January 12, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Witness Against Torture took a stand in silence and solidarity with those unlawfully imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay Monday. Here's a video report on the anniversary and their actions. Read More »
January 11, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
More than 500 people have been released from the prison at Guantanamo Bay because we had no reason to hold them. They were picked up for the wrong reasons in mass raids, locked away based on old grudges, misinformation and hearsay. The military let them go because they looked for a terrorist and didn't find one. But some people can't be bothered with pesky things like facts or numbers. Some people are like Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk who, quite proudly, remarked that Taliban leadership was staffed and lead by "hardened" former Gitmo detainees. This despite the fact that a majority of Taliban leadership has never ... been ... in ... Gitmo. Read More »
January 08, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Maybe they thought the report would be less wrong the second go round. For some reason, the New York Times thought it was fit to essentially reprint a retracted story about Gitmo detainees and their recidivism numbers. Now claiming that one-in-five detainees "return to the fight," this new story sounds a lot like an old one that made a similar, junk science claim. But folks aren't letting this one sit idle. Here's a round up of what our friends are saying about this fraudulent report. Read More »
January 06, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Oh, Jon Stewart? What would we ever do without you? Check out this latest Daily Show with Jon Stewart clip where Stewart tackles Republican hypocrisy on the attempted Christmas day terror attack and fear-mongering over Yemen. Read More »
January 04, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Poor Sen. Jim DeMint. He just can't decide if he's unhappy with President Obama because of semantics or if he thinks the President is actually doing a good job with counter-terrorism. And it doesn't help that DeMint's been repeating Dick Cheney's meme that Obama is afraid to use the word "terrorism." Nothing like an argument over frivolous word choice in the middle of our very serious national security debate. It must be just so very, very hard for DeMint to figure out this flip-floppin' conundrum, especially when he's so busy putting the nation at risk by holding up political appointees to the Transportation Security Agency. What? DeMint didn't mention that? It's something about Unions. Scary, scary unions. Those same Unions who aren't al Qaeda and aren't a threat to our national security. Read More »
January 04, 2010 | Posted by Danielle Belton
There's justice and then there's the weak-kneed response from some right wingers when it comes to bringing the law down on terrorism suspects. You see? Some of us believe in the Constitution, the rule of law, and the justice system that our nation was founded on. Others scream that the US courts aren't tough enough to handle terrorists. Like a bevy of yellow-bellies, they bash our way of life to keep the prison at Guantanamo open and justice uneven. What are they so afraid of? Especially when our system has handed justice to terrorists hundreds of times before. Read More »
December 30, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
It didn’t matter that in 2001 when Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber, tried to blow up a transatlantic flight no one was complaining about President Bush’s response. It didn’t matter that it took Bush days to respond. It didn’t matter to Republicans or Democrats alike. But eight years and a new president later everything that was once too big for partisan bickering is just another political football in the fight for votes and campaign cash. Read More »
December 29, 2009 | Posted by Tom Andrews
Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up Northwest Flight 253. The key word is "attempted." The only thing he managed to do was set his pants on fire and he was easily apprehended. He will be held and tried in U.S. custody. But rather than use this incident of terrorism as a lesson to make our country safer or deal with the facts regarding al Qaeda, some Republicans have chosen to make this incident yet another political football in the constant game of fearmongering one-up-manship. There is nothing partisan about terrorism. There should be nothing partisan about our response to it. Read More »
December 23, 2009 | Posted by Tom Andrews
Congress is apparently going to give al Qaeda and other jihadists who want to kill Americans at least two more years of their most potent recruitment tool: the Guantanamo Bay prison. According to a front page story in the New York Times, Obama administration officials now believe that Congressional opposition to the president’s directive to close Guantanamo is going to force the administration to keep it open “until 2011 at the earliest”. Read More »
December 23, 2009 | Posted by Ryan Anderson
Former Congressman Tom Andrews, Director of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, released the following statement to the press today in response to a story by the New York Times that new delays by Congress could keep Gitmo open until 2011. Read More »
December 21, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
We at New Security Action are off on winter break and won't be back until the new year! Read More »
