Welcome to Project Hamad

It has been three weeks since we launched Project Hamad. And
looking back over that short time frame we are pleased with how far
things have come.

–The YouTube video Guantanamo Unclassified has already been viewed
40,000 times.

–Articles have been written about Project Hamad in publications as
diverse as Street Roots, a paper run by the homeless, to LeMonde, the
main newspaper in France. You can read these at our News link on
our site.

–And to top things off, Amnesty International approached us with the
desire to take action on behalf of Adel Hamad’s case.

Nationally, the last three weeks have been at times very
encouraging, with the new Congress bringing hope of revisiting the
Military Commissions Act and restoring habeas corpus, and with
worldwide protests calling for the closure of the Guantanamo detention
center. Our project even led a grandmother in Tallahassee
to drive to Miami, don an orange jumpsuit and protest on Adel Hamad’s
behalf, making the front page of the Miami Herald. You can see her
in our photo gallery.

But the last three weeks have also reminded us that this is not going to
be an easy fight. First, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Detainee
affairs, Cully Stimson, questioned the patriotism of defense
attorneys who provide legal counsel to Guantanamo detainees. He
raised the specter of McCarthyism by threatening to make public the
names of all lawyers who defend “terrorists,” acting as if the
detainees had already been convicted of a crime rather than the
shameful reality—that many remain in jail year after year not charged
with anything. Second, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, in a
painfully Orwellian exchange with Senator Leahy, defied logic, and
left the nation speechless, in asserting that the Constituton does not
grant the right of habeas corpus.
–
Meanwhile, from the Department of Defense’s own data, from CIA
reports, from the mouth of the former commander of Guantanamo, it is
clear that many people sitting in Guantanamo are innocent.

What can we do?

It is going to take a grass-roots effort to get our representatives to
realize this is a priority, to end this shameful period in our
history, but end it with our civil rights and liberties intact.

We will regularly update our blog with news about Adel Hamad,
Guantanamo and habeas corpus. And periodically we plan to invite
guest bloggers to write pieces on these topics.

In the meantime, take a look around the Project Hamad website. Add
your name and voice to the hundreds of others who are speaking out for
those silenced by the likes of Gonzalez and Stimson.
And let us know what you want to see here at Project Hamad.