Close Gitmo Now

The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught “” target=”_blank”>92 percent of the prisoners never fought for al-Qaeda, and that 86 percent were turned over as a result of corrupt and generous bounty offers made by members of the American military to villagers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Statistics compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal an alarming abuse of rights and freedoms, with the overwhelming majority of prisoners not being a threat to national security:

• ” target=”_blank”>Boumediene, a Bosnian citizen who lived and worked there for the Red Crescent, was arrested but found innocent of being an al-Qaeda operative. After his acquittal, acting on the word of an unnamed informant who was judged even then to be unreliable, the Americans kidnapped Boumediene and transported him to Guantánamo, where he was imprisoned for more than 7 years. He was beaten, kept in uncomfortable positions for hours at a time, exposed to extreme temperatures, and deprived of sleep. He went on a hunger strike and was force-fed for 2 years. After a Supreme Court challenge, a federal court found there was no evidence to hold him, and he was finally released in 2008. He now lives in France with his family.

2) The Road to Guantánamo is a ” target=”_blank”>under brutal conditions for 2 years before finally being released.

3) The lack of accountability and due legal procedure has even extended to American citizens. James Yee, a West Point graduate whose grandparents came to America from China in the 1920s and later converted to Islam, became a Muslim Army chaplain and volunteered to serve in the Guantánamo prison. On September 10, 2003, when returning to America on leave, he was detained and then arrested, held for 76 days in solitary confinement, and then publicly accused of and charged with a battery of moral and political offenses that included being an al-Qaeda agent and a “Chinese Taliban.” ” target=”_blank”>the longest operating wartime prison in U. S. history, is a story of political pandering. With enough evidence to warrant a trial for barely two dozen prisoners, ” target=”_blank”>500 terrorism suspects have been tried in federal courts since September 2001), Congressional intransigence continues. Typical of the intensely paranoid rhetoric is the statement from Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who warned against any attempt to “bring these crazy bastards that want to kill us all to the United States.” Congress passed legislation in 2009 that prevented the President from bringing any of these prisoners to the United States for trial, or even send them to other countries. Two of the original 48 stuck in a legal no-man’s land (no evidence against, but for other reasons cannot be released) have already died in prison. President Obama has ” target=”_blank”>Write to President Obama and the Congress and tell them again that they need to close Guantánamo now.
• Participate in Witness Against Torture fasts and vigils—“>Uri L'Tzedek, the Senior Rabbi at Kehilath Israel, the Founder and C.E.O. of “>Jewish Ethics & Social Justice: A Guide for the 21st Century.” In 2012 and 2013,