July 26, 2011

“In Gitmo, I was punished with 30 days in darkness for feeding iguanas”

Murat Kurnaz was arrested in the street and sent to Guantanamo Bay for torture. After five years, America released him without charge. To this day, the US has given no explanation or said sorry.


Guantanamo Bay continues to wreck lives, despite President Obama's pledge to shut the notorious prison. RT spoke to one former prisoner, Murat Kurnaz, who says the US has not issued even a simple apology for his years of torment.


Attempts to justify torture seem outrageous to those who have been unjustly subjected to inhumane treatment at US prisons overseas. Murat Kurnaz was captured in Pakistan in 2001. He was working for an NGO that helped young people there to quit drugs and adopt a healthier lifestyle. He was sent to Guantanamo and tortured – for five years. The vast majority of the hundreds of individuals who have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, just like Murat, are said to be of no intelligence value whatsoever. Some of them were children, when they were captured, like Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who was just 15 when he was taken into US custody. He said because he was tortured, he was ready to say anything the torturers wanted to hear to stop the pain.







(source, source, source, source)

Also: Human Rights Watch report on evidence of torture (download pdf)

This systemic evil is truly monstrous and disgusting -- It must be stopped, investigated, and prosecuted IMMEDIATELY!

Update: This NEWS brings a little hope!

July 19, 2011

A Truly Inspiring Story of Forgiveness

"I strongly believe what Mark Stroman did was a hate crime because of his ignorance, and he was not capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. Otherwise, he would not have done what he did,” Bhuiyan (the victim) said. “The way my parents raised me, and my Islamic faith teaches me, that he is the best who can forgive easily. And my faith teaches that no one has a right to take another human life. Islam doesn’t allow for hate and killing.

Rais Bhuiyan

Mark Stroman

(source)

July 8, 2011

Report: Study Finds U.S. Spending $4 Trillion on War

(full headline: As Debt Talks Threaten Medicare, Social Security, Study Finds U.S. Spending $4 Trillion on War)


A new report from Brown University has estimated the true cost of the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will end up costing approximately $4 trillion — far more than the Bush or Obama administrations have acknowledged.

(source, more news)

Here is the report webstie: LINK.