By Debra Sweet

Friday was the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Gatherings in Washington, London, Chicago and San Francisco focused on the American version of torture practices since 9/11. But torture is as American as _ _ _ _ _  _ _ _.

While the attention of the U.S. public has been persistently directed to fear acts by Islamic jihadists, in fact, state terrorism by the U.S. is much more widespread, and reenforced and defended in the courts and media.  9/11 incidents were created across the Middle East by the U.S. military since 9/11/01.

The fight to expose and stop this global war OF terror is not over.  Stephanie Tang spoke in San Francisco for World Can't Wait Friday as part of the international protest:

Six months ago just the executive summary was published, and even there the facts were laid bare. America’s hands are stained with the blood of torture victims, thousands of them, including over a hundred who’ve died under torture. And it’s all been fully approved, organized, and defended from the highest levels of power....

There is also the new exposure of how the CIA violated even its own guidelines on torture, including its performance of “human experimentation” on these prisoners. Who knew? The CIA actually had guidelines about how to do torture, AND knowingly broke them, AND then tried to paper that over by having medical professionals sign off on the torture.

This week a Guantanamo prisoner who has been on continuous hunger strike for 9 years is being ordered released. When he is shipped out, that will leave 115 men still at Guantanamo. 51 of them have been approved for release, all but 8 being Yemenis. Of the 51, 44 have been approved for release since 2009, the other 7 since 2013.

Above: London (read report on the protest)

Above: Stephanie Tang Speaking in San Francisco

Above: Chicago