Every time human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith lands in Cuba, he takes the eight o’clock ferry to the windward side; his journey ends at Guantánamo Bay. One of the few people in the world who has ongoing independent access to the prison, Smith reveals the grotesque injustices that are perpetrated there in the name of national security—including the justifications created to legitimate the use of torture and the bureaucratic structures that have been put in place to shield prison authorities from legal accountability.
By bearing witness to the stories of the forty prisoners that he represents, Smith asks us to consider what is done to American democracy when the rule of law is jettisoned in the name of combating terrorism.
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Clive Stafford Smith is the Legal Director of the UK charity Reprieve, whose clients include forty detainees in Guantánamo Bay and prisoners on death row. He lives in London, England.
This is not an anti-American book. What it is against is torture, injustice, false imprisonment, inhumanity, and the betrayal of American core values and fundamental beliefs.
This book (previously published in the UK as "Bad Men") discloses that a considerable number of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay were at the time of their capture, and of course still are, totally innocent, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time were sold into captivity by locals greedy for the bounty offered by the US. Amnesty International has published a finding that "hundreds of people" were arbitrarily detained, after the US offered cash payments, in leaflets dropped by American aircraft, for information on Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. This "rewards programme" resulted in a frenetic market in abductees. It is the reason for the false imprisonment of uncounted men and boys in American secret prisons, in secret locations around the world, and at Guantánamo Bay. In an earlier article [in Index on Censorship, "The Archipelago of Gulags," February 2006] Stafford Smith wrote: "The majority of prisoners I represent were not seized in Afghanistan, but purchased in Pakistan for the bounties offered by the US - starting at $5,000." In Pakistan, the per capita annual income is $720.
Torture by US proxies, the book shows, was carried out to obtain confirmation of the alleged status of these purchased captives as terrorists or enemy combatants. One victim of rendition was the 16-years-old Hassan bin Attash, who was rendered to Jordan "for sixteen months of torture" because the US government wanted information about his older brother. He is still imprisoned at Guantánamo....
On the basis of the evidence in this book, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied, in December 2005, that the US had sent so-called enemy combatants to countries where they would be interrogated under torture, she was lying - a lie to which Prime Minister Tony Blair and the British Foreign Secretary of the day repeatedly lent their support at the time.
Guantánamo is "the mother of all mistakes." Fifty-five per cent of those in captivity at Guantánamo Bay are not even alleged to have ever taken part in hostilities; 95 per cent of them were not taken into custody by US troops, but were turned over by Pakistanis or Afghans - usually in exchange for cash; 92 per cent were not even accused of being al-Qaeda fighters. In answer to the question, why are patently innocent non-combatants still being held as prisoners by the Bush administration? it seems the answer is, in effect, moral cowardice. No one wants, or is able, to take responsibility for making the decision and signing the release order.
There are quite a few prisoners in US mainland prisons being held in solitary for life, and their being driven insane as a result of prolonged confinement is an expected outcome. Whether such cruel punishment is constitutional is a good question. Indefinite imprisonment in solitary confinement is undeniably cruel, and in Guantánamo, according to Stafford Smith, it is driving prisoners insane.
Guantánamo Bay is a prison where the US has disallowed constitutional rights (to which non-US citizens are, under US law, not entitled) and infringed or withheld habeas corpus and other fundamental human rights without fear of judicial oversight - but it is not the only one. There are secret prisons in scattered locations worldwide, and there are fourteen thousand prisoners of the US in them - the largest number in Iraq. Locations have been deliberately selected so that there can be no recourse to judicial process for those incarcerated without limit of time. Meanwhile, the US is still taking prisoners. If the Guantánamo Bay prison is ever closed, Clive Stafford Smith will have done more than anyone to achieve that result. The secret prisons around the world are a more difficult and sinister matter.
Stafford Smith writes well and with humour, but his narrative is consistently depressing. The bravery and spirit shown by some of the wronged prisoners in the face of adversity is an occasional upbeat note. The charges against the US now amount to an overwhelming tally of incompetence, arrogance and overkill. The British government, too, is guilty of having betrayed important principles, and of callously abandoning individuals entitled to government help. "Bush and Blair", the author believes, "have contrived to make the lives of every person on this planet vastly less secure."
As a consequence of the War on Terror, and to give itself a free hand, the US decided to put aside the rule of law in dealings with its supposed enemies. Thereby, arguably, it forfeited its claim to stand as the world's primary upholder of freedom and justice. This policy decision must go some way to explaining the significant growth of anti-Americanism during the presidency of George W Bush, as the administration over-reacted to the events of 9/11.
