Three 'suicides' at Guantánamo. The story of how Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani died. An exclusive advance feature essay at Harpers.

Quotable

“If I were they, I would think carefully before setting foot outside the United States. They are now, and forever in the future, at risk of arrest. Until this is sorted out, they are in their own legal black hole.” - Philippe Sands, a British based lawyer talking about the plight of six senior Bush administration officials who were recently implicated in acts of torture by a Spanish Court. From here.

Gonzalo Boye, the Chilean-born Spanish lawyer who recently filed the criminal complaint against the Bush officials was influenced by Philippe Sands' book 'Torture Team'.

The 'six in a fix' are as follows:

• Douglas Feith, the former Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy
• Alberto Gonzales, the former Attorney General
• John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer
• David Addington, the chief of staff and the principal legal adviser to Vice-President Dick Cheney
• William Haynes II, former general counsel for the Department of Defense
• Jay Bybee, Yoo's former boss at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel
  

Peter Saul, 'Stuck', 67" X 59", Acrylic on canvas, 2007. Image from a recent visit to Mary Boone Gallery who had on show 'IMAGE MATTER', an exhibition curated by Klaus Kertess.

Quotable

An "I pray for world peace" moment from Miss Universe 2008 who talks about Guantánamo Bay after a visit there.

"It was a loooot of fun!, we visited the Detainees camps and we saw the jails, where they shower, how the(y) recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting, I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful" - Dayana Sabrina Mendoza Moncada is Miss Venezuela 2007 and Miss Universe 2008.

Detainees upon arrival at Camp X-Ray, Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, Cuba in January 2002. Photo from here.

Shameful testimonials

From standardized transfer procedures of detainees undergoing extraordinary rendition documented by the International Committee of the Red Cross:

From here: The detainee would be photographed, both clothed and naked prior to and again after transfer. A body cavity check (rectal examination) would be carried out and some detainees alleged that a suppository (the type and the effect of such suppositories was unknown by the detainees), was also administered at that moment. The detainee would be made to wear a diaper and dressed in a tracksuit. Earphones would be placed over his ears, through which music would sometimes be played. He would be blindfolded with at least a cloth tied around the head and black goggles. In addition, some detainees alleged that cotton wool was also taped over their eyes prior to the blindfold and goggles being applied.... The detainee would be shackled by [the] hands and feet and transported to the airport by road and loaded onto a plane. He would usually be transported in a reclined sitting position with his hands shackled in front. The journey times...ranged from one hour to over twenty-four to thirty hours. The detainee was not allowed to go to the toilet and if necessary was obliged to urinate and defecate into the diaper.

Edouard Manet, 'The Execution of the Emperor Maximilian', Oil on Canvas, 120" x 99", 1867

Thoughts on reading about an art exhibit recently...

Would you call it art when

• A recluse decides to voluntarily shut oneself from the world deciding that they function best sans human contact?
• Guantánamo prisoners undergoing solitary confinement for long stretches at a time?
• A lonely factory worker is faced with the prospect of making the same widget every day for the next 20 years?
• Terrorism suspects undergo extreme sensory deprivation and are forced to remain awake many many nights in a row?
• That unwilling bride faces a prospect of living a lifetime with someone she does not know just because she was 'given away' by her family in an 'arranged' marriage?
  

Chinese artist Tehching Hsieh decided to perform variations of the above scenarios voluntarily. His art is being celebrated at the MoMA now.

In the fall of 1978 Mr. Hsieh, then 28, constructed his cell-like cage of pine dowels inside a loft in TriBeCa. He furnished it with a cot, a sink and a bucket. Before he shut himself inside, he issued a terse manifesto, typed on white paper: “I shall NOT converse, read, write, listen to the radio or watch television until I unseal myself on September 29, 1979.” Mr. Hsieh’s loft mate, Cheng Wei Kuong, who had studied with the same painting teacher in Taiwan, brought his food and removed his waste. After weeks of beef and broccoli, Mr. Hsieh said, he wordlessly threw one meal to the floor when it was delivered; later he felt bad about that. Each day Mr. Hsieh scratched a line in the wall with his fingernail, which made 365 hatch marks at the end. Each day, with his hair infinitesimally longer, he stood on his traced footprints to be photographed. Every three weeks he allowed spectators, but he did not acknowledge them. He was too busy thinking — about his past, his art, the passing of time and the boundaries of space. He was thinking about how his physical confinement liberated his mind.

To this day, he said, “wasting time is my concept of life,” clarifying: “Living is nothing but consuming time until you die.” Read the whole article here.

