I’m adding the “Tear It Down” badge to my site. Amnesty is launching a campaign to get half a million people to sign on to their petition calling for the closure of that infamous prison. Hundreds of people are still incarcerated there, with no charges against them, no clear evidence, and no civil rights protection.

To learn more about what’s wrong with Guantanamo:

Human Rights Watch latest articles: http://hrw.org/doc/?t=usa_gitmo
Human Rights Watch Op-ed: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/07/02/usint16325.htm

The Guardian on the infamy of the prison: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,2109502,00.html
NPR on the Supreme Court decision to hear the cases of detainees: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11601680

And there’s so much more — more protests and criticisms all the time.

What if we really are close to shutting it down? Take a minute to be a part of it: sign the petition and pass it on!

I showed up for the gathering part of the vigil that was before they actually went onto the bridge, but when I was there I saw over 200 people. I didn’t realize that the event was actually at the Esplanade, so I wound up looking down on it from the Hawthorne Bridge ramp, but it meant I could actually count the crowd. Besides me up on the ramp, there were passers-by who stopped to watch, and a bunch of folks who were up on the bridge with signs against the war. Passing cars would honk and wave.

The speakers were brief, which was nice. There was a guy who talked about running for Senate (didn’t impress me much) and then they had a sort of open mike where people could say a word or two as long as they kept it to a minute, which folks did for the most part.

• One woman spoke about her fears because her son has already spent a year and a half deployed in our war zones, and could be called back at anytime.
• One man called for mini-protests, where people just got together and hung out with signs against the war in the evenings. I\’m wondering about doing that.

All this is about keeping pressure up as Congress reconvenes. This particular event was organized by MoveOn, and they will be following up with more of these vigils in September.

Two things you can do in Portland to oppose the war:

Tonight, (Tuesday) Eastern foot of Hawthorne Bridge, 7 PM, for a peace vigil

Wednesday, noon, go by Senator Wyden’s office at the Federal Building to tell him to stop funding the war in Iraq (more info here)

I’m going to the one at the Hawthorne bridge tonight and can give an update.