This book is more than a chronicle of fantastic injustice. Its final inference is that the War on Terror has resulted in a defeat for traditional western values. "We ceded our claim to the moral high ground," Stafford Smith concludes. Led by people deficient in good sense and decency, the US and Britain have betrayed the standards of justice and freedom which enabled our nations to occupy the moral heights as defenders of humanity's claim to believe in its own goodness.Read more ›
This excellent book by the lawyer Clive Stafford Smith is a chilling exposé of the revolting crimes committed by the US state at Guantanamo Bay. It was written under US military censorship rules, so he has been forced to conceal worse horrors than he reveals. Since January 2002, 759 people have been imprisoned there, including 64 children. After five years, fewer than half the prisoners have even met a lawyer, but most have met a torturer.
The US state uses the `ticking bomb' rationale to try to justify torturing prisoners. But there has never been a single case where torture saved lives by yielding information that prevented the explosion of a ticking bomb.
The US state has also used this rationale to encourage, assist and exploit torture by its allies. Torture in Egypt led to the false confession of a link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qa'ida, a claim used to try to try to get us to support attacking Iraq. Torture in Morocco led to the US state's allegation of a plot to explode a dirty bomb in New York. The people that US Attorney-General Ashcroft named as responsible were never charged with the plot because, as officials said, that "could open up charges from defence lawyers that their earlier statements were a result of torture." This was to admit that the charges were true.
Under the US military commission's procedures for trying just ten of Guantanamo Bay's prisoners, even if the defendant were acquitted, he could still be held forever because all prisoners are supposedly "enemy combatants that we captured on the battlefield" (administration lawyer); "these are people picked up off the battlefield in Afghanistan" (Bush).
But in the real world, 55% of the prisoners are not even alleged ever to have taken part in hostilities.... 95% of them were not captured by US troops; they were turned over to the USA by Pakistan or Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, for payment equivalent to seven years' salaries. 92% have not even been accused of being Al Qa'ida fighters.
Stafford Smith recounts the commission hearing of Binyam Mohamed in December 2005. The senior prosecutor allegedly said, "the military panel will be hand-picked and will not acquit these detainees." Lord Justice Steyn called these commissions kangaroo courts, where judges bound straight from charges to verdicts. In June 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that the commissions were illegal. In October, Congress reinstated them by passing Bush's Military Commissions Act.
Stafford Smith estimates that the US state is holding another 14,000 prisoners in other camps and prisons across the world, including on Britain's colony of Diego Garcia. Even Goering was given a fair trial - how many of these 14,000 people will ever get a fair trial? The Labour government has connived at and participated in these disgusting crimes that strengthen only Al Qa'ida.Read more ›
Imagine that you have been swept away to a prison, kept in solitary confinement and when taken out for questioning you are continually asked about the tomatoes you were carrying ( the translators don't always have a full command of dialects )and you have no idea what your interrogators want or if they are totally insane. Because this book is written from a lawyer's point of view and lays out only the facts ( only what he has been able to ascertain and what he is allowed to make known ) it takes some reflection and imagination to put yourself in the place of the detainees and savour the experience that they have had and continue to have. In other words this isn't "Midnight Express", but a look at guantanamo, its rules, the U.S. military, the stories of a few of the detainees and the constitutional and humanitarian issues involved.
Clive Stafford Smith's "Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side" is one of the most readable of the spate of books about GITMO. Smith's droll gallows humor is perhaps not exactly funny, but given the situation he describes, the choices are to laugh or cry.
In the first chapter, Stafford Smith takes us with him on an average trip to Guantanamo, describing the transportation to the base, the accommodations, the process for seeing detainees and the general setting. He notes ironies such as it's a $10,000 fine to hit an iguana, but detainees can be hit with impunity. Soldiers are required to salute and say "Honor bound". The correct response is "to defend freedom". One attorney responds with "to defend the Constitution". Stafford Smith suggests that the base could do with a change of motto.
The second chapter is entitled "Ticking Bomb" and it explores the justifications for torture and other harsh treatment. Stafford Smith interviews a handful of torture proponents, whose main justification is the proverbial "ticking time bomb" scenario. In particular, he excoriates Alan Dershowitz for providing a liberal justification for torture with his idea for "torture warrants".
