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Torturing Democracy

Jose Padilla, a US citizen arrested in 2002 for a so-called “dirty bomb” plot and sentenced to 17 years in prison for supporting Al Qaeda, is preparing to sue attorney John Yoo for crafting legal memos justifying his torture. Padilla alleges that during his three years as an “enemy combatant” at a US Navy installation in Charleston, South Carolina, he was tortured and his lawyers claim he suffered “gross physical and psychological abuse at the hands of federal officials as part of a systematic program of abusive interrogation intended to break down Mr Padilla’s humanity and his will to live.” John Yoo is currently a visiting professor at Chapman University School of Law. Meanwhile a battle has ensued between Congressional Democrats and the White House over a set of photos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq which apparently depict detainees being abused. The photos are the subject of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and Physicians for Human Rights. Now, a new documentary called Torturing Democracy describes in detail the story of how the Bush administration justified and directed the use of torture against prisoners of the so-called War on Terror. Considered the definitive document on the US torture policy, award winning film maker Sherry Jones, uses riveting and dramatic narrative, exclusive interviews, explosive documents and rare archival footage to expose a deeply disturbing chapter in American history.

Torturing Democracy features interviews with several current and retired intelligence officials, as well as former detainees like Moazzam Begg and Shafiq Rasul.

Poems from Guantanamo

Since 2002, at least 775 men have been held in the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. According to Department of Defense data, fewer than half of them are accused of committing any hostile act against the United States or its allies. In hundreds of cases, even the circumstances of their initial detainment are questionable.

A new book entitled Poems from Guantanamo gives voice to the men held at Guantánamo. Available only because of the tireless efforts of pro bono attorneys who submitted each line to Pentagon scrutiny, Poems from Guantánamo brings together twenty-two poems by seventeen detainees, most still at Guantánamo, in legal limbo.

Thank you Gifts:

Torturing Democracy – DVD – $120

Poems From Guantanamo – Book – $75