Security Check

Blog Round-Up 11/10

November 10, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

Check out what others are saying about Guantanamo Bay online. Read More »

The Senator Who Cried Wolf

November 09, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

It's easy to manipulate the facts when you're pushing fear over reality, and that's exactly what Congressional Republicans and some Democrats are doing when it comes to Guantanamo Bay's inmates. They're dangerous! They're scary! Terrorists are too problematic and too horrific to be tried on U.S. soil! But there's a big problem with that argument: When it comes to terrorism trials on U.S. soil, that's a "been there, done that" situation. Read More »

New To You: Your New Close Gitmo Now Blogger

November 07, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

Howdy all! If you haven't noticed, a lot of recent blog posts here on New Security Action have been penned by yours truly. I'm Danielle Belton and I'm the new blogger/online campaign manager for the site and I'll be keeping you updated online about Guantanamo Bay. So if you're on the Facebook, the Twitter or just checking out the blog, it's me you'll be conversing with, meeting and reading! Read More »

Graham Amendment Fails, Fight Against Gitmo Goes On

November 06, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

It’s good that some in Congress are finally pushing back at attacks by Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain and their cronies to hurt President Obama and his efforts to bring justice to 9/11 victims. Thursday the Senate voted to table, effectively killing, an amendment by Sen. Graham that would have made it illegal to try 9/11 terrorism suspects on U.S. soil. Many saw through the Republican games and their Democratic collaborators and came out in support of the president and the federal judicial system. Read More »

The Graham Amendment Is Wrong For America

November 04, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

What do Ramsey Yusuf, Zacarias Moussaoui and Timothy McVeigh all have in common? They're all terrorists who killed Americans who have been tried and convicted by our federal system. They didn't need to be sent to an isle of no return, like Guantanamo Bay. They didn't need special military tribunals. Just judges, prosecutors and everyday American citizens as jurors. Yet Republicans in Congress are backing an amendment by Sen. Lindsey Graham that would make it illegal to try criminals like Moussaoui in U.S. courts. What's wrong with that? We ask: What's wrong in believing in the Constitution and our federal system? Read More »

Grappling Over the Graham Amendment

November 03, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

When Lindsey Graham says he's for the closure of Guantanamo Bay we couldn't agree more, but his latest amendment to a House appropriations bill would strip the federal government of the ability to decide where terrorism suspects would be prosecuted. That's wrong. It leaves military tribunals as the only (and failed) option, ruling out federal, civilian courts were terrorism suspects have been successfully tried and sentenced multiple times. Now Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder have joined those speaking out against this amendment that would "set a dangerous precedent for Congress to restrict" how the Department of Justice funds its prosecutions.  Read More »

Who has the “Moral Authority?”

November 03, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

Liz Cheney and her crew at "Keep America Safe," your one-stop moral authority on life and its many endeavors! That is if your morals involve denying what even the Bush-Cheney Administration officials have admitted – that detainees were tortured at Guantanamo. Or arguing that musicians don't have the right to speak out against their music being used for said torture. But hey, Cheney's group already uses fear and misinformation to attack the U.S. Constitution by claiming that detention without charge is OK, why wouldn't they slam some musicians for the audacity of challenging their skewed world view? Just enter your random talking head and spout the usual nonsense: "It's almost laughable to think that heavy metal bands like Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine have a moral authority on national security issues," said Keep America Safe board member Debra Burlingame. Fortunately, a group of music fans aren't letting that statement go unchallenged. Read More »

Worst of the Worst? Six Uighurs Released

November 02, 2009  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

Dick Cheney calls them the "worst of the worst." Over the weekend six of these "worst of the worst" detainees were sent to Palau. They have spent eight years in Guantanamo. Even the Bush-Cheney Administration discovered it was a mistake to hold them in Guantanamo -- that they're not a threat to U.S. national security. And that was six years ago! Do you think it ever occurred to Dick Cheney that instead of continuing to send the Chinese Uighurs his hate-filled "worst of the worst" rhetoric that he should instead be sending them an apology? Read More »

