This is our first interview in a series of interviews with former Guantanamo Bay detention camp guards and detainees.
Several current and former U.S. soldiers have expressed interest in speaking publicly about their experience at Guantanamo: including a CIA psychologist, interrogators, guards, and medical personnel. They are disgusted with what they witnessed or took part in at Guantanamo, but declined my request for an interview, because they fear opening themselves up to prosecution by the US government, which required them to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement .
I was also told that many are afraid of being prosecuted for war crimes, since low level soldiers are often the ones who shoulder the brunt of punishment and backlash; whereas higher ranking officials seem to escape scrutiny completely.
Brandon Neely, has been a vocal critic of both Guantanamo Bay, and the war in Iraq. And he speaks from experience, since he was both a guard at Guantanamo during the the first six months the camp was open, and served in Iraq during the US invasion. In the course of his advocacy, he has offered testimony to the Center for Human Rights in the Americas, and appeared in numerous articles and on television programs, including a BBC program that recounts how he contacted two of his former prisoners on Facebook to express remorse for what he did. You can also find him, where I did, on twitter, @BrandonTXNeely.
This is our first interview in a series of interviews with former Guantanamo Bay detention camp guards and detainees.
Several current and former U.S. soldiers have expressed interest in speaking publicly about their experience at Guantanamo: including a CIA psychologist, interrogators, guards, and medical personnel. They are disgusted with what they witnessed or took part in at Guantanamo, but declined my request for an interview, because they fear opening themselves up to prosecution by the US government, which required them to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement .
I was also told that many are afraid of being prosecuted for war crimes, since low level soldiers are often the ones who shoulder the brunt of punishment and backlash; whereas higher ranking officials seem to escape scrutiny completely.
Brandon Neely, has been a vocal critic of both Guantanamo Bay, and the war in Iraq. And he speaks from experience, since he was both a guard at Guantanamo during the the first six months the camp was open, and served in Iraq during the US invasion. In the course of his advocacy, he has offered testimony to the Center for Human Rights in the Americas, and appeared in numerous articles and on television programs, including a BBC program that recounts how he contacted two of his former prisoners on Facebook to express remorse for what he did. You can also find him, where I did, on twitter, @BrandonTXNeely.
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WL Central will be updating news on Iran, with new items added at the top. All times are ET in USA.
You can contact me on twitter @carwinb or by email at carwinb@hushmail.com. Don't send media when links available. Most email is not encrypted and not anonymous. I cannot guarantee anyone's safety in transmission.
Reuters reports that Syria will set up an investigation into the protest deaths, as well as form a committee to "solve the problem of the 1962 census" during which 150,000 Syrian Kurds were denied nationality. It is doubtful that an investigation will be regarded as hopeful by protesters who blame the violence on Maher al-Assad, brother of the Syrian president, one of his closest advisors and head of the Republican Guard.
While Bashar al-Assad is the public face of Syrian governance, his brother is in charge of the security forces that provide Syria with one of the worst human rights and press freedoms records in the world. One of the many things he is commonly
Continuing his customary practice of promises unfulfilled, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad delivered a speech today that was expected days ago and delivered none of the hoped for concessions to protesters. The speech is here, English transcript is here.
Reports online are that after the speech a peaceful protest in Latakia was fired upon. A general commanded that the protesters be shot at. The army would not leave the civilians, they dragged away the bodies of the killed. I saw with my own eyes the bullet shells, I took and kept two in my bag as evidence. They said the security forces shot with automatic weapons. They said the bullets and weapons were Kalashnikovs. Very graphic video reportedly of today's violence has been posted here. An Al Jazeera report from Syria paints a chilling prelude scene before their reporter was turned away. The reporter found a colonel looking down a long range rifle scope at a checkpoint set up with a view of the future protest scene, while everyone was still listening to Assad's speech and the street was empty.
A list is being maintained of people imprisoned, missing and killed since the protests began. This very valuable work shows the name, date, occasionally picture, age, location, circumstance and source for each incident. The total number on the list is now at 275.
After Assad's speech, Syrian state TV showed footage of Assad in Damascus, the site of yesterday's hugely supportive rallies for him, only this time his army of security appeared breached by a rush from the crowd before the TV cut away. Report from News Tsar below.
