To many people, the defining moment of the first decade is the attacks on 9/11. But, of course, it is not the attacks that defined us as Americans. Our response defined us. When we look back at 9/11, we must look at who we were the day before the attacks — when we adhered to the rule of law and human rights, and the world respected our moral stance. It is no secret that the United States slipped off its moral path after 9/11. Read More “The Defining Moment of the Decade”
Jan. 11 marks the 17th anniversary of the opening of the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Seven hundred-and-eighty Muslim men and boys were held in the prison, many for a decade or longer, and nearly all without charges. Forty men still languish in Guantanamo.
The ABA has announced 19 finalists for this year’s ABA Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts, which recognize outstanding work in media and the arts that fosters the public’s understanding of law and the legal system.
By scattering the former detainees to 30 nations, the Obama administration cast it as a concerted effort to give men who had lost a decade or more at the U.S. military prison in Cuba a new chance in a new country. And not every deal had a bad ending.
Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the opening of the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is an anniversary I had hoped would never…
‘I hope the lessons learned I will always have and I hope my ‘old me’ a big part of that, I can have back…but it takes a lot longer than I had thought.’
The U.S. Government recently issued a security alert amid increasing fears that ISIS will initiate a terrorist act here at home, in America.
We’re sitting there looking at [a huge map on the wall of the conference room] and I remember one person from DoJ said ‘What about Guantanamo?’ And I remember thinking about it and I said, ‘go on.’”
Honigsberg disputed the claim that placing convicted terrorists in federal prisons in the U.S. would create a significant new security risk. ‘The fact is that our ‘supermax’ prisons in America already house many convicted terrorists and other enemies of America,’ he said. ‘If the men are convicted of a crime, we can be assured that they will be locked up in these maximum security prisons.’
‘The Geneva Convention requires that prisoners be released at the end of hostilities,’ wrote Honigsberg. ‘Obama should declare that, after more than 14 years, hostilities with Afghanistan are over. He can then release the men in Guantanamo who have not been charged back to their home countries or to third countries. And, he can prosecute the men who have been charged with war crimes.’
Recently, a local high school girl I will call Lisa interviewed me for a report she was doing on torture. I am the founder and…
It is despicable that Syria allegedly used chemical weapons, and that more than 1000 people died in horrible, writhing deaths. And, chemical weapons are outlawed by international law, as well as customary law and norms. However, we live in a global community.
‘[Guantanamo] is a stain that is very clear on America,’ said Honigsberg. ‘The best thing to say would be: ‘We made a mistake and we acknowledge that mistake and we take some accountability for that mistake and we will move on.”