December 18, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Several newspaper editorial pages are chiming in on the prison at Thomson and how it will soon house detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Many are agreeing that this is a necessary step to begin the closure of the prison at Guantanamo, that Republican fear-mongering on detainees coming to the U.S. for trial is over-blown, and that being in the U.S. affords the best chance at justice for all involved. Read More »
December 16, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Sometimes to win a losing argument you just have to stop making sense. In the case of some Republicans and the prison at Guantanamo Bay playing "crazy" seems to be the best bet. Nothing like playing Chicken Little Hawk with your head cut off, throwing your beaks up to the sky, screaming, "The terrorists are coming! The terrorists are coming!" Of course, they're "coming" to a maximum security prison in rural Illinois where they will be housed until they face trial. And they will be in prison on US soil, the same soil that currently holds more than 300 terrorists, international and domestic. The same soil where since 2001, 195 terrorists have been tried and convicted. This is a been there, done that situation. But I guess, scream now, scream again is more apropos for some Republicans. Read More »
December 16, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
White House Press Secy. Robert Gibbs didn't mince any words Tuesday when he unabashedly called some of the Great Right Wing Freak-Out over Guantanamo Bay detainees coming to a prison in Thomson, Ill. "crazy." He specifically called out GOP House Minority Leader John Boehner when he said, "I have seen some far crazier comments today -- comments from people like John Boehner. Here's what I would suggest for John Boehner. Call up Leon Panetta or Denny Blair at the CIA or the director of national intelligence. Ask them if he can come down and watch a video put out by al Qaeda senior leadership like -- the names that we recognize, (Ayman al-) Zawahiri. Thirty-two times since 2001 and four times this year alone, senior al Qaeda leadership in recruiting videos have used the prison at Guantanamo Bay as a clarion call to bring extremists from around the world to join their effort.” But can you fight "The Crazy" with logic? Read More »
December 15, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Check us out! We made CNN today with the news that the Obama Administration is purchasing the prison in Thomson, Ill. to house Guantanamo Bay detainees. See what Tom had to say after the jump. Read More »
December 15, 2009 | Posted by Tom Andrews
A statement from New Security Action's Tom Andrews on President Obama's announcement to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to a federal prison in Illinois. A total of 195 terrorists have been tried, convicted and are presently locked up in Federal Supermax prisons here in the U.S. and the bulk of that happened under the Bush-Cheney Administration. Read More »
December 15, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
It's official. The Federal government is set to announce the transfer of some detainees to a maximum security prison in Thomson, Ill. Of course, if you've been following the news, this is really no news at all ... unless you're a right winger wrapped up in hyperbole, looking to scream one more time for good measure about why actually following the rule of law and bringing justice to the victims of terrorism by actually (shocking) trying the people accused of hurting them is going to cause the End Times. May cooler heads always prevail. Read More »
December 14, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
A group of pro-Gitmo politicians and activists met in New York. They claimed they believed in America, they just didn't believe America was strong enough to handle terrorists. They didn't believe in an America that could successfully bring justice to the victims of 9/11. They didn't believe in the judicial system or the Constitution that backs it. They didn't believe in all the things that make America "America." What do they believe in? Fear. It's all they have. It's what they cling to, and they're not afraid to tear down our institutions just to make their scare-tactics stick. Read More »
December 11, 2009 | Posted by
It's the holiday season and we have just the video for those who are ready to see the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. Share it with your family and friends. Post it to your blog or Web site. Tell the world this Christmas to "Close Gitmo Now." Read More »
December 10, 2009 | Posted by Danielle Belton
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions wants Attorney General Eric Holder to stop sending Guantanamo Bay detainees to Saudi Arabia, even if they've been cleared for release. He's worried about the effectiveness of the Saudi rehabilitation program for former prisoners, but what he's really doing is under-cutting the Obama Administration and saying he doesn't believe the military when they say a detainee has been determined to not be a threat. Sessions is second guessing the cases of 116 detainees that are all up to be transferred to other countries, including Saudi Arabia. Once again, it's a game of anything to keep the prison by delaying and denying justice. Read More »
Jacob Witte - Iowa State Daily - Feb 1
Dominic Casciani - BBC News - Jan 31
Jeffrey Kaye - Truthout - Jan 31
Josh Rogin - Foreign Policy - Jan 31
Jamie Crawford - CNN - Jan 31
AP - Jan 31
Anne Gearan, Kimberly Dozier - AP - Jan 31
Josh Rogin - Foreign Policy - Jan 26
The Gleamer - Jan 30
Peter Worthington - Toronto Sun - Jan 30