WL Central will be updating news on Bahrain, with new items added at the top. All times are ET in USA. You can contact me on twitter @carwinb or by email at carwinb@hushmail.com. Don't send media when links available. Most email is not encrypted and not anonymous. I cannot guarantee anyone's safety in transmission.
Current time and date in Manama, Bahrain:
Send Arabic #firstaid images by MMS/SMS/email or print as fliers usng http://bit.ly/gv3tS #Bahrain.
WEDNESDAY, March 30
Dear Editor:
People of Bahrain are asking individuals to spread the news of the massacre that happened in Bahrain last Tuesday and Wednesday 15 and 16 of March, 2011 by the Saudi army. (Everybody is suspicious of the US blessing on this!) Nobody understands this move !!! and the double standard by the Western governments!!! We house the US 5th fleet and forever it's been a British base too.
The people of Bahrain started a peaceful demonstration on 14th Feb as it was the anniversary of the Constitution of the Monarchy in Bahrain. The King promised people greater democracy on that day, and the nation had voted for him. So to symbolise this event, the demands were simple, greater democracy, stop corruption and unemployment, stop nationalising the mercenary army.
On Sunday, 13 of March 2011 - student at the University of Barharin were attacked by some minority thugs holding swords, followed by the Riot police, many were hurt including the medics who tried to help the students, hence few severely wounded by swords cut!!!! pictures speak better than words.
On Tuesday, 15th of March - They stormed over the village of Sitra, below is some evidence of this butchery, the young man in this photo is Ahmad Farhan from Al Mahizaa area in Sitra and the second photo shows him from the back for those (including the Bahrain TV ) who claimed this is an old Palestinian picture....
No words can describe this butchery........
To the UN Security Council:
We urge you immediately to impose a no-fly zone on Libya to stop aerial bombings, attacks and the movement of Qaddafi's troops and weapons, which are inflicting a terrible toll on civilians, and to protect the needs and interests of the Libyan people.
As Libyan government jets drop bombs on the civilian population, the UN Security Council will decide in 48 hours whether to impose a no-fly zone to keep Qaddafi's warplanes on the ground.
Two weeks ago Avaaz members sent 450,000 emails to the Security Council, reportedly stunning the President of the Council's office and getting a public response from the US ambassador. Then, we helped win serious targeted sanctions on the Libyan regime - now, to stop the bloodshed, we need a massive outcry for a no-fly zone.
As long as Qaddafi's gunships are in the air, the civilian death toll will rise. Many European and Arab nations support a no-fly zone, but the politics of the Security Council requires unity to pass a resolution. A powerful public demand from all corners of the planet can push all the governments on the Council to take action. We have just 48 hours left -- sign now and forward this email widely.
Note from WL Central
Stop the Massacre - Save the Libyans
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To: His Excellency Ban Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations
The international news organizations are broadcasting atrocities that are being committed against unarmed civilians in Libya that could be considered crimes against humanity.
This country has been ruled with an iron fist for the past 42 years by the notorious regime of Muammar Gaddafi. While claiming to have a unique form of direct democracy, the regime has never tolerated any dissent, and has carried out many atrocities over the decades it has been in power oppressing its people, including public hangings, long-term imprisonments without trial, and the infamous massacre of 1270 prisoners in the Abusleem prison in Tripoli in 1996. Libya has no constitution, parliament, elections or free press. All political activities and parties are banned.
The Libyan people have risen in a wide wave of protests since February 15th that are turning into a bloodbath due to the vicious repression of these protests that the rulers of Libya have unleashed on its citizens. Hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries are being reported, with graphic evidence posted all over the Internet. This has got to stop. Nobody believes the denials and feeble excuses of the Libyan government's representatives.
We demand that all free world governments and international organizations take immediate action to:
• Condemn all military actions against civilians all over Libya, and demand that the Libyan regime immediately stop all such actions and stop repression of any free peaceful protests
• Demand that the Libyan rulers allow international media and international humanitarian organizations free, unhindered and safe access to all parts of the country
Act Now to Stop Mubarak's Thugs From Killing More!
