Torturing detainees at Guantánamo Bay is OK because John Yoo says so, but their artwork "will go nowhere" because "The military, it would seem, is simply unsettled by the attention that the John Jay exhibition has drawn from news organizations."
Ah, OK, got it.
Let's not draw attention to the fact that "men suspected of terrorism are for the most part being held indefinitely without trial", still after 15 years.
This is really going to help to erase the "stain on this country’s human rights record".
Well played.
5
Maybe those who receive commissions from The Donald are more attuned to managing a gulag than defending the Bill of Rights.
2
This is just the kind of stupidity I expect to see burgeoning under the aegis of the Trump regime. Under the guidance of Our Fearless Leader, the US is coming to daily - hourly - more and more resemble the paranoid, security obsessed pre-1990 Apartheidista South Africa. Sad.
5
War, Incorporated simply can't allow these prisoners to have any humanity because that might negatively impact their bottom line,
10
There must be a place where active enemies of the US can be held: Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is now next to Dry Tortuga or some uninhabited Aleutian or Pacific islands.
As far as the art work of the detainees, let it be shown to all and admired by the leftist radicals of the whining touchy-feely persuasion.
1
A world without "touchy-feely".
Now I understand why robots and A.I. will take over.
2
The optics of something like this are just atrocious. All I hear around here is sympathy for Gitmo detainees, with tacit assumption being most men there after wrongly imprisoned. I'm very very skeptical of that, but even if let's say 7 out of 10 occupants are indeed innocent, but the 2-3 guilty ones are blissfully spending their days painting with the blood of 3k Americans on their hands, that is unacceptable.
Just unbelievable that some people here prioritize feelings of overwhelmingly probable mass murderers over US citizens who lost loved ones in 9/11, and have to deal with the ideas of terrorists baring their souls on the canvas. Those poor misunderstood jihadists...
1
". . . better that ten guilty go free than to punish one innocent . . ." Isn't that written somewhere? I know I've heard it . . .
3
If they're guilty (and they very well could be) then why is the Pentagon so reluctant to bring them to trial?
1
The U.S. military brass willfully engaged in torture and other forms of inhumane and degrading treatment (which includes prolonged isolation without formal charge) that wrecked the lives and soles of these human beings that most likely can never be undone. They justified their orders by hiding behind John Woo's questionable legal analysis of the use of torture and which was then rubber stamped by the equally contemptible Jay Bybee, then head of OLC. But all military personnel take a sworn oath that their first obligation is to the constitution and not to obey illegal orders even if they come from the commander-in-chief. Having violated their sworn oath without any self-reflection on the morality of their commands, the military should have no power to sensor or withhold art or other forms of expression from these prisoners. That decision rightfully belongs to civilian authorities and for the military to carry out their orders.
7
The Guantanamo prison is illegal and unconscionable. An abuse of power by a president who shamed his country in war and who specifically abandoned law as the basis of government in this transparent device to avoid public attention to his failures in legal trials here at home.
I think that Obama as commander in chief could have shut it down, although I'm not sure of that, but I wish he had and said to the Republican chicken hawks, go ahead and impeach.
As the country we have sometimes been, we are dying from absence of moral leadership.
7
PK, Charlie Savage wrote in his book, "Power Wars: Inside Obama's Post-9/11 Presidency" that Obama had the power to shut it down and had set the wheels in motion to do just that but because of the hullabaloo raised by Republicans, Obama backed off due to politics.
2
Thank you. In so many ways, he was a wonderful president. It would have made him a great one.
2
It takes a whole lot of courage to stand up for what's right and if you're black, you can double that lot. That's what made Dr. Martin Luther King truly great.
I saw this exhibit. It was astonishing and very moving. The quarantine of the art, as well as the prisoners, is just senseless, base cruelty.
11
I am happy that we supply the prisoners art-materials -- keep them busy and somewhat calm.
...
They do not need a public exhibition....they are mass murders in fact or in support.
1
Innocent until proven guilty . They are held without charges . It’s illegal , immoral and it send bad images for Americans and America.
3
Here goes another $450 milllion!!
So now having locked up these individuals without any hope of a trial or in some cases even charges brought against them we are denying them the right to own their own artwork?
18
Either prove these prisoners are dangerous or get of them. Why worry about their art while their very presence speaks volumes.
14
George Bush, the architect of the worst foreign policy blunder in our history, killing tens of thousands of soldiers and citizens and displacing millions is allowed to be free and to paint. Why shouldn't these people?
24
Well said. Thank you!
