By Debra Sweet
Thursday April 30, I was part of an action by Witness Against Torture dramatizing the demand to 
close Guantanamo. 61 of us had the names of detainees in detention in Guantanamo who have been cleared to be released, but are still waiting, or of the 5 men who have died in custody. We stood in front of the White House, and were arrested, charged with violating a police order.
close Guantanamo. 61 of us had the names of detainees in detention in Guantanamo who have been cleared to be released, but are still waiting, or of the 5 men who have died in custody. We stood in front of the White House, and were arrested, charged with violating a police order.(Click on Read More to see videos)
Witness Against Torture has been outside the White House for much of the first 100 days of the Obama administration, talking to thousands of people, including many tourists, about the fact that 50 detainees are on hunger strike in Guantanamo because they aren’t being released. They are being force-fed.
This action was unusual in that the men we were focusing on actually knew, having been told by their lawyers, that we were protesting yesterday.
The action started with 150 of us walking silently from the Capitol to Lafayette Park, across from the White House. It was difficult to see with the black hood covering one’s face, but I saw lots of tourists, and heard parents explaining to the their children why we were marching.
We have been asking you what you think about the torture memos released on April 16. If you haven’t taken the survey yet, please do so now.
See Huffington Post: Anti-Torture Protesters Arrested in Droves Outside White House
War Criminals, Watch Out! FireJohnYoo.org reports: Hoover Fellow and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceon Monday faced questions from students regarding her role in the Bush administration’s approval of waterboarding terror suspects, denying both her personal authorization of the interrogation techniques as well as the qualification of those techniques as torture.
"I didn’t authorize anything," Rice told a group of Roble students in a conversation that surfaced on YouTubeMonday night. "I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the [CIA] that they had policy authorization subject to the Justice Department’s clearance."
Thursday May 28 is the National Day of Protest to Stop the US Torture State and Prosecute the Bush War Crimes….
Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can’t Wait