Yesterday I read Valtin's excellent diary, Urgent: An Innocent Man is Dying [Updated]. In a response I made to the diary as posted on Daily Kos, I promised that today I would contact the people listed and any others I thought might be important. Today, I acted on that promise. I sent faxes to the following people:
Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby
Director J. Alan Liotta
Representative Jan Schakowsky
Senator Richard Durbin
Senator Barack Obama
Former Senator John Edwards
Senator Christopher Dodd
I borrowed heavily from Valtin's excellent post, as words tend to fail me when I'm as upset as I am over this issue. Join me below the fold to see the message I sent.
October 29, 2007
To xxxxxx xxxxx
Address xxxxxxxx
Fax : xxxxxxxxx
Dear xxxxxxxxxx,
I am writing to you with grave concern for the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay in general, and with urgent concern for one prisoner in particular. Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi has been detained in isolation and sensory deprivation for 5 years in notorious Camp 6 at Guantanamo Prison in a steel windowless room, with no charges ever brought against him. This is terrible punishment, made worse by the fact that he has done nothing wrong.
This in and of itself is bad enough, but Mr. al-Ghizzawi is very ill, he was diagnosed with hepatitis B and tuberculosis over a year ago, and is now on the verge of death. He is not receiving treatment, and is kept in conditions that are likely to hasten his death. Amnesty International reports that in his first visit with is lawyer, H. Candace Gorman, he exhibited the following:
In February 2007, during her first visit to Guantánamo since Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi had been transferred to Camp 6, his lawyer stated that he "...was stooping low to the floor and huddled against the wall when I entered. His arms were wrapped around his body as he tried to warm himself from the chill he has had for over two months, and his feet were shackled to the floor. He was shivering, his teeth were clenched and he would not look at me".... he also stated that he was vomiting several times a day, had frequent headaches, itchy skin, pain in his back, abdomen, frequent nosebleeds and pain in his gums.... He is reported to have begun talking to himself and has difficulty focussing or concentrating in conversation with his lawyer."
Ms. Gorman goes on to state:
"During the week of September 24th I went to visit my client Mr. Al-Ghizzawi at Guantanamo again. It is clear to me that our visits are nearing the end... Mr. Al-Ghizzawi won't be with the living much longer. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi knows his days are limited, not only can he barely walk but he sat at our meeting doubled over in pain. For the first time in our two year attorney-client relationship Mr. Al-Ghizzawi shared with me pictures of his little girl... she is now almost six years old and he has not seen her since she was a few months old. She is a beautiful little girl with big green eyes and a mischievous grin. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi lamented the fact that he will never see his little girl again and that his little girl will not even have a picture of him to remember her father by."
Even if he were truly an "enemy combatant", does not the Geneva Conventions that the United States signed on so many years ago prohibit this kind of treatment of prisoners? Do we not owe all human beings more than to kill them through abuse and neglect?
I am hereby expressing my grave concern that Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi may not be receiving appropriate medical care for his illnesses. I am urging you to act immediately to insure that Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi be given immediate access to a doctor, and to specialist medical attention if necessary as stipulated in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 22 (2), so that he can be properly diagnosed and provided with all the necessary treatment he may require. I urge you to insure that independent medical experts be allowed to visit him regularly in Guantánamo to assess his medical condition and treatment requirements.
Mr. al-Ghizzawi needs to be removed from Camp 6 immediately and transferred to facilities which will not be further detrimental to his physical and psychological health. Allow this man to have contact with his family through regular mail, with opportunities for phone calls and visits. He has a wife and daughter. Let them have access to their husband and father.
The detention facility at Guantánamo Bay should be closed and the detainees held there should be released unless they are to be promptly charged with recognizable criminal offences and brought to trial in ordinary civilian courts in full accordance with international standards, without recourse to the death penalty. I will be lobbying members of Congress for this action to take place, and will raising my voice in protest in every possible forum to make sure that this happens.
