People May Die in Prison at Guantanamo Without Ever Being Charged With a Crime
Meanwhile, House Republicans offered another sneak peak of what it will be like if they retake the chamber next year.
On Tuesday, we got a look at the leadership of the next Congress, should the Republicans manage to ‘jack the majority. Kevin McCarthy was not with them because, hey, really, come on now. At a press conference, Reps. Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, and Marjorie Taylor-Greene—you can’t spell Geek Show without a ‘G’—listed the horrors being visited upon the alleged insurrectionists still incarcerated in the DC jail. They did everything except whip out harmonicas and favor us all with an ensemble rendition of “Nobody Knows (The Trouble I Seen).” From, God help me, the New York Post:
“The Jan. 6 defendants are being treated differently on a whole ‘nother level,” Greene told reporters. “They have been beaten by the guards. They are called white supremacists. They are denied religious services, haircuts, shaving, the ability to trim their fingernails.”
“They’re denied time with their attorneys,” Greene continued. “They are denied the ability to even see their families and have their families visit there. They are denied bail and being held there without bail. Many of these people have never been charged for a crime before. Some of them are veterans. And the treatment is unbelievable.”
OK, if any of this is true, and my mileage happens to vary wildly on that score, it’s, well, deplorable, and if the news were being delivered by anyone except the Prime Minister of Clownistan, I’d be much more concerned. But, of course, with MTG, staying on the rails is very much optional.
Greene went on to highlight what she claimed were disparities between the handling of those arrested in connection with the Capitol riot and those who were busted on charges related to urban violence in the summer of 2020. “It clearly demonstrates to the American people, [Congress] does not care about your business that got burned down,” she said. “It doesn’t care about the job you lost. Congress doesn’t care about your city or community that was devastated by violence.”
Greene further claimed some lawyers have told the rioters to denounce former President Donald Trump and their political views, as well as “watch videos and read books that basically is critical race theory training in order for them to have this public defender represent them.”
Oh, bullshit.
Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee held yet another hearing on what to do about Guantanamo Bay and the 39 prisoners still held there, 13 of whom haven’t even been charged with a crime yet. It’s costing us $40 million a year to keep the place open.
It is preposterous that the 39 prisoners are still there and that the prison is still open. It’s also a suppurating wound on the country’s reputation. Nevertheless, it still has its defenders, most notably Lindsey Graham, who took advantage of his time to get his war on again. In this he was aided by two lawyers who came to testify, both of whom have affiliations with the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, so you can see where their testimony was headed.
(For the past several years, a number of wingnut sugar daddies, including the Koch operation, have been dumping money into GMU, gradually turning it into Bob Jones University without conspicuous Jesus. It was there that Dave Brat, the wingnut who rid the Congress of Eric Cantor, was nurtured.)
The two lawyers, and Graham, as well as all the Republicans who bothered to attend, spent most of their time warning us all that the administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan had once again plunged the country into the Gorge of Eternal Peril. Jamil Jaffar, one of the GMU 2, jumped on this theme with both feet.
“Other terrorist groups, too, are returning to Afghanistan as they see this ungoverned space as an opportunity to once again consolidate their efforts and fight the West. The terrorist threat today is worse specifically because we withdrew from Afghanistan in the way and manner that we did.”
Graham, of course, went operatic, as is his wont.
“And we’re talking about releasing people. This is nuts. One thing I can say about the 39 people that are at GITMO, not one of them has attacked the United States. And if I have my way, none of them ever will.”
Well, Ahmad Rabbani won’t, that’s for sure. He’s been held without charge for 19 years, during which time he was tortured for over a year and then shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. It is clear that he was picked up in the first place by mistake because the Pakistani ISI didn’t give a damn, and now Lindsey Graham doesn’t either, because he’s scared.
The Democratic members of the panel took their allotted time to point out, over and over again, that the reason that these 39 people are stuck in enforced limbo is because the CIA tortured them to the point where none of the evidence gathered would be admissible in any court that opened after the 1600s. The Republicans, and the two lawyers, didn’t want any part of talking about torture. However, most revoltingly, nobody from the current administration—which, after all, is running the joint now—appeared before the committee to testify one way or another. The odds are that some of these people are going to die in prison without having been charged with any crime. Too many people are fine with that.
