GTMO

I am presenting the following correspondence verbatim for several reasons. First, I have long been concerned about the treatment of our prisoners at Guantanamo. While watching CSPAN, I heard a lawyer explain the conditions our government is subjecting these people to. I was horrified - far more so because it wasn’t just his word. He was reading from an official report by an FBI field agent. This released government document described in dry detail conditions that can only be described as torture.

So I looked up that lawyer on the CSPAN website and sent him an e-mail requesting .pdf copies of these government documents. Within hours, I received a large number of documents. It will take me a few days to read them and I am not yet certain how I will display them. But I want you to see this. Nothing makes the horror of our failure as citizens so chilling as government documents dryly detailing torture of prisoners, several of whom are guilty only by association.
(If you want a copy of the documents Brent Mickum sent me, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly forward them to you.)

I can only express my admiration for Mr. Mickum and his law firm, Spriggs & Hollingsworth (Washington DC), for discharging their responsibility as citizens to address this wrong. In a future blog entry, I will discuss the awful implications of our treatment of these prisoners. These are not the actions of a free nation. These are not the actions of a true democracy. These are by no means the actions of any nation that aspires to Christian virtues.

Here is the conversation between myself and Brent Mickum. It is instructive both for the story that he tells and for how easy it is to reach out to people like him and spread the word. It is the very least we can do as citizens.

RBS wrote> Dear Mr. Mickum:
Thank you for your work with the Guantanamo prisoners and for your appearance on CSPAN explaining your experiences.

In your appearance, you referred to a number of government documents that have been released - in particular, an FBI report detailing what a field agent saw of the treatment of the prisoners.

Can you make .pdf of these documents available? I would like to link to them or post them on my blog. I think it's critical for the American people to understand what is being done in our name. I don't have a big readership yet, but I'm working on it.

Thanks again and keep up the good work!

Robert Bruce Scott

Brent Mickum wrote> Thanks for your kind note. I must say, in the early days, I used to receive a great deal of hate mail. Not so much these days. Nevertheless, I'm always shocked that there are people who are totally unwilling even to consider that any of the 800 prisoners might be innocent. Is the Bush Administration's record on credibility so great that we should take their word for it? My opinion is that the record is pretty poor. That leads me to a sad conclusion that some of these folks are directing their hate at the prisoners, in a fashion similar to what we saw in the South in the 1900s.

Anyway, thank you again. Folks like you make me feel that I'm doing the right thing after all. Please write to your congress men and women and senators if you feel strongly.

Attached are the documents you requested. In another message, I'll post you some reports. Please forward them along as I believe that the more people know, the more they will make their voices heard.

Regards,
Brent

RBS wrote> Thank you very much for these documents. It will probably take me a few days to make my way through them and longer to figure out how to post them in such a way that they are easily accessible. Until then, I will let people know that I have them and will e-mail them on request.

I was very encouraged by your work and your law firm's willingness to spend the money and take the business risk to do this work. Your partners should be congratulated as well for supporting your work. Rest assured that I will write my Congressman, Julia Carson, my Senators Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh and encourage my readers to write their representatives as well to highlight and support your work.

I am volunteering for the Bill Richardson campaign and I will forward these materials to his campaign as well. I have a lot of faith in his commitment to human rights and I hope he will bring the issue into general discussion.

Thanks again - and please keep me on your mailing list. I will do what I can to spread the word.

rbs

Brent Mickum wrote> Send your congress persons a few pages from the FBI documents and perhaps copies of the executive summaries from the Seton Hall reports.

I have no objection to you giving out my name if folks want copies of documents. Frankly, the internet is one of the best ways of getting the word out. We on the Defense Team are shocked that more of the country is not aware of what is going on. The rest of the world is.

Thanks again,

Brent