Protesting Against US-Sponsored Torture in Guantanamo, Cuba
By Kathy Ogle
March 2, 2006
Dear friends and family,
This morning fourteen people walked the halls of all the congressional office buildings dressed in orange jumpsuits. They also wore a black strip of cloth over their mouths with the word TORTURE emblazoned on it. Each walked slowly down the middle of one of the House or Senate office building halls looking straight ahead and saying nothing.
I was one of them.
This "ghost walk" was sponsored by Torture Abolition and Survivor's Support Coalition (TASSC), an organization of courageous torture survivors from all over the world. I was proud to be part of it.
The ghost walk coincided with a press conference on torture at the nearby Methodist Building. Speakers included: Kristine Huskey, an attorney representing Kuwaiti detainees in Guantánamo; Anthony Chukwudi, a Nigerian survivor of torture; Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a retired Brigadier General of the Army Medical Corps and a member of Physicians for Human Rights; a representative of Veterans for Common Sense; and Jennifer Harbury, the widow of a Guatemalan resistance leader who was tortured and killed at the hands of a CIA asset.
Ray McGovern, a man who worked for the CIA for 25 years, also wore an orange jumpsuit today. After his ghost walk in the Rayburn House Office Building, he presented himself to his congressman's office and returned his CIA medals of honor. This is how strongly he feels about the ongoing and unrepentant U.S. use of torture and abuse in Guantánamo and other places.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have long advocated the closure of the Guantánamo U.S. detention facility in Cuba, where over 500 prisoners are still being tortured and held without charges or legal representation after four years. Last week the United Nations issued a report also recommending Guantánamo˙s closure and charging the United States with torture.
Things are so bad in Guantánamo that as many as 131 prisoners have participated in some way in a long-term hunger strike. Many are determined to starve to death rather than continue living with the humiliation, abuse, and hopelessness they face each day. The closest to death are being force fed, but with methods so brutal that they, too, "amount to torture," according to the United Nations report.
We weren't sure what the response of congressional security would be to our ghost walk, but were pleased to be allowed to continue our non- violent presence. I, personally, encountered no problems or hostility as I walked alone in the Cannon House Office Building in my orange jumpsuit (with a support person following behind). While many of the aids, lobbyists, and visitors in the hall looked surprised and many tried not to acknowledge my presence at all, a few smiled or expressed some kind of approval. One woman with a lovely southern accent said, "Amen!" It was good to know that 13 others were walking in 13 other halls of congress at the same time.
It seems hard to believe that in the year 2006 we have to defend something as basic as the right of a human being not to have to undergo torture. Unfortunately, we do. I am committed to this, in part, because I know people who have been tortured. I know that the effects of torture go far beyond the time and place of the cell in which the unspeakable acts are committed. I've heard all the reasons why torture might be necessary and I don˙t find any of them either remotely convincing or morally sound. And I truly believe we are less safe now as a nation because of the willingness of the United States to engage in torture.
What to Do
If you'd like to speak up against torture, now would be a good time to call your congressional representatives. Ask them to encourage the administration to follow the recommendations of last week's United Nations report and CLOSE GUANTANAMO NOW.
Amnesty International would also ask you to demand the following:
* Prisoners at Guantánamo should be immediately released or given fair trials.
* The Guantánamo detention facilities should be closed.
* The administration should issue a clear and public condemnation of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and take all necessary steps to ensure that U.S. sponsored torture and abuse come to an end.
* All allegations of torture must be investigated and those found responsible for committing, ordering, or authorizing torture must be brought to justice in a fair trial according to international law.
For information on torture at Guantánamo, please see:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510072006
http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=usa_gitmo
Thanks for being awake to this world and for caring about this issue.
Much love,
Kathy