2
A Gitmo prisoner made it, supplied with materials from his lawyer, and the federal government owns it. Maybe, when the tax bill that will choke the nation's government to death, the surviving branches (US prison bureau, all its armed forces and intelligence agencies) will begin promoting the prisoner's works as collectibles and hold a raffle.
4
Man, this stuff sound smore and more like the actions of a Gestapo. Why should the most powerful nation in the world want to prevent human beings who are being held in custody (for who knows what since there are no trials) from having their art exhibited?
19
Oh goody prison art (most likely two dimensional drawings and such)! Always a good market for that, especially in trendyBleeding heart areas!
2
So the military is offended by the prisoners' "taking control of their own narrative" ~ how pitifully absurd. They are offended because these men actually think for themselves, and they just can't control what they are thinking! It looks like the prisoners' art has disturbed their fascist fantasies. As ever, 'Ars Longa, Vita Brevis"
17
The Art Shall Set Ye Free
When they came for the others I hid inside my room
I'd rather be a coward than admit our nation's doom
The weapons and the uniforms the salivating zeroes
Who looked upon the dreggs of war and fancied them as heroes
The skies grew dark the hour late the oceans void of life
If you wanted to get married then Trump would choose your wife
They sampled all our DNA and built up huge archives
They tortured children in our name to save American lives
The beast was risen as a prison art was called a sin
But in the end they could not rend the souls of those within
Nameless men who followed orders, shooting families at the borders
Trillion dollar tax cut while the poor all scrounge for quarters
When they finally came for me, they couldn't understand
Why I wielded bright pastels melting in my hand
They clanged upon the dungeon door and lo what did they see?
The body still remained in chain but the art had set me free!
joey racano
19
WOW! You have brought me to tears. What an excellent summation of this ongoing travesty and tragedy. Thank you.
7
I was in NYC in October and made a special trip to see this exhibit. It was both extraordinary and ordinary. An expression of hope from the interminable prison cell, the freedom of the sea, so near but so far away, the magnificent ship made from scraps of plastic. The human spirit, alive in this place of despair. Americans, take note. Look at these creations and hear these voices.
38
Moronic. Sub-moronic and reprehensibly immoral. These men are al Qaeda operatives. That's a network responsible for killing thousands world wide. They deserve no empathy or "humanizing." Where's art of Nazi skin heads and Klu klux klan members and other white supremist groups who are guilty of a hell of a lot less than these dirt bags? Hey, Hitler was an artist; where's his exhibition? Sure he was a mass murderer, but his use of water color - We want a glance into their souls? We got on it on 9/11. But these guys are being held without charge! They've been mistreated (except, of course, for their art classes and full medical and dental and army of defense lawyers propagandizing on their behalf. Some stain on human rights). Meanwhile their victims are still dead. We cannot stop international terrorism and apply full constitutional rights. We should've learned this from how we handled the first WTC attack. We tried those terrorists in federal court and we got 9/11. Try and understand this: terrorists, by their actions, abdicate all rights. We do not enhance basic rights by granting them to terrorists; we threaten them for all of us. The point of this exhibition is to deny the truth and indoctrinate students, most to young to remember Sept. 11 with a false narrative. And that's why the Times endorses it.
11
Until we have evidence-based trials we have no idea, Mr. Burke, whether the people you refer to are terrorists or taxi drivers who happened to pick up the wrong passenger.
49
Michael Burke, you sound like a true Trumpian American: guilty without benefit of a trial, guilty without the benefit of evidence, and guilty when exonerated.
3
You're talking about people who have been held WITHOUT TRIAL for years and years. But, hey, sounds like you don't like trials anyway.
5
A government that fears art is both totalitarian and teetering. We saw it in Nazi Germany. We saw it in the Stalinist former Soviet Union. I am concerned not only by what this move to protect the American people from seeing the art of these prisoners says about the military, but also what it says about the future of the United States.
67
Anything that humanizes the enemy is seen as a threat. If you torture an enemy that's okay, if you torture a human being that's a crime.
41
The military does not want you to remember they have human beings locked up in Guantanamo.
75
Prisoners expressed their inner mind for freedom Their feeing of being rebel, remorse are expressed in finest way in their artistic expression. Congratulation to the teachers who taught the prisoners Guantanamo of the art of artistic expression. Behind the bar one find sublimation through art. Wonderful. Though we are not behind the bar but scared to open our mouth or beliefs. In a way we are victim of imprisonment of ourself ,afraid to express. It is the most torturous period of ourself.Because we fear have to pay the price of freedom of expression. But Picasso like artist could exercise his freedom of expression in an artistic way in Nazi Germany. One can remember his master piece Guernica .Many artists, writers, poets etc. had done & doing too. So the voices of dissent thrive.
