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To President George Bush and Members of the House and Senate;
We are deeply disturbed by the report issued on February 15, 2006, by the Commission on Human Rights of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that the US has engaged in practices at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba that
“must be assessed as amounting to torture”
We agree strongly with the recommendation by the five Special Rapporteurs that
“the United States Government should either expeditiously bring all Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial…or release them without further delay”
and that
“the United States Government should close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility without further delay”
and with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that
“sooner or later there will be a need to close Guantanamo, and I think it will be up to the [US] government to decide hopefully to do it as soon as possible”
The 45 square miles of the Guantanamo base cost millions of dollars annually to maintain and are completely controlled by the US yet are said to lie outside the protections of our Constitution.
To prevent such abuse in the future, it is also time to consider ending the perpetual lease of Guantanamo and our annual un-deposited payment to Cuba of $4,085. |
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UN Commission on Human Rights Report "Situation of Detainees at Guantanmo Bay'
http://www.nytimes.com/package...
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Letter from Robert Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches in support of the UN report
http://www.ncccusa.org/pdfs/NC...
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"Habeas Schmabeas", a gut wrenching report about the prisoners at Guantanamo broadcast on "This
American Life" (National Public Radio/Public Radio International) Show # 310
www.thislife.org/
http://www.thislife.org/ra/310...
http://switchboard.real.com/pl...
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Lecture by Cuban American Professor Alfred de Zayas at the University of British Columbia Law School "The Status of Guantanamo Bay and the Status of the Detainees"
http://www.law.ubc.ca/files/pd...
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The US pays Cuba $4,085 per year for the use of Guantanamo base, but the Cuban government does not deposit the check. The perpetual lease was imposed in 1903 under the Platt Amendment as a condition for withdrawal of US troops from the rest of Cuba.
Additional historical information can be found on Wikkipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...
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The Fund for Reconciliation and Development builds bridges between the United States and Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Cuba. Our non-partisan programs have sought since 1985 to heal the wounds of war by fostering mutual understanding and respect and by addressing lessons and legacies of conflict. We encourage and facilitate cooperation in education, trade, people-to-people exchanges, and humanitarian and development assistance, working in partnership with foundations, other not-for-profit organizations, business, academic institutions and governments.
For further infortomation, go to www.ffrd.org
To support the Guantanamo campaign, go to http://www.ffrd.org/support.ht... |
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