WL Central's clayclai outlines on the following terms a campaign to bring a halt to anti-protest state violence in Egypt:
‘The chant is يسقط يسقط حسني مبارك – Tell the world he is killing us’
As the Sun rises in Cairo on the tenth day of the Egyptian uprising, the protesters opposed to the government of Hosni Mubarak still hold Tahrir Liberation Square. They still hold it in spite of a night of horrific violence by pro-Mubarak thugs that attacked the peaceful protesters with machine guns, other guns and fire bombs. Overwhelming evidence is already mounting that this murderous gang was composed of police in plain clothes, NDP functionaries and loyalist and hired thugs. The army, which in previous days made sure all the protesters that entered the square were unarmed, stood by and did nothing while the assault took place.
The goal of the thugs was to drive the protesters from the square. In this they were not successful.
WL Central will be updating news on Bahrain, with new items added at the top. All times are ET in USA. You can contact me on twitter @carwinb or by email at carwinb@hushmail.com. Don't send media when links available. Most email is not encrypted and not anonymous. I cannot guarantee anyone's safety in transmission.
Current time and date in Manama, Bahrain:
Send Arabic #firstaid images by MMS/SMS/email or print as fliers usng http://bit.ly/gv3tS #Bahrain.
See continuing March or February WL Coverage of Bahrain.
Bradley Manning's inhumane treatment during his pretrial incarceration looks set to become a millstone around Obama's neck in his dealings with other countries.
Today, International Bradley Manning Support Day, marks also the announcement of a campaign to have the United States president arrested once he arrives on Irish soil, during a planned visit to the Western European democracy in May. The #ArrestObama #May22 campaign holds that Ireland has an obligation under international law to pursue and prosecute all those within its jurisdiction who carry out or authorize torture, or who permit torture to be carried out, or who obstruct bringing those who do so to justice.
The campaign makes the claim that Obama's failure to prosecute high-ranking Bush administration officials - as well as the cruel and inhumane treatment to which U.S. military whistleblower Bradley Manning is being subjected in the Marine brig in Quantico - constitutes ownership of responsibility for torture.
The campaign comes at an inconvenient moment for the new Fine Gael/Labour coalition government, elected mid-last-month in a landslide ousting of the previously dominant Fianna Fail party. The new government will be seeking to establish strong diplomatic ties with the United States, in the hopes that this will reap benefits in the face of Ireland's withering economic situation. In November, the last Irish government revealed that it had negotiated a deal with the International Monetary Fund, in response to the deepening crisis in the banking sector. Any matter that jeopardizes the precarious bargaining position of the tiny European state will likely frustrate the fledgling government.
As Human Rights Watch joins Amnesty in calling for the US to explain or desist from the abuse of Bradley Manning, support for Manning has increased around the world. MP Ann Clywd questioned UK Foreign Secretary William Hague regarding Manning's treatment at the meeting of the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday (transcript available at UK Friends of Bradley Manning) and she again brought up his treatment today, this time by formally requesting during Business Questions in the Commons that a debate be held on the conditions of Manning's detention. She explicitly compared Manning's treatment to that "meted out" to prisoners at Guantanamo. In his reply, Sir George Young, leader of the House of Commons, did not disavow the comparison to practices at Guantanamo. He said that the concerns conveyed by Clwyd are "widely shared" and agreed that Manning's case was a "suitable subject for debate" in the Commons.
Human Rights Watch has issued a statement demanding that the US government explain the "extremely restrictive and possibly punitive and degrading treatment" of PFC Bradley Manning in pre-trial detention at Quantico Marine base in Virginia:
According to regulations governing operation of the brig issued by the secretary of the Navy, when a prisoner has been assessed to no longer pose a suicide risk by a medical officer they should be returned to appropriate quarters. According to a complaint filed by Manning, on 16 occasions military mental health professionals recommended that he be removed from POI status. While Manning's complaint was made public by his lawyer, the brig commander has not released the brig's formal response to his allegations. If Manning agrees to the release of medical or mental health information that would otherwise be confidential to protect his privacy, the government should immediately make public its rationale for his continued POI status.
... The new charges filed against Manning, for which the death penalty is possible, include aiding the enemy, even though Manning allegedly provided documents to WikiLeaks, not an agent of a government or armed group at war with the US. The removal of Manning's underwear during the evenings began the same day the additional charges were filed.