But behind the bars the prisoners of Guantanamo have expressed themselves. This type of practice should take place in all the prisons. It will be great relief for the prisoners & they get prize , they feel recognized
23
Let art be art, enjoyed on it's own merits, 'even' if it's authors suffered from human rights violations (imprisoned in Guanta'namo without trial).
23
It was difficult to imagine that the United states could discredit itself more than it has thanks to the presidencies of M. Bush and M. Obama.
Yet thanks to it's military, it has found a way.
Congratulations.
16
Theft. Pure and simple. By the US government, which has always had sticky fingers.
24
I believe that in the California state prison system, inmate art is sold in the gift shop and the proceeds go to the inmate welfare fund.
The Pentagon position on this issue is so ridiculous that hardly any comment is needed.
37
Confiscating prisoners' artwork from Guantanamo is just one more attempt by the military to dehumanize them.
But they only succeed in dehumanizing themselves.
51
Well, I am surprised the art isn't being burned. They do it to books, don't they?
12
Hopefully, it is clear I was being sarcastic and trying to make the point that this is no different than book burning.
13
The phrase should be “they burn books don’t they?”
I think it was all said in the first sentence "The American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — where men suspected of terrorism are for the most part being held indefinitely without trial — has long been a stain on this country’s human rights record"
42
"The other four artists have been cleared and released, and thus are free to do as they wish, including sell their work."
The work is the property of the US. If I produce something at a university or at work, it is not mine to do with as I want. If I publish, I am forever bound to publisher, even if the publishing house is bought and sold a dozen times. My article is not mine.
True one can always get permission, but one needs permission.
So do they; even after released.
I would love to take control of my narrative and be the owner of all my (written) work. Life, reality and the law says differently. Guantanamo is no different. Property of the USA.
1
Cleared and unjustly imprisoned, and you want to say we owned them while we did that. Disgusting.
6
Coming from someone who knows about a governments rights to appropriate certain things like, oh let’s say… Some valuable real estate or maybe not so Valuable, just some used sand (As in a term I coined about real estate agents in general: ‘They’re all USED DIRT SALESMAN anyway‘.
This is not true. If you are i a 'work-for-hire' situation it does apply. If you are an art faculty of a university, the university does not own your artistic production.
2
Yes, let's be sure no one sees the art these men are creating. We might be tempted to consider them as human beings.
34
Yes, let us be more concerned about the hurt feelings of the prisoners at Guantanamo then the lives they have taken. A better idea whould be to cut off their supplies to make "Art" and put them to work. I understand NY could use some more license plates.
2
Of the eight artists discussed here, four have been cleared and released and three are being held with no charges. How do you assert they're killers?
9
Ignorant false witnessing by Robert. It's an established fact that many in Guantanamo have not been convicted of anything. Furthermore, many were simply wearing the wrong kind of wrist watch. Note that Guantanamo is not located in USA explicitly because it would otherwise violate our own laws. Kind of a not so subtle glue left by the villains I would say.
Obama promised to shut this prison down as soon as he was elected. He had eight years to do so, but didn't, a terrible broken promise. Just imagine being held without charge for more than a decade. If the Democrats had closed this prison, they might have gotten more voters concerned with the fight for social justice to turn out in 2016, but they didn't. The art reminds us these are human beings. Human beings shouldn't be held without trial or charge because it's immoral, but it's also illegal under international law. The Democrats have so far to go to understand why they are not liked very much by American voters — look at all the broken promises.
13
" Imagine being held without charges for more than a decade"? Imagine living the rest of you life without your husband, wife, mother or father killed by these monsters? Editorials like this just show how disconnected from the average American the NY Times has become.
2
Let's look at the Republican president who started this. Obama tried to close it, but no one would accept the prisoners as "neighbors". So there was no where to take them. Now Trump is really putting the screws on those remaining, dehumanizing those who remain. Of course they are Muslim so they aren't human to start with in his world. What would be the problem of their art being seen or even sold and part of the funds going into their commissary? State and fed prisons do it and no revolts were funded.
1
This is a perfect example of why art and artists are such a threat to authoritarian regimes around the world. Art is an expression of our higher selves and speaks to us all about our common humanity irrespective of our political or religious ideology. It humanizes these men in a way that the pentagon does not want. This will backfire if they don't let up on this ban. The surest way to start a political move to is to ban something. Doh!
