As Congress prepares to undo the best part of 1,800 years of Western legal tradition and officially strip our detainees of their right to challenge their detention in a court of law, perhaps it would be nice to spend some time contemplating where we are sending these "worst of the worst."
Of course, as everybody knows, it's not real easy getting information about Gitmo. Our information largely comes from those the government has lost interest in and released. You may have seen Michael Winterbottom's powerful movie "The Road To Guantánamo" (if you have't, go see it!) based on interviews with the Tipton Three. But, of course, Winterbottom wasn't making a documentary, and his vision of Gitmo is a movie set built and filmed in, of all places, Iran.
Still, those of us on the outside have some tools. Here's a screen capture of what Google Maps can show us of Guantanamo:
It's not too terribly informative.
By comparison, Tunisian activist-in-exile Sami Ben Gharbia has just compiled an incredibly rich and informative Google mash-up of Tunisia's network of secret prisons and sites of human rights abuses (via Or Does it Explode?). Take a look :
I know it seems overly optimistic to assume that this sort of public information sharing can make a difference against the forces we are facing, but knowledge is the inescapable first step. Google has given us the power to turn surveillance back on the spymasters of this world.
Where are the maps of our global "war on terror"? Let's make sure all that information is out there and easily accessible, contextualized and explained.
Don't forget to call your congressmembers this week and let them know how you feel. Check out Amnesty's page on Gitmo for more information.
--Ethan Heitner |
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 9:42 AM