The following chapter explores a real life "ticking time bomb" scenario. Jose Padilla was apprehended in connection with an imminent "dirty bomb plot" in which he was allegedly going to explode a suitcase full of radioactive ("dirty") material. "Benjamin Mohammed" (real name Binyam Mohamed) was allegedly his accomplice. There was only one problem: there was no "dirty bomb plot" and, hence, there was no "ticking time bomb". Nevertheless, Binyam was captured, rendered to Morocco where he underwent eighteen months of torture, then shipped on to Guantanamo.... Stafford Smith presents his story in detail to show the absurdity of justifying torture when we can't possible know that the accused is even involved in any terrorist plot, let alone a "ticking time bomb" scenario.
Next, Stafford Smith details Binyam's military commission, or, as Binyam calls it, his "con-mission". Stafford Smith highlights the near impossibility of representing detainees at GITMO because of ethical dilemmas, changing rules, and nearly impossible procedures for obtaining records, bringing witnesses, taking and reviewing notes and even finding out the specific charges against one's client. Fortunately, Binyam chose to act as his own counsel and, while not a legal professional, was more than skilled enough to expose the sham that the military commission system is. This chapter would make great theatre - it would be a comedy if only men's lives and freedom weren't at stake. Unfortunately, no verdict was ever rendered, as the proceedings were halted before completion.
Stafford Smith then turns his attention to the "disease" of lying that infects GITMO. In example after example he details how he himself is consistently lied to, as well as how the U.S. military consistently lies to the U.S. public, whether through omission, little white lies, or outright falsehood. The U.S. government tells us that GITMO is the most transparent prison operation in the world, yet the prisoners were held there completely incommunicado for three years before even being allow representation, and even to this day access to the prison, whether by lawyers, journalists or even Red Cross workers, is still severely limited and subject to innumerable and usually arbitrary rules. Secrecy is the polar opposite of the open, transparent government that democratic society is founded on. As such, it is the foundation of the abuses that have been allowed to perpetuate at GITMO and other "black sites".
Stafford Smith then details some of the reality behind the "bad men" who populate GITMO. Most of the information in this chapter can be found - in much greater detail - in other sources, but it is still worthwhile to review it. Stafford Smith also uses his own specific knowledge of some of his clients to demonstrate the absurdities of some of the government's claims against them. For instance, one client, "The General", was accused of being a high-level al Qaeda commander, but Stafford Smith was able to prove that he was working in London the whole time.
Following a short chapter on the U.S. government's contempt for and its attempt to undermine news agency al Jazeera, Stafford Smith devotes an extended chapter to "Asymmetrical Warfare" - the hunger strikes and suicide attempts that the detainees used to try to cope (or not) with the conditions of their indefinite detention and to gain world-wide sympathy. This chapter is not for the faint-hearted as it presents in gory detail the hunger strikes and the military's response and treatment of hunger strikers.
Finally, Stafford Smith moves beyond GITMO to discuss the "archipelago" of black sites on assorted islands and other remote areas, as well as the U.S. government's attempt to remove any court or other jurisdiction, oversight or accountability to the American people from these sites.
It would be impossible to argue that Stafford Smith is not "biased" - certainly he is. His work with death row prisoners led him to volunteer to be among the first to represent men accused of being the "worst of the worst". He clearly sympathizes with the prisoners and he believes their stories of abuse and torture. Nonetheless, he is not simply some credulous naďf. He notes the bruises and other injuries and compares them to the story he is told. He often presents his clients' stories simply as their stories while reserving his own judgment. When possible, he makes efforts to verify his clients' stories by traveling to their home countries or other places to see the situation for himself and talk to other people. He even obtained Saudi Arabian birth records proving that one of his clients was a juvenile whom the U.S. failed to recognize as such.
Stafford Smith's book is a difficult read for anyone who loves America and wants to believe the best about it, but those are precisely the people who most need to read it. There is growing evidence - including testimony from soldiers themselves - that torture and abuse were not and are not isolated incidents perpetrated by a "few bad apples". When a nation of laws violates its own laws to deny even basic rights to its "enemies", abuse is the natural and inevitable result. If we can not retreat from the road we have started down - and soon - then the terrorists will have won because we will have sold out our highest ideals - that which makes America what it is.Read more ›
The point is not whether Hussein allowed brutal prisons to operate under his nose - of course he did. He ran Iraq as he alone saw fit, doing many terrible things over many years. But that's irrelevant here. Smith wrote the book because our government, founded on principles of balanced power,... Read more
