Moazzam Begg's story. It makes me so ashamed...

[grace0418]

http://www.alternet.org/rights/23576/

<snip>

MOAZZAM BEGG: Yes. It was three years of my life, so it is very difficult to condense into a few minutes. But, I can try to highlight the most profound parts of my incarceration including being held by the Americans in Kandahar, in Bagram, and ultimately in Guantanamo for 2 years. During my time there, I witnessed things that I would have never perceived the United States would be capable of. With my own eyes, I witnessed the killing of at least two detainees by military police with their own hands.

.......

DEEPA FERNANDES: What was the worst thing that happened to you while you were in Guantanamo?

MOAZZAM BEGG: In Guantanamo, it was being held in solitary confinement for such a long time without recourse to justice or family or contact with anyone. In Bagram, it was being beaten and hog-tied as I said and witnessing the death of other people and seeing children in custody.

.......

DEEPA FERNANDES: Who were the people you were locked up with? Are they terrorists? Are they enemy combatants against the United States?

MOAZZAM BEGG: Statements are being made that these people were captured on a battlefield. I wasn't captured on a battlefield or anywhere near a battlefield. Neither were all these people or the majority of the people being held there. There weren't too many engagements by the US ground forces; most of them were Northern Alliance forces Normally, the tribunals or Article 5 hearing according to the Geneva Convention is supposed to take place to determine if a man is an enemy combatant or prisoner of war or a non-combatant or civilian. None of these took place because there was not battlefield where it was done.

In the words of many interrogators I came across, and one in particular who said, and I quote, "I know that there is nobody being held here in Guantanamo Bay that has committed an act of belligerence against the United States, because if we did have somebody like that we would have processed them through our courts, punished them, and locked them up for a very long time."

[enough]

1. As US citizens, this shames us all.

[glitch]

2. Yes - the torturers think they are shaming the tortured. But really they

are shaming themselves, and us, because we won't stop them.

[grace0418]

3. They may not be shaming the tortured, but they are maiming them,

killing them and dehumanizing them. It makes me sick. And I agree with you, they are shaming themselves and us.

I feel so shaky and nauseous after reading that. Imagine, they came to that guy's house and arrested him in front of his family with NO cause, NO evidence and NO recourse. It could happen to anyone. And with three little kids too, just three years erased from everyone's life, and untold amounts of psycological damage.

[grace0418]

4. This quote really got to me...

PRATAP CHATTERJEE: What did people say to you about their treatment?

MOAZZAM BEGG: One of the quotes I heard people tell the guards a lot is that they weren't terrorists before they came in, but they certainly will be when they leave. There we so many common rights that were being denied.

[Tempest]

5. Get a copy of "Mission Accomplished"

There's an Iraqi woman who was used as an interpreter by the U.S. at Abu Ghraib describing torture and abuse of prisoners. There's also prisoners released from Abu Ghraib talking of the abuse they endured.

The video was shot before the torture at Abu Ghraib became publically known, but the documentary wasn't released until after it became known..

[grace0418]

6. These stories are just so heartbreaking to me, and scary.

I try to imagine what it would be like to be sitting at home, watching tv, playing with your kids, when suddenly someone comes and drags you away at gunpoint. For three years, with no reason or evidence. It's terrifying.

[Tempest]

16. There was one woman at the prison waiting to see her husband and 3 sons

She hadn't seen them in 5 months and the U.S. wouldn't let her in to see them.

They went to work one day and never came home.

[grace0418]

7. You can listen to the full interview here:

http://wakeupcallradio.blogspot.com/

[glitch]

8. Thank you for posting this. It's important to know.

You probably won't get a lot of responses, because it is too awful for words. But a lot of people will read it, so don't get discouraged.

[grace0418]

9. I know, it's hard to read.

But we must read it. It's one thing to read newspaper accounts of detainees being tortured and another to read first-hand accounts from those who've endured and witnessed the torture. I know it's dorky to keep bumping my own thread but I think this is really important.

[leftchick]

10. ameriKa is quickly becoming one of the WORST Human Rights violators

It makes me ashamed as well.

:(

[grace0418]

11. What do we do?

I feel so helpless.

[Karenina]

12. Torches and pitchforks

The "*elite" that has seized America's MIC will NOT go quietly into that dark night. They will MURDER YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES AND DEVASTATE YOUR COMMUNITIES to maintain their control. Make no mistake, this is a jack-booted Tyrannasaurus Rex confronting you and the rest of the world.

[byronius]

14. There are moderate voices who would ask you to remain focused and clear.

And I respect that. However, having lived in and around 'them', and having read about them and watched their methods -- you're right. There is a hardcore element who are absolutely, ruthlessly, anti-American. And they have the keys to all the super-toys we have bought over the years. Surveillance, data-mining, and instant death -- in the hands of murderous right-wing nutcakes.

[Karenina]

18. I've been a news-junkie

since I left conservatory several decades ago and worked switchboard for the "big boys" to augment what I earned playing Brahms Symphonies. Alway had easy access to Advertising Age, WSJ, Financial Times, etc. and figured out pretty quickly that those pubs were prerequisite to deciphering what got printed in the corporate "news" media.

Ike warned us. I watched his speech, read it again after JFK was assassinated. We had our "LOVE-INS," fought the war-mongers, then Reagan removed the solar panels Carter had installed. This shit goes even further back, to the card-carrying Nazis installed by Dulles. AEI and Heritage began their "grassroots" DECADES AGO. THEY have a plan, as do the Dominionists. And they got LOTS OF MISBEGOTTEN DOUGH. So here we all are now with a dumbed-down, obese, entertained-to-death populace that cannot wrap it's feebled brain around history, or even discern truth from falsehood.

Make NO MISTAKE. YOU as an American citizen have no more value to them than the children blown up DAILY in Iraq. If murdering 200 million of YOU will allow them to retain the power they have seized, THEY WON'T BLINK as that red button is pushed. Take THAT to the bank.

[libodem]

13. this is difficult to respond to

it makes me crazy, mad, outraged, what can one say? This goes against everything I believe in with every fiber of my being. This is why I feel like I'm having a seizure when I see that Rush Limbaugh thinks torture is so hilarious he's designed Club Gitmo t-shirts and is selling them from his web site. He's encouraging freepers to try and take pictures of liberals reactions to the t-shirts. The conservatives down-play this mistreatment and denial of basic rights as something the detainees deserve. We have completely lost our moral high-ground with this behavior. I hope more detainees will have their stories told. This is a most important type of reporting. The people need to know what is being done in their names and that we won't stand for it.

[cyberpj]

15. The talking points response is: You would believe a prisoner over US?

It makes me puke.
And my answer is YES!

I do the only thing I can do which is to hand mail this story to DLC, select senators and reps and as many newspapers as I can manage.

These stories will be coming out for years and years and years.

[grace0418]

17. morning kick. eom.