal and Corporate Sponsors’ £600 Million Tax Avoidance

7. Olympics: The Dark Side of the Olympics: Kettling Cyclists and Telling Fairytales About Our Heritage

8. UK austerity, disability: Where is the Shame and Anger as the UK Government’s Unbridled Assault on the Disabled Continues?

September 2012

9. UK austerity, disability, photos: Photos of the Paralympics Demonstration Against Atos Healthcare in London

10. Save the NHS: Disgusting! As Tories Lurch to the Right, Criminal Jeremy Hunt Takes Over Health

11. Occupy Wall Street: On Occupy’s First Anniversary, We Are Still the 99 Percent, and the 1 Percent Are Still the Problem

12. Occupy movement, housing crisis: A Future for Occupy? Why We Need A Campaign for Genuinely Affordable Housing

13. Housing crisis: The First Squatter Is Jailed Since Being Homeless Was Criminalised by the Tories

October 2012

14. UK austerity, disability: Call Time on This Wretched Government and Its Assault on the Disabled

15. UK austerity, protest: Kick This Government Out! March for “A Future That Works” in London on October 20

16. UK austerity, protest, photos: Photos: The Best Placards and Banners from “A Future That Works,” the TUC March and Rally in London

17. UK austerity, protest, photos: Photos: A Riot of Colour, Solidarity and Indignation on the TUC March in London

18. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save the NHS: Act Now to Stop the Hatchet Falling on South London Accident and Emergency Services

November 2012

19. Save Lewisham Hospital: Please Sign the Petitions to Prevent the Closure of Lewisham Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department

20. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham A&E: As Petition Nears 5,000 Signatures, I Tell South London Press, “People Will Die”

21. Save Lewisham Hospital: Lewisham Residents Rally to Save Hospital from Tory Butchers

22. UK politics, education: Protest Groups Challenge the Tories’ Mission to Wreck England’s Schools and Universities

23. UK austerity, benefit reform: Ex-Children’s Minister Sarah Teather Condemns Government’s Benefit Cap as Cruel and Immoral

24. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital from Tory Destruction: Huge Rally on Saturday, Public Meeting Next Wednesday

25. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital A&E: Photos of the Massive Protest on November 24, 2012

December 2012

26. UK austerity, disability: The End of Decency: Tories to Make Disabled People Work Unpaid for Their Benefits

27. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital: Photos of the Protest and Sham Consultation on December 4, 2012

28. UK austerity, benefit reform: The Death of Empathy in Cruel, Heartless Britain

29. Save Lewisham Hospital: Save Lewisham Hospital: Last Chance to Respond to Consultation – and Vigil on Thursday

30. Housing crisis: Wake Up to the Injustice of Britain’s Housing Crisis

31. UK austerity, disability, benefit reform: End the Tory Butchers’ Assault on the Disabled: For New Year, Please Sign the War on Welfare Petition

My photos of London (and other places in UK and Europe)

