Though we have concentrated on carefully following the continuing outrage of the U.S. torture prison in Guantanamo, we were surprised this week to find we had missed key news in 2022. The Secret Pentagon Photos of the First Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay were taken by military photographers beginning in 2002 to report to Donald Rumsfeld and other executive level torturers on what the prison was like. Carol Rosenberg of The New York Times acquired them through an FOIA request.
These photos are intimate and shocking. We present them here and now because, unlike the images of genocide in Gaza, starvation in Sudan or civilian suffering in Ukraine which are instantly in front of us on social media, the men in Guantanamo were tortured in secrecy. In fact, until Wikileaks in 2011, we had never seen any photo of the prisoners, part of a government practice of dehumanizing and disappearing the men.
And, lest anyone think for a moment that the history and ongoing criminal existence of Guantanamo’s detention without charge and torture affects only those imprisoned there, see this recent article in The Nation: ‘Little Guantánamo’ Gets Bigger:
Two secretive prison units that used to almost exclusively house people said to be connected to terrorism have expanded by nearly 80 percent in 15 years, and a new unit is on the way. Formerly incarcerated people say they have been used to punish dissent.
Wednesday September 4: Global Vigil to Close Guantanamo NOW
London – New York City – Mexico City – Washington DC – San Francisco – Los Angeles – Brussels – Detroit – Minneapolis – Cobleskill NY
There is no good news coming out of Guantanamo and none expected. We continue to follow the prisoners who are still held — yet who have been “cleared” for release — and those who have been released but live in what’s called Guantanamo 2.0.
All the more reason to show up Wednesday.