The language of the HRW statement approaches that of the ACLU's warning that Manning's treatment may be unconstitutional, as we reported here. That report has been updated with news of Ann Clwyd's question in the House of Commons today, the leader's lack of objection to her comparison between Manning's situation and that of prisoners at Guantanamo, and a transcript and video of Clwyd's exchange yesterday in committee with Foreign Minister William Hague.
Update: Ann Clwyd MP's question today, 17 March, in the Commons, on the turn
MP Ann Clwyd (L-Cynon Valley) today raised the question of the treatment of PFC Bradley Manning at the Quantico military base in Virginia with the foreign secretary, William Hague, during his testimony before the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. (The exchange between Clwyd and Hague appears in the last several minutes here.)
Although Hague stood on legal formalities in his reply -- he cannot take a position without Manning's consent; Manning has stated that he does not consider himself a UK citizen; and it is up to Manning's US lawyer to seek redress of any treatment he considers unlawful -- he made one significant concession. At the close of his remarks he said voluntarily that the concerns of UK citizens about Manning's treatment would be brought to US diplomatic attention because they had been raised in a parliamentary committee.
Earlier in the day, an interview with Manning's friend David House, who has been talking to support networks in the UK this week, was published in the Guardian.
The spokesman for the Department of State in the Obama administration, PJ Crowley, resigned today for having criticized the inhumane treatment of U.S. political prisoner Bradley Manning as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."
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Commentary in TIME and Politico strongly suggest that Crowley's resignation was a forced move by an administration that does not bear internal criticism. Politico indicates that insider sources have been heralding the replacement of Crowley - with NSC spokesman Mike Hammer - for a long time, and that the Manning incident allowed this to be expedited. Crowley has publicly expressed his pleasure that Hammer will replace him on his twitter account.
Late last week, commentators on the treatment of alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning were surprised when Crowley unequivocally criticized the Department of Defense at a small seminar in MIT on new media. An attendee reported his statement:
March 20th, 2011 is International Bradley Manning Support Day. It will see coordinated rallies all over the world in support of Manning, the alleged whistleblower incarcerated under cruel and inhumane conditions in a marine brig in Quantico, Virginia.
Since Manning was arrested 10 months ago, and began to endure solitary confinement, international support and advocacy of his cause has grown. This has intensified in the last few months, when the full import of the Wikileaks releases - which Manning is accused of having leaked - began to dawn on the international citizenry.
In a new development, U.S. State Department Spokesman PJ Crowley has made a statement indicating that opinion is divided among officials in Obama's government concerning the punitive and inhumane pre-trial treatment of alleged Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning.
While speaking to a small audience in MIT organized by the Center for Future Civic Media, Crowley was asked what he thought of the treatment of Bradley Manning. According to an attendee at the meeting, Philippa Thomas, Crowley unequivocally denounced the treatment of Manning by the Department of Defense as "ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid."
What did Crowley think, he asked, about Wikileaks? About the United States, in his words, “torturing a prisoner in a military brig”? Crowley didn’t stop to think. What’s being done to Bradley Manning by my colleagues at the Department of Defense “is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” He paused. “None the less Bradley Manning is in the right place”. And he went on lengthening his answer, explaining why in Washington’s view, “there is sometimes a need for secrets… for diplomatic progress to be made”. But still, he’d said it. And the fact he felt strongly enough to say it seems to me an extraordinary insight into the tensions within the administration over Wikileaks.
In an 11 page legal rebuttal released on his lawyer's Web site, Bradley Manning describes his experience under "maximum custody" solitary confinement and "prevention of injury watch". See Rebuttal Article 138 Complaint - Quantico (PDF) for full legal rebuttal by Bradley Manning via David Coombs. (Source: The Law Office of David E Coombs)
The legal rebuttal was written in response to the base commander, Colonel Choike's (*see photo left), denial of "Manning's request to be removed from Prevention of Injury Watch and to have his custody classification reduced from Maximum to Medium Detention". The letter details the "arbitrary" and "improper" nature of the US Defense Department's treatment of Manning, including his placement on "suicide watch" after the January 18 Protest at Quantico. (Source: The Law Office of David E. Coombs)
"Suicide Watch" in Response to January 18 17 Quantico Protest
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