July 2012

1. My Photos on Flickr: Bermondsey and the River Thames, June 2012

2. My Photos on Flickr: The Isle of Dogs and Regent’s Canal, July 2012

3. My Photos on Flickr: London At Night – Canary Wharf, Millwall, Greenwich and Deptford

4. The Power of Greed: Photos of Canary Wharf

5. In Search of the Olympics: Photos of a Journey from Limehouse to Stratford

6. Rivers at Dusk: Photos of My Journey from Stratford to Canary Wharf

7. Street Art, Sunshine and the River: Photos of Deptford and Greenwich

8. Green London: Photos of Nunhead, Dulwich and Blythe Hill

9. Docks, Wharves and Water: Photos of a Journey Along the Thames from Deptford to Tower Bridge

10. Sun, Sky and Property: A Photographic Journey along the Thames from London Bridge to the Isle of Dogs

11. Photos: The Olympic Torch in Lewisham, and Some Last Thoughts on the Dodgy Games

12. Real Life in South London: Photos of a Journey through Nunhead, Peckham, Walworth and Borough

13. The Olympics Minus One Day: Photos from the Frontline in Stratford

August 2012

14. Photos from WOMAD’s 30th Anniversary Festival, Wiltshire, July 2012 (1/2)

15. Big Skies and Global Beats: Photos from WOMAD’s 30th Anniversary Festival (2/2)

16. The Wealth of Empire: Photos of the City of London in the Rain

17. Union Jack Summer: Photos of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics

18. Jamaican Independence and a Giant Tent: Photos of a Visit to the Olympic Site at the O2

19. Photos of a Journey Across the Thames on the Olympics Cable Car

20. Real London: Photos of New Cross, Bermondsey and the Old Kent Road

21. Photos of London At Night: From the Olympics at Greenwich to Deptford and Surrey Quays

22. A Place to Call Home: Photos of Brockley from Winter to Summer

23. Architecture on an Epic Scale: Photos of Arriving in Rome, Visiting St. Peter’s and the Vatican

24. Photos of Rome: A Storm, the Hills and the Tiber at Night

25. Churches, Temples, Fountains and Piazze: Photos of the Historic Centre of Rome

26. Parks, Water and Dreams: Photos of a Journey from Surrey Quays to Central London

27. Photos of The Pantheon and Il Vittoriano in Rome: Transcendental Illumination and a Show of Power

28. Echoes of Ancient Rome: Photos of the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill

29. Glass, Light and Fantasies: Photos of the City of London At Night

30. Photos of the Olympics: In Search of the Paralympic Torch

31. Photos of Lewisham: Hills, Rivers, Secret Corners and Blatant Skyscrapers

September 2012

32. Green London: Photos of Surrey Quays, Brockley, Telegraph Hill, Blackheath and One Tree Hill

33. Chasing Clouds in Greenwich: Photos of a Journey East Along the Thames

34. Industry and Decay: Photos of a Journey Along the Thames from Greenwich to Woolwich

35. Lost Glories: Photos of a Thames Journey from Woolwich to Thamesmead

36. Prisons and Abandoned Factories: Photos of a Journey from Belmarsh to Plumstead

37. Visiting Abruzzo: Photos of a Journey by Train from Rome, the Valle Peligna and Torre dei Nolfi

38. A Photographic Journey around Fitzrovia, Central London’s Former Bohemia

39. Retail Frenzy: Photos of Oxford Street on a Saturday

40. Crowds and Culture: Photos of Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross and the Southbank Centre

41. The Old and the New: Photos of a Journey through Waterloo, Borough and Bermondsey

42. Photos of Deptford: A Life By The River Thames

43. London Skies: Photos of Big Fluffy Clouds

44. The Road North: A Photographic Journey from Tottenham Court Road to Camden

October 2012

45. Alternative London: Photos of Camden High Street

46. At Dusk: Photos of the Regent’s Canal from Camden Lock to St. Pancras Basin

47. Development Frenzy: Photos of the Regent’s Canal from St. Pancras Basin to King’s Cross

48. Photos of Blackheath and Greenwich: Olympic Memories and Other Journeys

49. Green London: Photos of Crystal Palace, the Isle of Dogs, Ladywell and Brockley

50. Sunny Sunday: Photos of the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf

51. Photos of Limehouse, Shadwell and Wapping: Art, History and the Summer Sun

52. Beautiful Dereliction: Photos of the Thames Shoreline by Convoys Wharf, Deptford

53. The Colours and Characters of Soho: Photos of Berwick Street and Around

54. Back Streets and Shop Fronts: Photos of Soho

55. Between Bridges: Photos of Wealth and Loss in Bankside, Between Blackfriars and London Bridge

56. Eating and Commuting: Photos of Borough Market and London Bridge

57. Photos: The Open-Air Street Artists of Ashby Mews, Brockley

November 2012

58. Pumpkins and Skeletons: Photos of Halloween in London

59. Photos: Autumn on Hilly Fields, Brockley

60. Beside the River Thames: Photos of a Journey from Clink Street to Butler’s Wharf

61. Photos of the River Thames: The Solace of the Shore and the Fire of Sunset

62. Reflections on Mortality: Photos of Autumn in Brockley Cemetery

63. From Deptford to Bermondsey: Photos of a Summer Journey Through London’s History

64. Photos of Commercial Road: The 21st Century Rag Trade

65. Photos of Shadwell: School, Street Art, Studios and Railway Bridges

66. Development and Decay: Photos of Commercial Road in Stepney and Limehouse

67. Shops, Ships and Union Jacks: Photos of a Surreal Tour Around Canary Wharf

68. Photos: Autumn Sunset in Hilly Fields, Brockley

69. When Night Falls: Photos of Lewisham, Greenwich and Deptford

December 2012

70. Photos: Greenwich Early and Late

71. Photos: Early Morning Amongst the Graves of St. Alfege Park, Greenwich

72. Photos of South East London At Night: Tunnels, the River and the Surrey Canal

73. Blue Skies and Golden Light: Photos of the River Thames in September

74. Top of the World: Photos of Nunhead Allotments, and the View from the Hill-Top Reservoir

75. Memories of Summer: Photos of the Thames Festival on London’s South Bank

76. Photos: Christmas in London, 2012

77. A Winter Wonderland: Photos of the Scottish Highlands in Perthshire

Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer and film-maker. He is the co-founder of the “Close Guantánamo” campaign, and 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. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here – or here for the US).