Saturday marks 20 years since the atrocities of 9/11 — a day that changed our country forever.
I’ll have much more to say about this grim anniversary tomorrow.
Today, I want to focus on just one of the tragedies to unfold in the wake of that fateful day.
For two decades, people we’ve rounded up all over the world for potentially being involved in terrorism have been warehoused and tortured — indefinitely, without trial, without due process, and in blatant violation of the Geneva Convention and even our own Constitution — at what is ludicrously called a detention “camp” at a U.S. naval base in Cuba.
I’m talking, of course, about Guantanamo.
Guantanamo is one ongoing example of ways our nation reacted to 9/11 that were, to put it mildly, shameful and misguided.
Other examples include, to list just a few: unfounded hate and violence directed at Arab people and Muslims; the hyper-militarization of law enforcement in the U.S.; downplaying the threat of domestic terrorists (even though they have killed more Americans than foreign terrorists over the past 20 years); and allowing our civil liberties to be willfully eroded in the name of “the war on terror.”
Earlier this year, the Biden administration declared that it is “our goal and our intention” to close Guantanamo — something President Obama promised to, but did not, do.
Tell President Biden:
Guantanamo goes against everything America is supposed to stand for. You have pledged to shut it down before you leave office. Do it. Close Guantanamo without further delay.
Add your name.
Thanks for taking action.
For progress,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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