By Debra Sweet

A lawyer sent this message through the Center for Constitutional Rights on January 19:

"An anonymous man detained at Guantanamo wanted to relay the following message to those who have been protesting in DC: 'We’d like to thank the protesters from the depths of our heart. They are asking for justice even though they are not imprisoned.'”

Our friends with Witness Against Torture, fasting and protesting for 11 days in Washington DC, demanding Close Guantanamo with Justice Now have persevered, carrying the stories of the prisoners, literally and in their hearts and minds.

On Wednesday, they blockaded two entrances of the Justice Department, standing and kneeling for four hours.  When they were not arrested, they began an all-night vigil at the Constitution Avenue entrance, with others constantly circling the building.  They concluded with a larger group this morning at 9:00 am.  Friday, they will gather at the White House at noon, and march back to the Justice Department at 1:00 pm, for the final "witness" of the 11 day fast. 

It seems as if the Obama administration has decided this year, for the first time in these Guantanamo protests, not to arrest anyone.  Yet today, news comes of a very distressing revival of military commissions -- the charades that were condemned the world over when Bush used them --  in Guantanamo, instead of civilian trials.  Watch worldcantwait.net for analysis of this regressive plan.

We've also seen a recirculation of the claim that men -- the Pentagon has claimed as many as 25% -- released from imprisonment "went back" to the insurgency in their home countries.  It's hard to know where to start on this distortion.  Many of the men were never involved in terrorism.  Some became political opponents of imprisonment, and work to have their fellow prisoners released.  Andy Worthington takes all this apart in Countering Pentagon Propaganda About Prisoners Released from Guantánamo.  He summarizes:

"While supporters of Guantánamo still follow Dick Cheney’s line, critics of the prison’s ongoing existence will be paying close attention to the circumstances of the men’s radicalization, and will not be at all surprised to discover that the United States cannot, in all honesty, claim that, in some instances, what happened to the men after their release from Guantánamo was not determined by what happened to them while they were held — and brutalized — in US custody."