'sketches of my nightmare'

how can one be held for FIVE years without charges and without trial? isn't that AGAINST ALL OF OUR LAWS?
who do we kidnap and detain and torture and who do we give a pass too (hint: ask saudi arabia)
(i don't know if sami is guilty or innocent. i DO know he deserves representation AND charges AND a FAIR trial)

The Torture Drawings the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to See
By Andy Worthington, AlterNet.

Sami al-Haj is a journalist, but one unlike any other. For over six years since December 15, 2001 -- when he was seized by Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border while on assignment as a cameraman for the Qatar-based broadcaster al-Jazeera -- he has been in a disturbing but unique position: a trained journalist held as an "enemy combatant" on the frontline of the Bush administration's "War on Terror," first in Afghanistan, and then in Guantánamo.
The outline of Sami's story should be familiar to readers; last summer AlterNet published a detailed article by Rachel Morris: "Prisoner 345: An Arab Journalist's Five Years in Guantánamo," which made clear how Sami was seized because of the erroneous claim that he had interviewed Osama bin Laden, and the disturbing fact that his many interrogations in Guantánamo have focused solely on the administration's attempts to turn him into an informant against al-Jazeera, to "prove" a connection between the broadcaster and Osama bin Laden that does not exist. As his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith of the legal action charity Reprieve, noted bluntly and accurately in his book Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice in Guantánamo Bay, "Sami was a prisoner in the Bush Administration's assault on al-Jazeera."
Less well known is Sami's frontline reportage from within Guantánamo. Stafford Smith recalls that when he asked Sami for information, he "would assemble important facts on almost any topic in the prison relying on the incredible prisoner bush telegraph." These have included reports on the religious abuse -- primarily of the Qu'ran -- that preceded a series of hunger strikes and suicide attempts, and a pioneering assessment of the number of prisoners who were under 18 at the time of their capture.
Since January 7, 2007 (the fifth anniversary of his detention without trial by the US), Sami has been on a hunger strike. Although he is strapped into a restraint chair twice a day and force-fed against his will and despite the fact that he is "very thin" and "[h]is memory is disintegrating," according to Stafford Smith, Sami continues to seek ways to publicize the plight of his fellow prisoners. During the most recent visit from his lawyers in February -- with Cori Crider of Reprieve -- he produced a number of morbid, and almost hallucinatory sketches illustrating his take on conditions in Guantánamo, which he described as "Sketches of My Nightmare."............

the absurd

the absolutely ABSURD

i was reading the news (studio briefing) on imdb this morning (although it's from yesterday) and found this:

U.S.-Based Arabic Channel Faces Probe
The Virginia-based al-Hurra satellite television network that is financed by Congress and beams to the Arab world may be subject to an independent review following reports that it has routinely aired broadcasts that include denunciations of Israel or Jews. The station, which reportedly receives $62 million in funding annually (plus an additional $40 million for a station that targets Iraq), was reportedly set up as an alternative to the principal Arab news channel al-Jazeera, which has frequently been attacked by U.S. politicians as sympathetic to Arab militants. But the Associated Press reported Tuesday that al-Hurra has aired programs that have included a lengthy speech by Hezbolla leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and Palestinian prime minister -- and Hamas leader -- Ismail Haniya -- and referred to the founding of Israel in 1948 as "the catastrophe."

FIRST off, even if it's NOT true the station is denouncing jews (i don't know one way or another) what the F**K are we doing giving 62 million in funding to ONE arabic tv station? ok ok ok, even if we don't spend the 62 million PLUS an additonal 40 million on better arming our troops in the middle east (which we SHOULD be doing) HOW ABOUT GIVING THAT 62 MILLION TO PBS? i'm writing to john larson on this one. this is beyond acceptable. well, NONE of this shite is acceptable. NONE OF IT

p.s. i did just write to john larson (emailed)