Curt Wechsler, The World Can't Wait: November 2024 Archives

and any international laws governing the conduct of war, and instead "unleash them" to become a "ruthless", "uncompromising" and "overwhelmingly lethal" force geared to "winning our wars according to our own rules."

From the fall 2003 to spring 2004, CACI employees assumed de facto authority over U.S. military police at the hard site. "They created and set in place the extreme and abusive conditions [as approved by John Yoo in his 'Torture Memos'] in which detainees... were detained," Center for Constitutional Rights alleged. 

Campaigners with Amnesty International and the World Can't Wait in the Castro district of San Francisco on November 6, 2024. Gavrilah Wells wrote, "It was an impossibly hard day here. We set up in the Castro again and were joined by some friends from AIUSA Group 30. I was so incredibly grateful to spend time with community members as we grieved and braced ourselves for what's to come while also getting the word out to folks urging Biden to close Gitmo before he leaves office and to free the 16 men cleared for release. We got some postcards signed and made a few new friends as we often do."

As Vice President, Biden proposed to close the US prison camp. He has yet to deliver on campaign promises to do just that.

"The prison at Guantánamo Bay is one of those mistakes, willfully perpetuated by the Biden administration each day it remains open," argued the Center for Constitutional Rights. "The fact that they continue to languish after two decades is a cruelty that could end tomorrow."

"So why hasn't Biden shuttered the camp?" asks Connor Echols.

Please join Amnesty International, World Can't Wait, and human rights defenders around the world for Global Monthly Vigils as we urgently tell President Biden: Close Guantánamo NOW and release the 16 Muslim men who have been cleared for release--some for well over a decade,

Wednesday November 6, 3:00pm
Castro Farmers Market
270 Noe Street
San Francisco

Even though two decades have passed since the harm faced by plaintiffs, "it's not like these things go away," says Stanford law professor Shirin Sinnar. "Getting that kind of acknowledgment in a court decision can help with people's healing."