I know this is a ridiculous time of night for most of us on the East coast now. But i've just seen news of a story that made my blood boil. Knowing how well-connected most of you are here within the political realm, I really hope someone will be able to get this story out to the mainstream.
Remember when Guantanamo Bay was the place where we sent the worst of the worst? A time when we were told illegally holding these men was the only possible solution to saving America from those evil terrorists? Well, as it turns out - George W and his love buddy Mr.Cheney KNEW that at least some if not most of these man were completely innocent of the charges they were being illegally held under!
Via UPI :
U.S. President George W. Bush and his top aides knew many Guantanamo detainees were innocent, an aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell says.
Lawrence Wilkerson said in a deposition for a lawsuit by a former detainee that Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were all aware more than half the detainees first held at Guantanamo were not terrorists, The Times of London reported Friday. Wilkerson, Powell's chief of staff at State, said the administration thought "it would be politically impossible to release them."
Politically impossible? Yet legally admissable? How on earth was this abuse of power allowed to happen? How has this man not been charged with a crime for all of the scars he has left on America's image overseas?
Cheney and Rumsfeld did not want to expose the confusion behind the administration's push to round up terrorists, Wilkerson said. He said many of the 742 prisoners first sent to Guantanamo, who included old men and boys, were turned over to U.S. forces in exchange for $5,000 payments, a fortune in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Wilkerson said Cheney and Rumsfeld believed their goals justified large-scale injustice: "Innocent people languishing in Guantanamo for years was justified by the broader War on Terror and the small number of terrorists who were responsible for the Sept. 11 (2001) attacks."
Why are we seeing such rage from these moronic Teabaggers now during the healthcare argument, when the abuses under the previous administration have done more to tarnish the American reputation than Obama could do in 150 terms as President of the United States?
Justice needs to be done now for those who were illegally held in Guantanamo and I hope some of the brilliant writers, political activists etc will help get this story out into the mainstream of America's consciousness. After all, Americans by an large do have a large sense of moral conscience, despite that which happened under the hideous previous regime.
See Wilkerson's full declaration here via Truthout (H/T Garret) : Wilkerson Declaration
PS - Apologies for the shorter diary. I know it's frowned upon by some here.
Full story here :UPI
Edited continuation of diary :
Surely this could also be brought into the debate on torture? This is now a legal minefield - another that Bush has left for the Obama administration to clean up. My true hope for this story especially is that it makes someone in the Obama administration look at the idea of prosecuting Bush and his cohorts for crimes against America. If this story does anything, it literally proves that the Bush administration were criminally neligent in carrying out the War on Terror.