Mr. al-Ghizzawi's attorney recently released the following statement:
"Now that the U.S. military has "cleared" my notes, I can tell you about my July meeting....
Al-Ghizzawi was visibly shaken when I entered the meeting room and he immediately told me of his despair over the May death of a fellow inmate, a young Saudi man named Abdel Rahman Al Amri. Al-Ghizzawi knew that Amri had been suffering from Hepatitis B and tuberculosis, the same two conditions from which he himself suffers. Like al-Ghizzawi, Amri had not been treated for his illnesses. Al-Ghizzawi, now so sick he can barely walk, told me that Amri, too, had been ill and then, suddenly, he was dead.
Al-Ghizzawi told me in July that he now finds himself talking out loud even though no one is there to talk to. We both know he is in dangerous territory. We talked about ways to help fight the mental deterioration, such as trying to read, exercising his body or focusing on his wife and daughter.... He had hope, though mingled with fear for the future.....
When I left our September meeting a few days ago, al-Ghizzawi was doubled over in pain and gagging on his own phlegm.... I feared al-Ghizzawi may suffer a cruel, solitary death. I promised him the only things I could: that his death will not go unnoticed and that I will not let him be listed as an apparent suicide."
As you can see, the world is watching. I'm watching. Should Mr. al Ghizzawi die, it will not pass quietly into the night. There will be repercussions of broad and long duration. Please act in accordance with the laws and principles that are the cornerstone of the civilized world. What goes on to these men is no longer a secret, the world is watching. And those who are responsible for the senseless deaths of these men will be held accountable.
Sincerely and with Urgency,
XXXX XXXX
Why, you may ask, am I posting what I wrote here? There are two reasons, which I will elaborate. First, to be quite honest, I'm thinking that if I wasn't on someone's shit list before now, and I can't imagine that I wasn't given the kind of letters, faxes, phone calls and protest activities I participate in, I certainly will be now. I want a record of what I did and where I sent this, just so that people know. I'm not doing this for any kind of recognition, I'm just making sure that if I start being harassed in some way, there will be a record of what I wrote and who I wrote it to.
There is, of course, one more reason. I'm trying to encourage people to do the same I've done here. You don't have to use the language that I've used, but do something, anything, that will help save this man and all the others who are suffering and dying. This is happening IN OUR NAMES, which makes all of us complicit in the torture and death of many who are innocent of any crime other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even those that aren't innocent should be put on trial and either convicted and imprisoned in a more humane way or released and watched to their dying day, but not confined under conditions that would be shameful if done to a dog, much less a human being.
I look around me day after day and wonder what has happened to the country that I love. What kind of people have we turned into, that we would allow something like this to happen? And what kind of government would lock away people for years at a time, without access to legal counsel, tortured endlessly and fruitlessly, made ill through this ill treatment without access to adequate healthcare? What kind of valid intelligence information could possibly be retrieved from these people after FIVE YEARS that would require this kind of ill treatment, even if were effective, to continue? What kind of human beings could watch this happen, much less participate in it, and not lose their very souls? What kind of government would intimidate its very citizens in such as a way as to make them afraid to speak out against such injustice?
No, America is no longer the country that I've loved all my life. It has turned into something so alien that I cannot recognize it. So I'm taking a stand whenever and wherever I can. You'll find me writing letters, faxes, and emails every day. I will write diaries whenever possible, and support others who do so with more eloquence than me. I will take to the streets in protest, raising my signs and my voice in anger and frustration. And I will continue to do so, in as many forms as I possibly can, until someone comes and hauls me away. I only hope that if that time ever comes, that there will be someone around who will care enough and be brave enough to write a letter or send a fax on my behalf.
UPDATE: I was so riled up I forgot to add a way to find phone numbers, fax numbers and emails for the Congress. Here is a good link to look them up. It's easy, you can do it by state or by name, easy as pie. So no excuses, contact these people and make the message clear - we will no longer stand for torture and killing in our names!!