27
Art always speak out the inner mind. One may be free, out of jail even , but there is an element imprisonment of their own thought. One has imprisonment himself due to political reasons or customs. Picasso was hunted by Fascist German ruler. He dared but how many in free so called democratic society. So artist choose path of absurdity, which cannot be understood. Imprisoned artists of Guantanamo is extra ordinary. Congratulations to the teachers to taught them art. But let their arts be made public and global. Let similar artist training be started in every jail. Jails have given us good novels, poetry many valuable writing. Art is a narrative for all suppressed mind & gives a sense of freedom.
12
The whole structure and focus of the military is one of reducing people to sub humans, either by commanding them or by killing them. Along comes art, which by its very nature, raises people up. Can there be any question about how the military will respond?
20
how interesting that the U.S. government wants to "own" the detainee's artwork yet still refuses to own its own responsibility with regard to the illegal torture, detention, and renditions it carried out and perpetrated against these detainees (most of whom were innocent from the git-go). perhaps, if the U.S. government is to own anything from gtmo, maybe it should start with it's own abysmal human rights record? and leave alone the only scintilla of beauty, grace, dignity, and humanity that came out of that wretched place. the only reason the U.S. government opposes and seeks to destroy this artwork is because they don't want the world to see the truth of the crimes the U.S. government committed against detainees--men that were rounded up, tortured, and held without charges for years, while far more culpable other "terrorists" and individuals (like Anwar Awlaki, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Fahd Thumairy, Omar Bayoumi, Osama Basnan, etc) were escorted by our intelligence agencies in/out of this country. to date, not one successful prosecution/conviction has come out of gtmo. it is a failure, full stop.
17
Perhaps , some good can come from all of this. No, no we can't have that. Good from evil people is, well not acceptable. Yes they did some incredibly terrible things. But, maybe, with some time to reflect on what they have done, some of them have gotten a little insight. And realized they were wrong? No, just like in the states, we lock them up. There is no rehabilitation . We just want to extract our pound of flesh. And toss the rest into the garbage. These people will never go free. They can't repeat their sins. But are we so righteous, are we so free of sin that we can treat them like inanimate objects? Vengence takes it's toll on the victim as well.
4
It is remarkable to me that it is art that has caused such a profound response, reminding people that the detainees in Guantanamo are actually human beings with rights.
Our government should be ashamed of the way that it has mistreated Guantanamo detainees, torturing some and violating the human rights of all. We should be grateful to the detainees for reminding us of their humanity and creativity.
12
It seems to me that the Pentagon is afraid of the very idea that the people they are holding at Guantanamo Bay are humans with complex life experiences. Perhaps they should be afraid of such an idea, as it logically leads to other "dangerous" ideas such as "these people should not be tortured" or "these people should not be held unless they are found guilty of a crime"
12
I'm glad the NYTimes is calling them prisoners and not detainees. People who have been held without trial for 15 years and severely tortured are not detainees -- they are how a country like North Korea treats prisoners.
The fear in the U.S. government of these mostly hapless prisoners is extraordinary. It is hard to tell how much of the fear is the remaining belief that they really are the "worst of the worst" as Rumsfeld vacuously claimed, and how much is the fear of the U.S. bureaucracy, knowing that as the jailers of these men that they are committing crimes themselves. Unfortunately it seems our perpetrators in the government will never bear any consequences, for the most part remaining unidentified and able to mix among us as if they are normal human beings.
19
I found the reaction of the military extraordinarily descriptive of the fundamental nature of the organization. Ideally the military sense of purpose is to protect the country and its ideals of freedom and deep respect for humanity. When these prisoners show themselves to be expressive human beings with an inoffensive delight in being alive, the concept that they should be punished for doing so seems to me to be unworthy of an organization that proclaims itself as defending the better nature of humanity.
10
She added, “Why cut off the information?”
They're cutting off the information that shows us that these prisoners are people too. The Pentagon doesn't want us to know that.
18
To me, this is cruelty for cruelty's sake. By acting like this, the Pentagon only further degrades the reputation of the United States and adds legitimate fuel to the fires of our enemies. The inmates at Guantanamo should have been treated with the same rights, such as they are, as anyone in this country, and charged, tried, and freed or convicted years ago. We're supposed to be better than the barbarians at our gates, not worse. And to me, this is an example of "most certainly worse."
9
For all that these forgotten inmates have endured, the animalistic cells and handling, the use of their existence as political propaganda, the denials of basic comforts that cost this country zero, the assumption of their guilt without adjudication or even charges, for all this suffering, the display of their art represents a small nod to these inmates' humanity. When looking at the tearful painting of imprisonment defined, how can anyone not pause?
