Gitmo: we already knew.
The New York Times may be reporting on the International Red Cross reports and Guantánamo, but this is all stuff that we have heard before--from the detainees.
Michael Ratner, from the Center for Constitutional Rights, already told us last summer what was happening at Guantánamo in his book with Ellen Ray entitled Guantánamo: What the World Should Know. Published by Chelsea Green Publishing in 2004, the book was a quick primer on what was at stake at Gitmo.
Following is a review of Ratner and Ray's book that originally appeared in New Orleans-based magazine Thirteen Knots on Friday. The review gives you a flavor of what the book is about. The author, Euripedes, is a close friend of The Malcontent, and the review appears with the permission of Euripedes and of Thirteen Knots on Friday.
A lawless region, ruled by might, where the possession of a sidearm or a uniform marks you as a member of the ruling class—Iraq? Afghanistan? Reasonable guesses, but try instead Guantánamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba. In this slim volume, progressive lawyer Michael Ratner lays out his case against the Guantánamo detention camps currently being used by the U.S. to imprison people as part of the “war on terror.”
Like the infamous Long Kesh imprisonments in Ireland during the early 1970’s, these prisoners are being held without charge, without an opportunity to challenge their imprisonment, and without access to counsel or family. In Guantánamo: What the World Should Know, Ratner recounts tales of ceaseless interrogation and practices which rise perilously close to torture.
Ratner, the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), was part of the legal team representing Shafiq Rasul, whose case challenging the conditions and nature of imprisonment at Guantánamo, Rasul v. Bush, was heard this year before the U.S. Supreme Court. As several decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court about the power of the President to detain people has sent the Rasul case (and others) back to the trial courts for a full hearing, the book serves as a brilliant primer for what’s still at stake for those imprisoned at Guantánamo, and for the implications Guantánamo has for us all.
The book, a conversation between Ratner and journalist Ellen Ray, was transcribed and rapidly published following the arguments before the court this past April. The book, particularly when read in conjunction with the Court’s recent decision on Rasul v. Bush, as well as the decisions in the Padilla and Hamdi cases, offers a chilling look at the current practices at Guantánamo—actions that anyone who has been following the recent revelations regarding systematic abuse at Abu Ghraib will find all too familiar.
Ratner’s persuasive portrayal of which is happening at Guantánamo, and its importance for Americans, revolves around two themes: first, that through the arguments of the Department of Justice, the Bush administration has sought to declare Guantánamo an “extra-legal” zone where no law, U.S. or international, applies (and thus no judicial body has the authority to monitor or review); and second, that systematic human rights abuses are being perpetrated in violation not just of the Geneva Convention, but of U.S. laws and international treaties, including the U.N. Convention Against Torture. While the Supreme Court in Rasul rejected the idea that Guantánamo is outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, it is still unclear what legal protections the prisoners at Guantánamo can expect.
The importance of the detention camps at Guantánamo for the citizens of the United States is that it represents an attempt by the current administration to garner powers to the executive branch, and thus to the President, that have long been recognized as not properly theirs. As Ratner explains:
Ultimately, Ratner’s book serves as a wake up call for all U.S. citizens, not merely for civil libertarians, but for all those who think that the ideals of freedom, fairness, and democracy still matter. As Ratner notes, the events at Guantánamo are a “descent into barbarism.” While it appears that the courts will likely drag us back from the abyss, the legal process will be slow. Ratner hopes “public outcry” may speed this process—this book is his call to action.
Michael Ratner, from the Center for Constitutional Rights, already told us last summer what was happening at Guantánamo in his book with Ellen Ray entitled Guantánamo: What the World Should Know. Published by Chelsea Green Publishing in 2004, the book was a quick primer on what was at stake at Gitmo.
Following is a review of Ratner and Ray's book that originally appeared in New Orleans-based magazine Thirteen Knots on Friday. The review gives you a flavor of what the book is about. The author, Euripedes, is a close friend of The Malcontent, and the review appears with the permission of Euripedes and of Thirteen Knots on Friday.
A lawless region, ruled by might, where the possession of a sidearm or a uniform marks you as a member of the ruling class—Iraq? Afghanistan? Reasonable guesses, but try instead Guantánamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba. In this slim volume, progressive lawyer Michael Ratner lays out his case against the Guantánamo detention camps currently being used by the U.S. to imprison people as part of the “war on terror.”
Like the infamous Long Kesh imprisonments in Ireland during the early 1970’s, these prisoners are being held without charge, without an opportunity to challenge their imprisonment, and without access to counsel or family. In Guantánamo: What the World Should Know, Ratner recounts tales of ceaseless interrogation and practices which rise perilously close to torture.
Ratner, the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), was part of the legal team representing Shafiq Rasul, whose case challenging the conditions and nature of imprisonment at Guantánamo, Rasul v. Bush, was heard this year before the U.S. Supreme Court. As several decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court about the power of the President to detain people has sent the Rasul case (and others) back to the trial courts for a full hearing, the book serves as a brilliant primer for what’s still at stake for those imprisoned at Guantánamo, and for the implications Guantánamo has for us all.
The book, a conversation between Ratner and journalist Ellen Ray, was transcribed and rapidly published following the arguments before the court this past April. The book, particularly when read in conjunction with the Court’s recent decision on Rasul v. Bush, as well as the decisions in the Padilla and Hamdi cases, offers a chilling look at the current practices at Guantánamo—actions that anyone who has been following the recent revelations regarding systematic abuse at Abu Ghraib will find all too familiar.
Ratner’s persuasive portrayal of which is happening at Guantánamo, and its importance for Americans, revolves around two themes: first, that through the arguments of the Department of Justice, the Bush administration has sought to declare Guantánamo an “extra-legal” zone where no law, U.S. or international, applies (and thus no judicial body has the authority to monitor or review); and second, that systematic human rights abuses are being perpetrated in violation not just of the Geneva Convention, but of U.S. laws and international treaties, including the U.N. Convention Against Torture. While the Supreme Court in Rasul rejected the idea that Guantánamo is outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, it is still unclear what legal protections the prisoners at Guantánamo can expect.
The importance of the detention camps at Guantánamo for the citizens of the United States is that it represents an attempt by the current administration to garner powers to the executive branch, and thus to the President, that have long been recognized as not properly theirs. As Ratner explains:
“In our system of checks and balances, each of [these] steps are taken by a different branch of the government of the United States. The Congress defines crimes. The executive branch prosecutes people for crimes that have been defined by Congress in courts that have been established by the Congress and the Constitution. The judiciary adjudicates guilt and dispenses punishment.The key to understanding how the U.S. could come to this place, is foreshadowed in Anthony Lewis’s forward to the book, entitled “A President Beyond the Law,” and developed further in the body of the book itself.
In this case, the executive has taken all these roles unto itself.”
Ultimately, Ratner’s book serves as a wake up call for all U.S. citizens, not merely for civil libertarians, but for all those who think that the ideals of freedom, fairness, and democracy still matter. As Ratner notes, the events at Guantánamo are a “descent into barbarism.” While it appears that the courts will likely drag us back from the abyss, the legal process will be slow. Ratner hopes “public outcry” may speed this process—this book is his call to action.
posted by The Malcontent at 1:00 PM
1 Comments:
But... but... I can't hear you if I put my fingers in my ears, stomp real loud, and sing "More Than a Feeling" by Boston. And if I can't hear you, it's not real.
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