In a hopeful sign to all who believe in human rights, international law, national security, and fundamental morality, Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced a bill to shut down Guantanamo! As her website describes it:
It is the first measure introduced in the Senate to close the Guantanamo Bay facility.
Senator Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is deeply concerned that open-ended detentions and documented reports of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay have tarnished America's reputation and complicated our efforts to fight global terrorism.
Senator Feinstein is often justly criticized for her political centrism, but her leadership on this issue deserves publicity and praise; and because of that record of centrism, no one can legitimately undermine this effort as being promoted by a partisan liberal. Specific requirements of the bill include the following:
- The President shall close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay; and
* All detainees at the facility shall be removed and transferred to:
o A civilian or military facility in the United States and charged with a violation of U.S. or international law for prosecution in a civilian or military proceeding;
o A facility in the United States for continued detention, where authorized;
o Any international legal tribunal that may be authorized for this purpose; or
o The detainees’ home nations or a third-party government for further processing; there must be assurances that detainees will not be tortured or otherwise handled in a manner against international law.
Text of the bill is linked at this Federation of American Scientists site.
This move was particularly important, given the April 5 report by Amnesty International that conditions at Guantanamo are actually getting worse! As described by Spiegel Online:
Amnesty International has sharply criticized conditions at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a report released on Thursday, the organization said around 80 percent of the 385 inmates are being held in "cruel conditions of isolation" with almost no contact with the outside world.
"While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens" the report said, "that does not relieve the United States from the responsibilities to comply with human rights."
Earlier moves to relax the conditions and to increase opportunities for socialization among detainees seem to have been reversed, Amnesty said. The isolated prisoners are now spending 22 hours alone in a windowless cell with no natural light or fresh air. They exercise alone, often at night and can go for days without seeing daylight. Inmates have their meals alone in their cells, which are constantly lit, and they are observed 24 hours a day.
That full report can be accessed at Amnesty's website.
And, of course, in late April, the New York Times reported that the Bush Department of "Justice" wants to even further limit contacts between Guantanamo prisoners and their lawyers:
The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the request has become a central issue in a new legal battle over the administration’s detention policies.
Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused "intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo," a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004....
The dispute is the latest and perhaps the most significant clash over the role of lawyers for the detainees. "There is no right on the part of counsel to access to detained aliens on a secure military base in a foreign country," the Justice Department filing argued.
Which is just one more reason to shut down that house of horror, and force the Bush war criminals to abide by the law! Senator Feinstein's effort would do exactly that!
Please call one of the Senator's offices and thank her:
Washington, DC- (202) 224-3841
San Francisco- (415) 393-0707
Los Angeles- (310) 914-7300
San Diego- (619) 231-9712
Fresno- (559) 485-7430
And those of you who don't reside in California, please call your own Senators, and ask them to support Senator Feinstein's effort!