These men fought a war against their perceived oppresors, whether out of sheer evil or ignorant ill intent or simple cultural misunderstanding. We ourselves have fought wrong wars, in Iraq, Vietnam and others places in which we had no business. But even most of our own 'Nam POWs, who were treated abominably, were ultimately sent home. Guantanamo inmates, who never received prisoner-of-war status, are jailed indefinitely, denied all but the harshest of human contact and stuck in a no-man's-land, under conditions that international rights organizations have repeatedly decried.
Art can heals the soul, help make them whole. The works hung at John Jay college provide a small glimpse of otherwise censored people. Its good they are being shown in a college teaching policing and criminalistics. All authorities with great power over others could learn from these cries to be heard. That includes the foolish military officials who are silencing them.
11
The prisoners at Guantanamo are victims of crimes against humanity. Confiscating and destroying these prisoners' artworks is another example of U.S. policy that dehumanize these men. Art will always find a way to be free, which is the point making art.
Guantanamo itself is an illegal enclave under international law. It should be returned to the Cuban people.
10
This aligns our military with the sorry history of art censorship by totalitarian regimes. Apparently we are not to be allowed to see any side of these detainees — even those who have been released — except their alleged acts of terrorism.
9
In a similar vein, how many of you appreciated the opportunity to watch the Vietnam War documentary on PBS recently? Wasn't it something that we had so much video of the war to go along with the narrative?
Fast forward to today's wars. Do you think the military wants to give journalists, including photo and video journalists, the same sort of access they had in Vietnam? Will we ever see a similar documentary made on our recent wars?
8
PBS showed some of the art - beautiful seascapes, portraits. and the ship was amazing - talent among the cages and waterboarding. What has come out of Guantanamo? Very little except a huge stain on Democracy. Why deny this art the light of day? Property of the US government? It does not own our souls. The art exhibit shows a spark of humanity in our own gulag.
16
The first sentence of this article says that men suspected of terrorism are being held at Guantanamo without trial. Perhaps some are suspected of terrorism, but many are not. It widely known that many were picked up at random. In the old days, when we had a constitution, they would have been freed long ago.
9
Doesn't the art belong to the artists?
9
Art is art when it is conceived in the mind of its creator. One can free oneself with free flowing ideas. When it is produced so others can see it, it becomes a gift for everyone who sees it. Art is one form of sharing and those who identify themselves as non-artists who wish control over everyone and everything, imprison themselves in a tense life devoid of meaning and flow.
4
Well, since at least one of the people responsable for the men's continued violation of civil and human rights at Gitmo, former president George W. Bush, has also begun to dabble in paint, why not expand the show to include his work, too? Then maybe Obama could do some sketches...and that would necessarily inspire the current POTUS to begin painting, too (if only to "prove" that his work was by far the hugest, the most powerful, the clear winner). But, in order to be fairly measured against the inmate works, in terms of incarceration-based desperation, we would have to insist on the competing painters being locked up immediately, and the key being thrown away...
The government, should it run into problems paying for art materials for Mr. T-rump (because of budget restrictions brought on by impending tax cuts) to be able to prove that negative reviews of his art are just FAKE NEWS, might consider holding a bake sale.
3
As an artist it is so heartening to once again see the power of art to humanize the creator and those who witness the creation. It doesn't need to break new ground in terms of media or content – just be in an authentic expression of the human spirit. The catalog has some extraordinary stories in it and I encourage everyone to click on the link to it contained in the article.
15
Well, yay!! Wonderful.
Thanks to the journalists that brought this exhibition and issue to the attention of the public.
The artists' creations will not be burnt. You win the squeaky wheel award!
24
The military should indeed be concerned and “unsettled” about the attention this art exhibit is attracting. After all, the artwork humanizes the Guantanamo prisoners. The fact that three of the eight artists featured have still not had formal charges brought against them as they languish indefinitely within the camp, is what the military would like to keep under the radar.
Indefinite detention without trial is a violation of basic human rights.
Who would have ever thought that the United States of America, with its history of respect for the rule of law and fair play, would sink to such lows?
81
A violation of basic human rights? Do you realize these prisoners are treated better than those in the US?
2
Art can grow anywhere. This is another testament to the human drive for creativity and beauty. I'm happy to know that this art exists - whatever happens to it next.
63
Does there exist a right of due process for a work of art? The legitimacy of continuing to keep these prisoners in custody is already highly questionable on legal, let alone moral grounds. That the military authorities are already unsettled by the exhibiion's existence says everything we need to know about their contempt for human rights. Whoever is making those judgments has a higher standard of explaining to do.
69
They don’t want the art seen because they don’t want society to remember that these men are being held there-against all morality, dignity and even laws of our society.
9
Certainly, no due process exists for these prisoners. Guantanamo is a stain on this country.
8
The entire existence of Guantonamo is an act of contempt for human rights.
10