Day 43 @ 100 Days Campaign

We've been busy here in D.C. between the daily vigil outside the White House from 11a-1p, meeting with our representatives to encourage closing Guantanamo a fact in reality, and attending and participating in films and discussions.

Today we had particularly good press at the Senate Judiciary hearing on what a truth commission might look like for an inquiry into what has happened over the past eight years that made torture American foreign policy. Check out today's events over at the 100 Days website.

In fact, we've been so busy it has been difficult to find time to reflect on our actions and experiences. The folks here in D.C. this week include locals from the D.C. area, WAT organizers (mostly East Coast Catholic Workers), students from John Carroll University in Cleveland and ourselves. We did get a chance to spend some time tonight over at Dorothy Day Catholic Worker reflecting on torture, recommitting ourselves to working to end torture and shut down Guantanamo - particularly in our own communities at home.

Kairos Community in D.C.

We made it into D.C. Saturday night after driving all day. We spent Sunday morning at Jonah House celebrating liturgy, reflecting on our baptismal vows as we begin this Lenten journey and what that means for our call to be peacemakers and practice nonviolence, and enjoying a wonderful brunch prepared for us by the community in Baltimore. Later that afternoon we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was a very powerful day with emotional and spiritual ups and downs. We are still wrestling with what to make of it all. Then the snows began to fall.

The plan for this morning was to join the D.C. Catholic Workers at their weekly vigil for peace at the Pentagon, but because D.C. was dumped on with snow overnight we decided against it. We head off to the White House for the Witness Against Torture vigil at the White House in a few hours as part of the 100 Days Campaign.

Closing Guantanamo

BACKGROUND

Call President Obama and Attorney General Holder and tell them:

1. You support the Executive Order to Shut Down Guantanamo.

2. You request that, as a first and immediate step, the Obama administration should drop the Bush administration's appeal of Judge Urbina's order to release the 17 Uighurs into the United States.

White House: 202-456-1111
Attorney General: 202-514-2001

The Uighurs are members of an intensely persecuted minority in western China and were sold to U.S. forces by bounty hunters. Most of them were cleared by the military of any offense in 2003. In September 2008, the U.S. government formally acknowledged that none of them is an enemy combatant. At present, all three branches of the government have acknowledged that the Uighurs should be released. All 17 have been exonerated by both military and habeas courts, and members of Congress have called for their release to the only place they can go: the United States.

Holding that their continued imprisonment was unlawful, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled in October 2008 that they should be present in his court for release into the United States with appropriate conditions. Detailed arrangements to welcome and support the seventeen men had by then been made by religious and refugee organizations. Further commitment of support has been provided by the Uighur community of well established U.S. citizens in the D.C. area.

THE CURRENT PROBLEM

The Bush administration appealed Judge Urbina's ruling to prevent any release into the U.S. "on their watch." But there was not then, and is not now, any legal basis, any security condition, much less any moral or humane reason, for extending the baseless imprisonment of the Uighurs even a day longer.

— Read Amnesty International's Action Alert
— Read a letter from the Uighurs Attorneys
— Learn more about the Uighurs

WHY RELEASE THEM IN THE U.S.?

It is not surprising that some of the men still held at Guantanamo would be treated with extreme suspicion if they were returned to their home nations-persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, even executed. Alternative homes for men persistently described for years as "the worst of the worst" have understandably been very difficult to find.

While publicly alleging that it was eager to find suitable places to take in prisoners cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay, the Bush Administration kept suggesting behind the scenes that they were very dangerous persons. No wonder no nation stepped forward to receive them! Moreover, the Chinese Government has forcefully pressured nations strong and weak to deny refuge to these prisoners, who were already vigorously persecuted in China before their detention. So it is exceedingly unlikely that any nation other than the U.S. will accept them.

For the U.S. to welcome these wrongfully detained persons will set an important precedent in this nation and present a significant example for the rest of the world; other nations would then be much more likely to accept prisoners against whom no evidence of wrong-doing has been presented after years of confinement.

"It is in the interests of the United States that the executive branch conduct a prompt and thorough review of the circumstances of the individuals currently detained at Guantanamo..."

— President Barack Obama Executive Order, January 22, 2008

PLEASE CALL TODAY to urge the immediate release of the Uighurs in accord with Judge Urbina's ruling - in particular by urging the Obama Administration and Attorney General Eric Holder to dismiss the appeal and vacate the stay preventing the settlement of the Uighurs in the U.S. Call the White House at 202.456.1111 and Attorney General Holder 202.514.2001 right now.

These national call-in days are being organized by a coalition of human rights, and peace & justice groups, including Witness Against Torture, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, Defending Dissent Foundation, United for Peace & Justice, Network of Spiritual Progressives, Pax Christi USA, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, The Constitution Project, Peace Action, Washington Peace Center, War Resisters League, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, Afterdowningstreet, World Can't Wait, School of the Americas Watch, Granny Peace Brigade, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, CodePink, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Pace Bene Nonviolence Center and others.

Witness Against Torture invites you to come join the 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo and End Torture, which includes a sustained presence at the White House as well as screenings, lectures, community meetings, and creative actions across the U.S. Organize an event in your community or come to D.C. - we will provide food, housing, and a Monday thru Friday schedule designed to keep the pressure on to close Guantanamo with all due haste!

Help us continue to do this critical work: MAKE a donation or SUBSCRIBE to our announcement list.

www.100DaysCampaign.org