VIDEO: Stephen Colbert Signs Campaign Letter to Close Guantanamo Now

October 30, 2009  |  Posted by Ryan Anderson

Rosanne Cash appeared on the Colbert Report last night to go toe-to-toe with Stephen Colbert on the use of music to torture at Guantanamo, and Rosanne made it clear: using music as torture is wrong and there’s no gray area. The upshot? Colbert signed our campaign letter agreeing with General Colin Powell that Guantanamo “should be closed this afternoon.” Since this is Colbert we’re talking about, he claims he signed it to “make it harder for Obama.” But we’ll take it.  Read More »

Rosanne Cash vs. Stephen Colbert Tonight!

October 29, 2009  |  Posted by Ryan Anderson

Set your DVR, tune in, and spread the word: Grammy-award winning musician and Close Gitmo Now supporter Rosanne Cash goes head-to-head tonight with Comedy Central’s answer to Bill O’Reilly, Stephen Colbert. Read More »

A Breach of Honor and Tradition

October 29, 2009  |  Posted by Matt Alexander

At no time in our military history has the deliberate mistreatment of detainees been authorized, regardless of their classification status. It is interesting to note that in the first Gulf War, after processing more than 78,000 prisoners of war, researchers could not find a single instance of detainee abuse. Yet, we know from numerous sources that since 9/11 there have been thousands of cases of detainee torture and abuse. And Guantanamo Bay represents the worst of it. Read More »

The Company You Keep

October 23, 2009  |  Posted by Tom Andrews

As the saying goes, you can tell a lot about people by the company that they keep. Yesterday's announcement by nationally acclaimed musicians that they were signing onto our National Campaign to Close Guantanamo Bay generated a harsh response from Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol's new right-wing organization "Keep America Safe". The neo-con group that wants to keep Guantanamo Bay prison open for business and defends the torture policies of the Bush-Cheney administration called the musician's support for the closure of Gitmo and an end to torture "pathetic". Today, a former senior military interrogator who led the team that found Abu Musab Al Zarqawi (the former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq) hit back in a statement released by VoteVets.org - an organization of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read More »

Strike Up the Bands: Close Gitmo!

October 22, 2009  |  Posted by Tom Andrews

Our campaign is taking off, and today we are thrilled that an incredible group of highly acclaimed musicians have signed onto the campaign. They are signing the open letter to Congress and asking you to join them. They include: Tom Morello, Billy Bragg, Michelle Branch, Jackson Browne, T-Bone Burnett, David Byrne, Rosanne Cash, Marc Cohn, Steve Earle, the Entrance Band, Joe Henry, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, R.E.M., Trent Reznor, Rise Against, The Roots. Read More »

Cheney and Kristol do Orwell

October 22, 2009  |  Posted by Tom Andrews

Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol of the group “Keep America Safe” were quick to attack us yesterday releasing a scathing response to the launch of our campaign “Close Guantanamo Now.”  According to their statement, those being held at Guantanamo “are dedicated to killing Americans”.  And, besides, they went on, “Guantanamo Bay is a secure, safe, humane facility”.  Why on earth should Congress allow the Obama administration to close it?  Read More »

In the News

October 21, 2009  |  Posted by Ryan Anderson

We received some great online coverage of yesterday’s launch, check it out. And if you see anything out there I’ve missed, let me know in the comments! Read More »

Close Gitmo Now!

October 20, 2009  |  Posted by Tom Andrews

On January 22nd this year, President Obama signed an Executive Order ordering the closure of the prison at Guantamo within a year. The ink wasn’t even dry before the President came under attack by former Vice-President Dick Cheney –who launched a public campaign intended to discredit the president’s security strategy for political gain and sought to pressure politicians into turning back the clock... Read More »

The Weakness of Liz Cheney

October 19, 2009  |  Posted by Jon Soltz, VoteVets.org

Last year, as the presidential campaign was heating up, the far right introduced a new group to counter the progressive voice of the veterans at VoteVets.org. Freedom's Watch started and ended with a sputter, mainly because the group was led by political folks who never served a day in their... Read More »

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