Six Years Since An American Gulag Was Created 90 miles Off Our Shore

Posted by Cliff Schecter, Cliff Schecter's Blog at 11:42 AM on January 11, 2008.

Yesterday, we got to "celebrate" the ill-advised surge in Iraq, or as they called it back in the Vietnam days, escalation.

While a couple of pipe-heads like new NY Times golden boy Bill Kristol and his BFFs McCain and Lieberman prattle on about how this was a success--because now only fewer American troops are getting killed for there to be no political solution as opposed to say, NONE--the truth is that this war has been a disaster for U.S. foreign policy any way you slice it.

Which brings me to Guantanomo. Today marks the 6th Anniversary of when our democracy was officially put in shackles under cover of the night. Six years since an American gulag was created 90 miles off our shore. No, not hyperbole, or the plot to the next sci-fi thriller, but our present reality.

How ironic, don't you think, that our justification all those years for trying to take out Castro was that we were attempting to bring freedom to Cuba. Instead, we brought a "black site.":

1. Fifty-five percent (55%) of the detainees are not determined to have committed any hostile acts against the United States or its coalition allies.

1. Only 8% of the detainees were characterized as al Qaeda fighters. Of the remaining detainees, 40% have no definitive connection with al Qaeda at all and 18% are have no definitive affiliation with either al Qaeda or the Taliban.

Not to mention the extra-legal manner from which all its "residents" benefit, like being declared "enemy combatants" so they cannot challenge their detention. Thank you Bush-style "democracy!"

Please do something about this. Namely, try and help get the Harkin Bill passed to Shut It Down. The ACLU has much more on this, go to their site and find out how you can help end one of the many Bush assaults on our republic.

Cliff Schecter blogs at Brave New Films.