In New York City, the anniversary of 9/11 — the destruction of the World Trade Center and the loss of more than 3,000 lives — has often been a huge event, mainly for politicians to claim the mantle of fighters for “freedom.” This year, locally, the main news coverage has been on fascist efforts to keep NYC Mayor Mamdani away, because of his Muslim faith.
For people across the world, and for everyone who cares about justice, the 25 year response of U.S. imperialism to 9/11 has been a confirmation that the U.S. is the biggest global threat to peace. Beginning days after 9/11/01 this has meant the bombing of Afghanistan, whose population had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks; the detentions of thousands of Muslim men in the U.S.; the years-long war on Iraq which resulted in more than 1 million deaths and displacement of 4.5 million; the officially organized torture regime of black sites and illegitimate detention; and, of course, the horrific cost to the natural world of billions in bombs and fuel burned.
The U.S. torture prison at the Guantanamo Naval Base is still open, through four presidents (two Democrats), and there has never been acknowledgment, reparations or any form of justice for those tortured and detained illegitimately. The outrage gets compounded in cases like Al Shimari v CACI, the civil suit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights. A judgment for the plantiffs was reached in 2024 — finally a small bit of justice for having been tortured at the U.S. military detention center in Abu Ghraib.
Butthe majority of the US Supreme Court just threw out the verdict:
2024 court appearance of plantiff Suhail Al Shimari in US federal court
Filed in 2008, Al Shimari v. CACI is the only lawsuit brought by Abu Ghraib torture victims – or any post-9/11 torture victims – to make it to trial, having overcome more than twenty motions to dismiss. The plaintiffs – Suhail Al Shimari, a middle school principal, Asa’ad Zuba’e, a fruit vendor, and Salah Al-Ejaili, a journalist – were all held in the “hard site” in Abu Ghraib and endured what Maj. General Anthony Taguba called the “sadistic, blatant, wanton” abuses that horrified the world when photos were leaked in 2004. Hired by the U.S. government to provide interrogation services at Abu Ghraib, the Virginia-based private contractor CACI was found liable twenty years later, in November 2024, for conspiring to torture and for cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
Donald Trump (no evidence, no trial, no nothing): “I think we’re just going to kill people bringing drugs into our country. We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like, dead.”
Wednesday September 2: Global Vigil to Close Guantanamo
We demand the closure of Guantanamo! 15 men, three already cleared for release, remain incarcerated in the U.S. torture camp which has been in operation since January 2002. Donald Trump has started sending migrants rounded up within U.S. borders to Guantanamo with plans to reach a total of 30,000. He has also threatened to send his political opponents to the prison. Meanwhile, the U.S. has increased its 60+ year blockade of Cuba by not allowing any fuel to enter the country, causing intense suffering of the population.
A special request from Andy Worthington, take photos of yourself holding this poster and send them to info@closeguantanamo.org.Download it here. Thanks!
In NYC today, we’re meeting for our vigil at 5:00 on the steps of the main Public Library on Fifth Ave.
And on Thursday September 10…
We’re joining in with Standing Together: A Walk and Vigil With September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows from 5:00-8:00 pm.
This 25th anniversary of 9/11 will feature a rare surge of attention to 9/11 and its aftermath, centering peace and peacemaking efforts. The event starts with a program at Union Square, site of some of the first peace actions after 9/11 and conclude, after a walk, at Ground Zero.
