Guantanamo

9/11, Debra Burlingame, Guantanamo, Lawfare, September 11

ABC News: 9/11 Families: Gitmo Tribunals ‘Tainted’

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The ABC News blog posted this article this afternoon:

‘9/11 Families: Gitmo Tribunals ‘Tainted’ — Group of Victims’ Relatives Say Military Tribunals ‘Compromised by Politics‘

Here is my response:

The letter was not “released by the ACLU,” it was written by the ACLU and only a TINY percentage of 9/11 family members signed it.

Oh, by the way, no one in my ‘9/11 family’ signed the letter, making the first two words of your title an imitation of Kerry 2004 when four “girls” from New Jersey were with him on the campaign while 262 of us from many families sided with his opposition. ‘9/11 families…?’ I think not.

Oh, by the way, the majority of the TINY percentage signers of their letter are either 1) members of the Teresa Heinz-Kerry/Tides Foundation supported never war Peace[ful] Tomorrows who lost someone on 9/11 and just added to their group’s name in 2002 or 2) ‘Jersey Girls‘ and company.

And oh, by the way, what the heck is the appointing/convening authority doing being influenced by those or any percentage of names? Are a band of dissenters the law unto themselves or are the laws of our land — the Military Commission Act and Detainee Treatment Act — what vastly experienced lawyer Susan Crawford should be guided by?

Disclaimer: The ACLU did not write my response for me; I write my own stuff and speak only for me and my ‘9/11 family.’

Update: Also see No 9/11 kin will witness Gitmo arraignments, thanks to DoD and a NY Daily News ‘reporter’

Guantanamo

Guantanamo Is a Model Prison (Really)

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Rear Adm. Buzby was the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo from May 2007 until last week. In part, he writes today in the Wall Street Journal this:

All detainees receive three-meals per day, a 4,000-calorie diet selected from six different menus that meet the halal cultural dietary requirements, and which provide for special needs such as low sodium, vegetarian or diabetic. We provide comfort items including sheets and bedding, uniforms, shoes, prayer beads, prayer rugs, toiletries and bottled water. Each detainee is issued a Quran in Arabic and one in his native language. An ever-expanding, 5,000 volume library is available for a weekly choice of reading material.

Detainees sent and received more than 27,000 pieces of mail last year. In addition to humanitarian phone calls, which have long been permitted, we allow annual phone calls to family members. Last year, more than 1,200 attorney visits were conducted. Suggestions that detainees are being held “incommunicado” are simply not true.

Medical-care standards afforded to detainees are the same that my troopers receive. Access to treatment is 24/7, with a detainee-to-medical-staff ratio of three-to-one that far exceeds Federal Bureau of Prison standards, and is frankly better than what most Americans enjoy.

Joint Task Force doctors have performed more than 370 surgeries, including restorative eye procedures, and a recent back surgery that restored movement and avoided possible paralysis for a detainee. Shortly after, that detainee sent me a note saying “Thank you, I have been wrong about Americans.”

No wonder so many countries refuse to accept back nearly a hundred of their citizens. If those detainees reached home and spread rumors, their neighbors might revolt over why they don’t have it as good as the jihadists did at Guantanamo.