Guantanamo, Ten Years Later

Does It Matter If He's Guilty of Anything?

This article by a German citizen who was held at Guantanamo for five years without being charged outrages me and should outrage anyone who thinks our policies and practices should be ruled by our principles, which do not include the principle that “We can do anything we want, and it is right because we do it.”

This man did nothing wrong, but he lost five years of his life because we offered money to desperately poor people who needed it, in exchange for them turning over people they believed – or were willing to say they believed – to be terrorists.

We tortured this man, Murat Kurnaz.

We tortured an innocent man named Murat Kurnaz.

We, who preach democracy and rule of law to other nations, tortured Murat Kurnaz.

How many other men like Murat Kurnaz are in Guantanamo now? How much shame can we bear to inflict on ourselves? How badly are we prepared to undermine the basic principle of justice, that people are innocent until proven guilty, that people have a right to representation, and to face their accuser?

Our president’s first act in office was to sign an order that intended to shut the prison at Guantanamo within one year. That would have been January 2009. The fault lies, according to an article in the Miami Herald, not with the president, but with Congress.

Wednesday is Guantanamo’s Tenth Anniversary. Call or write your Congressperson and tell them they can’t expect your vote if there is an 11th anniversary.