"The American people have shown no interest in this issue."

By GottaLaff

My dear Twitter friend and TPC reader FutureDirected forwarded me the following e-mail invitation yesterday:

Hear directly from a Guantanamo lawyer!

Guantanamo attorney and War Criminals Watch Advisor Candace Gorman on a national conference call.

Hear from one of the very brave and self-sacrificing attorneys who are devoting their lives to defending Guantanamo detainees. The interview wil be followed by a Q&A session.

I had to miss the call, but she was kind, and thorough, enough to take the following notes last night.

Here are the notes I took during the call, and a pdf by Candace [Note: Link to html version]:

http://gtmoblog.blogspot.com/

Candace Gorman, Attorney Civil Rights/Human Rights Professional consultant to the Hague: War crimes/Crimes Against Humanity
Algerian client, Al-Jizawe, guilt by association, lived in same guest house as another detainee. Asked for expedited ruling on Habeas Corpus

Two other clients

Letters between client and attorney, read and censored. Redacted version sent. Full version can be read in Washington. Process takes weeks.

Access to evidence: "None." Timex watch, supposedly can be used for detonating a bomb. US will not produce watch.

"Clients have not been charged with a crime, and never will be."

"It has been a mistake, by the Obama administration, to attempt to revise the Military Commissions process." "Take it out of Military hands. I recommend Article III court as the only Constitutional alternative."

Obama & Justice Dept. : "Nothing has changed in the DOJ (I don't like to use the word Justice because there is no Justice there.) .... I had great hope and there have been no changes."

Torture and treatment: Torture yes: solitary confinement. force feeding hunger strikers tube feeding. Being there, solitary, force fed, 'earthed'
Don't know about waterboarding.

Closing gitmo is important, but not just by moving them to another prison. "Most of these men are not guilty of anything."

"Handful of men have committed acts that need attention, we have to set up a process for handling that. We don't lock them up because they might do something."

"The American people have shown no interest in this issue."

"There is something insidious going on this country, with all this secrecy."

Many of the detainees have contracted tuberculosis and are not receiving appropriate care for it.

Does all this sound familiar? It should:

All my previous posts about Gitmo detainee Fayiz al-Kandari, and his military attorney Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.Our system of justice is broken. Military commissions rely on coerced confessions and hearsay, something Jane Mayer covers in great detail in her book..

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.