It seems the military jury hearing the case of Majid Khan, who pled guilty to acts of terrorism at the GTMO kangaroo kourt/military commissions, has recommended leniency for him, after hearing his version of the extent of torture he suffered at the hands of the CIA. Khan has been cooperating with the government for years, and has been awaiting sentencing… for years, after his guilty plea. He may be eligible for release no later than 2025 (although his sentence would run to 2038).
It seems a lot of the pretense surrounding GTMO as some kind of thing necessary to protect us from terrorism is rapidly eroding this year, as the fact that GTMO’s actual purpose– the protecting of American officials from revelations of torture– is ever more obvious to everyone. And now with only 39 prisoners left (1/3 of whom are literally cleared for release), and with the Afghan war over and the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan (thanks Donald Trump), the pretense that GTMO serves any purpose other than an excuse to cover up torture has evaporated.
We are coming up on GTMO’s 20th anniversary in less than 2 1/2 months. The “trial” of the five alleged 9-11 plotters has been bogged down over torture allegations now for over a decade. And yet, the pretense that “justice” is possible in this “compromised” environment chugs on. That pretense has been bipartisan, btw.
I will repeat: GTMO stands as a paradigm for everything this country stands for: racism, aggressive war, imperial overreach, torture, and of course, made-up “justice” which can best be described as Kafkaesque on a good day. I am hoping that COVID-45 will allow a delayed visit from Andy, and perhaps a live commemoration of the two decades “anniversary” in D.C. early next year come January 11th, with, hopefully, a lot more prisoners released and the GTMO project in deep retreat.
That would be hoping a lot. In the mean time, we can just note that each passing week seems to be bringing this particular dark stain on our nation ever back into the light.
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