Yesterday I published a list, with links, of all my articles over the last six months in chronological order, as the latest installment of a project to list all my articles in chronological order, which I began in January, when I published five lists covering the period from May 2007 (when I began blogging on a regular basis) to December 2009.
The category page for all these articles (which can easily be bookmarked) is here, and the six parts are here: Part One (May to December 2007), Part Two (January to June 2008), Part Three (July to December 2008), Part Four (January to June 2009), Part Five (July to December 2009), and Part Six (January to June 2010).
My hope is that these articles — made readily available in this manner — will prove useful to students, lawyers, activists and anyone else interested in knowing the story of Guantánamo and the men held there. I still recommend my book The Guantánamo Files as the best introduction, but am delighted to have been online for the last three years, finding websites interested in publishing my work, building up an audience through my website, and continuing to report the stories of the men held in Guantánamo and of the maneuvering of the Bush administration, and, in the last 18 months, the Obama administration, as senior officials have continued to alternate between trying to close the prison, and keeping it open.
As I have regularly explained, this has happened partly through a mistaken belief that some men can be held indefinitely without charge or trial, and partly through political expediency in the face of cynical scaremongering by lawmakers and large parts of the media, and insufficient outrage from those parts of the media that ought to care.
Tomorrow, I’ll be publishing an update to my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, which I first published in March last year, and updated in January this year, which is intended as another useful research tool, providing updated information about the 779 prisoners held at Guantánamo throughout its long and malignant history (181 of whom remain), either through references to the chapters in my book where their stories can be found, or, increasingly, through links to articles discussing their release, their habeas petitions, their life after Guantánamo, and, in a handful of cases, their death in Guantánamo or their trials by Military Commission.
Thanks to everyone who has supported me over the last three years — reading, commenting, linking, cross-posting and sharing my work through social media like Facebook and Twitter. I’m in Technorati’s Top 20 World Politics Blogs because of you, but most importantly, your support helps me to keep chipping away at what sometimes seems to be an impossible task, even though it should be straightforward: hold accountable senior officials who redefined torture and authorized its use by the CIA and the US military, charge men suspected of terrorist activities in federal courts, release everyone else, and, in future, hold those involved in military activities against the United States as prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Conventions.
I hope to see you tomorrow for the unveiling of the updated prisoner list, and in the meantime, if you haven’t yet written a letter to a prisoner in Guantánamo, please see this list of the remaining 181 prisoners, or visit this Facebook page, put together by Shahrina Ahmed-Amatullah and Mahfuja Ahmed, to see which prisoners are being sent letters, and then, if you have the time, send a letter or two yourself, and encourage your friends to do the same. It’s a small gesture, but as former prisoner Omar Deghayes has explained, it’s also one that can mean a great deal to men held without charge or trial for over eight years, who, unlike convicted criminals, have never been allowed to have family visits.
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