"There will inevitably come a day of reckoning
--a day when we will all be called to account for our
collective crime. Let us at least be able to say then
that we spoke out against what is being done in our name."
-- Dave Lindorff

As many of you know, January 11th, 2007 is the fifth anniversary of the first detainees being brought into the legal-moral black hole that is Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. There are two opportunities for you to join your voices with those calling for the closure of Guantanamo, and an end to torture, as well as cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment.

Witness Against Torture (WAT), has declared January 11, 2007 an International Day of Action to Shut Down Guantánamo. and is sponsoring a Day of Action in D.C.

If You Can't Travel to D.C., join with other concerned persons on January 11th, from 12 Noon to 1:30 p.m. at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan for vigil and prayers to shut down Guantánamo. This is sponsored by the Metro NY Religious Campaign Against Torture and Code Pink.

Foley Square is easily accessible from the 4,5,6 stop at Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall. Just walk 2 blocks north up Centre street. The R and W stop at City Hall requires that you walk around City Hall to the East to get to Centre Street and then walk north 2 blocks.

For more information: http://www.witnesstorture.org and download and print http://www.witnesstorture.org/files/torture_factsheet_watact.pdf

In the last five years, more than 1000 men have been detained at Guantánamo. Boys as young as 10, and men as old as seventy ("How could I be an enemy combatant if I was not able to stand up?") were stripped of their status as persons worthy of due legal process, and subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment.

Even while detainees are being released by countries to which they have been returned, a new $38-million dollar maximum security facility at Guantánamo has been built by a Halliburton subsidiary, and the Pentagon is poised to reintroduce it's proposal to build a courthouse at Guantánamo costing more than $100 million.

It would appear that the current administration & its allies continue their relentless pursuit to subvert international and national laws to create gray areas where none should ever have existed.

If you would like to participate in organizing the local action, please send a note to saynototorture@ yahoo.com.

-- Frida Berrigan frida.berrigan@ gmail.com "NYC WRL" nycwrl@worldnet. att.net

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