Declared Innocent But Will Die in Prison

Secrecy and Democracy cannot co-exist; they are incompatible.

(JAMESTOWN, RI) - It reads like a movie script. You have been held prisoner for 11 years, you have been tortured, no charges have been filled against you, nor have you had access to a lawyer. You are innocent, you have claimed innocence for 11 years. Your daughter, unborn when they took you, is now 10, and you have never seen her. You probably will die in prison, so you wonder if you should cut your ties with your family and let them move on? Those holding you have said they have no reason to hold you, and you should be given your freedom. You will not. You will die here; innocent.

This sad tale is that of 89 men who have been held, tortured, denied any legal representation, no charges filed against them, and told they should be freed. The authorities have publicly stated they have no legal reason for their holding and they should be released. This horrible story is that of 89 prisoners at Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba. The 89 have been declared innocent of any crime, all involved intelligence agencies of the government have agreed there is no reason for their being held at Guantanamo, and they should be freed. That will probably never happen, for the US government has become so tainted we now hold innocents for life with no charges against them. The travesty of justice is beyond the level of comprehension of the founders of the Constitution, who spent so much time trying to protect innocent civilians from the power of the US government. They specifically put into the Constitution, the Bill of Rights which was designed to protect us from unjust and illegal detention by the national government. Unfortunately it has no meaning. We should be very frightened at the prospect of a government unchecked by law.

Of the 166 men being held at Guantanamo, 89 men have been cleared for freedom by all the US intelligence agencies, yet most likely they will die in Guantanamo. Indeed 9 men have already died while being held, and currently most are involved in a hunger strike protesting their illegal detention. Many are reported to be very sick, and some are reported to being force fed by stuffing a large hose into their nose, forcing the tube into their stomachs, then pumping a liquid food through the tube. That in itself might be called torture. The US government denies the existence of a large scale hunger strike, claiming only a few are participating, and insisting force feeding is not occurring but recently admitted there are at least 14 on a hunger strike and 6 are being force fed. There is a simple way to determine the truth; open Guantanamo and give free access to the press, but the government refuses to do so. They argue Guantanamo holds dangerous prisoners, but 89 have been declared eligible for freedom and most of the remainder have never been charged with anything. So why won't the government open Guantanamo to human rights experts or reporters, or both? Maybe they have much to hide. Does all this make you proud?

Let's not forget Obama's promise to close Guantanamo by the end of his first year in office; just one of an endless list of lies.

Secrecy and Democracy cannot co-exist; they are incompatible.

Salem-News.com Writer Joe Clifford, lives in historic Jamestown, Rhode Island, and has contributed a number of articles relating to foreign policy to newspapers in the Rhode Island area for years.

He graduated from Providence College where he earned an undergraduate and graduate degree. After a lengthy career as a high school teacher he turned to the study of US foreign policy, and then to writing, as a means of expressing an alternative perspective. His reading and research on foreign policy is broad and extensive, especially as the policy relates to the Middle East. His interest in foreign policy was inspired by the American misadventure in Vietnam. You can write to Joe at this address: jc21131@gmail.com