Tehching Hsieh and Linda Montano, two artists who did not know each other spent a year tied to each other by a 8 foot long rope. Among conditions they set up for this piece was that they could not touch one another.
Titled: Art / Life: One Year Performance 1983–1984 (known as Rope Piece)

Sex, lies and testimony at Gitmo...

The 'credit card swipe' and other forms of torture at Guantanamo. Full testimony of Army Private Brandon Neely as he recounts his days there.

So an escorting MP would pull the detainee's pants down and the doctor would instruct the detainee to lean over the table. Then, with a surgical glove on his hand, the doctor shoved his finger in the rectum of the detainee. Both times I witnessed this I never once saw any kind of lubrication used; they did not use the lube that was on the table to perform this. This exam was not done in any gentle manner whatsoever. It seemed to me that the doctor just reached back and shoved his finger as hard as he could in the rectum of the detainee. I witnessed this twice with my own eyes (at this time I was working blocks more). But I heard it talked about many times from other soldiers. Even when I was not witness to these exams, but was still within earshot of the tent they were performed in, I could hear the detainees scream and cry out during the exam. I even remember one detainee coming out of the tent after this looking like he was in tears. I know through talking with other people who witnessed this that the doctor would make little smart comments before he did the exam like "this won't hurt; it will only take a minute," in a very sarcastic manner. And that sometimes the doctor would even be laughing.

Also, each detainee was searched when he left his cage and when he returned to his cage. In the process of searching or patting-down the detainee we were taught a technique which we called the "credit card swipe". You would take your hand put all your fingers straight together and go straight up the backside of a person. If this was done the correct way just a quick swipe it really was no big deal, but some people took it to the extreme, and would do it so hard--in effect just hitting the detainee in the private area to cause pain.

Via Harpers

Detainee 063 began to cry - a poem

Detainee began to cry.
Detainee cried.
Visibly shaken. Visibly emotional.
Very disturbed. Detainee sleeps awhile.
Detainee rudely woken up.
Heavy Metal. Judas Priest.
Iced water laced with seaweeds.
Strapped to a metal chair.
Incandescent light bulb overhead.
Detainee began to cry.
Detainee cried.
Detainee bites the IV tube.
IV tube splits in two. Meshuggah.
Injected again intravenously.
Rants and raves. Delirium.
Moaning softly. Detainee mutters.
Curses at the doctor. Lunges.
Visually uncomfortable. Moaning.
Turned his head from left to right.
Detainees clothes changed. Naked.
Someone pokes and prods.
Detainee began to cry.
Detainee cried.
Detainee begins to pray.
Strapped to a plank. Uncomfortable position.
The sounds of flowing water.
Blindfold. Heavy Metal. Steppenwolf.
Detainee wears her panty as crown.
The female orderly sniggers.
Detainee plans on confessing.
Object inserted into detainee’s anus.
Routine body cavity search.
This time a little more painful.
Looks at the corporals eyes.
Remorse and loathing. Spinal Tap.
Detainee began to cry.
Detainee cried.
Plans on making confession.
Urinates on self. Smell of urea.
Falling asleep. Very uncomfortable.
Detainee angry. Struggles.
Agitated and violent.
Wet and soggy pants. Excreta.
Detainee regurgitates food.
Detainee proclaimed his innocence.
Pushed guard. Solitary 24 hours.
The silence hurts and soothes.
No bright lights for 24 hours.
No flowing water for 24 hours.
No nothing for a whole day.
Dizzy. Headache. Near tears.
Detainee began to cry.
Detainee cried.
Yelled at Allah. Yelled for Allah.
Yelled for deliverance. Screams.
The water seems to ride into the lungs.
The fine muslin taut over detainees face.
Near crying. Tears and sweat stream.
Irritated and annoyed.
Attempted to liberate himself.
Plastic hangar too flimsy.
Strapped to links on the wall.
Aeroplane stress position is what this is called.
Made several attempts to stand up.
Unsuccessful.
Detainee screamed....

Note: Poem quickly stitched together after reading this article in the Vanity Fair magazine…

It is slowly becoming clear that we have moved from a 'gut based, touchy feely' policy and decision making apparatus to a more rational, 'brain oriented' policy and decision making...

From here: President Obama is expected to sign executive orders today directing the Central Intelligence Agency to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year. This will also prohibit the C.I.A. from using coercive interrogation methods, requiring the agency to follow the same rules used by the military in interrogating terrorism suspects.