Close Guantanamo, United States generals say

This music video says about itself:

PJ Harvey – Shaker Aamer

3 Aug 2013

PJ Harvey has released a song to highlight the ongoing detention of the last British resident held inside the US prison at Guantánamo Bay.

The track, called Shaker Aamer was recorded by the Mercury prizewinning songwriter to help maintain pressure to have the 46-year-old, whose family live in south London, released back to Britain.

Aamer has been detained in Guantánamo for more than 11 years, despite being cleared for release in 2007, and remains imprisoned without charge or trial. He has a British wife and his four children — the youngest of whom he has never met — were all born in Britain. They live in Tooting, south London.

The British government has stated repeatedly that it wants him back in the UK and last week, under escalating international pressure, the US announced it is to restart transfers from the prison. Concerns remain, however, that Aamer might be forcibly sent to Saudi Arabia and imprisoned there instead of being reunited with his family in the UK.

Shaker Aamer

No water for three days.
I cannot sleep, or stay awake.

Four months hunger strike.
Am I dead, or am I alive?

With metal tubes we are force fed.
I honestly wish I was dead.

Strapped in the restraining chair.
Shaker Aamer, your friend.

In camp 5, eleven years.
Never Charged. Six years cleared.

They took awat my one note pad,
and the refused to give it back.

I can’t think straight, I write, then stop.
Your friend, Shaker Aamer. Lost.

The guards just do what they’re told,
the doctors just do what they’re told.

Like an old car I’m rusting away.
Your friend, Shaker, Guantanamo Bay.

Don’t forget.

© 2013 Hothead Music Ltd.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Dozens of ex-military chiefs blast Guantanamo ‘betrayal’

Wednesday 20th November 2013

Retired US generals and admirals call for closure of the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay

A stellar assortment of retired US generals and admirals nailed their colours to the mast on Tuesday for the closure of the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Nearly 40 retired flag officers signed a letter to US Senator John McCain denouncing the camp.

Sen McCain read out the impassioned plea during a debate on the Senate’s annual defence policy Bill.

An amendment proposed by Sen McCain would have enabled the Obama administration to try suspects in the US or release them overseas.

But it fell eight shy of the 60-vote threshold for passage.

A Republican amendment that would have made it even harder for President Obama to move prisoners was also defeated, illustrating the complete disarray the issue has caused in the Senate.

The generals and admirals, however, were in no such doubt when they wrote that “Guantanamo is a betrayal of American values.

“The prison is a symbol of torture and justice delayed.

“More than a decade after it opened, Guantanamo remains a recruiting poster for terrorists.

“The Senate National Defence Authorisation Act… would provide a meaningful step towards responsibly closing Guantanamo.

“It authorises the transfer of detainees… for purposes of resettlement or repatriation and it permits transfers to the US for purposes of prosecution, incarceration and medical treatment.

“We support these provisions and oppose efforts to impose more stringent restrictions on the transfer of detainees out of Guantanamo.”

The CIA trained Gitmo detainees as double agents at a secret facility named after a Beatles song: here.

In a logical extension of the brutal practice of force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners, their American jailers are denying the detainees any means of making their protest known to the public: here.

This weekend marked another shameful anniversary in the history of Guantanamo Bay and the ongoing incarceration without trial of British detainee Shaker Aamer: here.

Barack Obama pledged five years ago that he would close the illegal torture camp on Cuban soil, but Guantanamo exists to this day: here.

Major Obama Supporters Call for Action to Close Guantánamo as Promised: here.

As lawyers today present a motion to the US Federal Court demanding Shaker Aamer’s immediate release, he has given an exclusive interview to ITV News in which he condemns the site as a US ‘gulag’ and says that he believes he will be released this year: here.

Guantanamo Bay inmate diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Human rights activists urged the release of Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer yesterday as fears grow for his health.

CAMPAIGNERS demanded yesterday the release of videos showing Britain’s last Guantanamo Bay inmate [Shaker Aamer] being forcibly dragged from his prison cell up to eight times a day by guards: here.

Guantanamo concentration camp detainee Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani appeared in front of a new US government review board on Tuesday after being held for 12 years without charge: here.

Guantanamo Bay detainees are to be allowed to contest unlawful conditions of their imprisonment: here.

The military trial of five men accused of murder for the attacks on 9/11 has been halted after it was revealed that the FBI had turned a member of the defense team into an informant: here.

A WASHINGTON judge has ordered the US military to stop force-feeding hunger striking prisoner Abu Wa’el Dhiab at its Guantanamo Bay concentration camp: here.

A judge has ordered the US government to produce 34 videotapes of hunger-striking Guantanamo Bay concentration camp inmate Abu Wa’el Dhiab: here.

Guantanamo Bay prisoner Abu Wa’el Dhiab is in deteriorating health and needs urgent independent medical examination, a lawyer for prisoners’ rights group Reprieve said yesterday: here.

Through court order, it has been revealed that the US military has been keeping videotapes of the force-feeding of inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. On Wednesday, a civilian federal judge allowed videos taken of one prisoner, which also documents the prisoner being forced into the feeding chamber, to be viewed by his defense lawyer: here.

Witness Against Torture Calls on Obama and Congress to Redouble Efforts to Close Guantánamo: here.

Related articles

• Last British resident in Guantánamo Bay: we are treated like animals (theguardian.com)
• Last UK Guantanamo inmate speaks out (bbc.co.uk)
• Singer Esperanza Spalding against Guantánamo torture prison (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Shaker Aamer’s pleas heard at Guantanamo Bay (itv.com)
• Letters detail punitive tactics used on Guantánamo hunger strikers (theguardian.com)
• Guantánamo prisoner Shaker Aamer not allowed to see film of his plight (theguardian.com)
• Guantanamo detainees plan to fight release to Algeria (jurist.org)