Mission: Guantanamo justice (hell's lobby)

Ashfield (MA) lawyer Stewart 'Buz' Eisenberg visits Guantanamo Bay every 10 weeks. He refers to the base's prison, which now holds about 275 terror suspects, as 'hell's lobby.'

For the past three years, Eisenberg has represented several Guantanamo detainees, men suspected of being terrorists or having knowledge of terrorist activities. His clients have spent four to six years, and counting, in isolated cells at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

All three have been declared 'no longer enemy combatants' by the U.S. government, which means, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, they 'no longer pose a significant threat.'

Stewart 'Buz' Eisenberg was in Cuba this week. He flew down March 15 to visit with his clients for five days with the goal of updating the men on their cases and the status of an impending Supreme Court decision on whether the right of habeas corpus applies to Guantanamo detainees.

Which is to say, Eisenberg didn't have much information to impart. 'Nothing has changed,' he said.

But that's all right. The main point of Eisenberg's trips to the U.S. Navy base in Cuba is to bring a touch of sanity to his clients. 'I try to bring an iota of familiarity to the men that live in complete isolation,' he said.

There is torture at Guantanamo Bay, said Eisenberg. He claims to have seen the results - a crippled hand, men walking with permanent limps, others with physical disfigurements and mental scars.

One of his clients has a skin disease. Eisenberg suspects it is pellagra, a disease often associated with a lack of niacin or protein in a person's diet. The man's skin flakes off into small piles on the desk as Eisenberg talks with him.

There is no human contact for detainees beyond orders from soldiers, said Eisenberg. Detainees are kept in isolated cells almost 24 hours a day. Captives' cells are staggered so men are not within speaking distance of someone who would understand their language.

There is no rest at Guantanamo, said Eisenberg. The buzzing bulbs that light detainee cells and prison halls are never turned off.

This is hell's waiting room, as Eisenberg sees it, and he wants it shut down for good.

'The best way to close Guantanamo is to open Guantanamo,' said Eisenberg, who often speaks at colleges and forums about his Guantanamo Bay experience. 'Americans don't want this done in their name.'

When at Guantanamo Bay, Eisenberg stays on the base and visits with his two clients for eight hours a day. He talks with the clients, two middle-aged Algerian men, about their health, the legal status of their cases, his own family, snow, anything that's not controversial. Before this trip, Eisenberg did a little research into the status of the FIFA World Soccer Cup tournament for his clients.

'If someone lives through hell, they look at you with a burning gaze. It's intense,' said Eisenberg. 'Everything you say and do has to be honest. You're totally transparent.'

While many detainees have been released from Guantanamo Bay, there are allegedly dangerous men there, some of whom are being charged with crimes for orchestrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

According to Pentagon figures, a total of 774 men have been detained at Guantanamo. Almost 500 of these men have been released.

Of the remaining 275 men, 80 are expected to have charges levied against them and be brought to trial by the U.S. government.

The government is seeking the death penalty for six men being held at Guantanamo. These six allegedly took part in planning the 9/11 attacks. One stands accused of being the mastermind behind the plot that killed about 3,000 people.

Attempts this week by the Gazette to contact a U.S. Department of Defense representative to address allegations of torture and detainee living conditions at Guantanamo Bay were unsuccessful. David Oten of the Pentagon's Defense Press Office did refer a reporter to Cynthia Smith, the department's Guantanamo Bay media contact. But a call and email to her office requesting comment were not returned.

Eisenberg cites the high number of people released from Guantanamo without ever being charged with a crime as evidence that released detainees never possessed terrorism information.

It takes a couple trips to establish trust between a lawyer and his clients, said Eisenberg. Often, detainees are warned by prison authorities not to trust their lawyers.

'They will have heard about you from the guards and people like that,' said Eisenberg. 'They might have been told 'He's a Jew, don't trust him,' or 'He's an interrogator, don't trust him.'

'Or they'll say, 'If you get a lawyer things will go worse for you,' so the first hurdle is trust,' said Eisenberg.

Eisenberg meets with his clients in a small concrete room with a desk and two chairs. Dressed in white jump suits to denote their low-security priority, Eisenberg's clients are shackled to the floor and the table as they talk. An interpreter facilitates their conversations.

He has to steer away from political news and the war on terror, for these are classified subjects. He has never seen where his clients live.

Eisenberg takes notes every time he meets with the men. As soon as he leaves a session, his notes are given to a naval escort, which accompanies Eisenberg just about everywhere he goes at Guantanamo. The notes are put into a heavy, zippered bag and sent to the Liturgical Security Office.

The office holds on to Eisenberg's notes for a couple weeks, 'sanitizing' the documents. Censors black out about half of what Eisenberg has written, all the confidential material, and deliver them to Eisenberg.

If Eisenberg wants to see his notes in full he has to travel to a place that is in or around Washington, D.C. (Due to confidentiality agreements, Eisenberg cannot identify where the material is kept.) There, Eisenberg can read over his full notes. If he wants to write something about the notes he has to do so on a specialized computer that is foil hackers. The information does not leave the office.

'I can't write or talk on a cell phone or else it's treason,' said Eisenberg of the conditions. Although all the security measures can be frustrating at times, Eisenberg said he understands their necessity.

'Information for the government that would identify plans or other sensitive information on Al-Qaeda should remain secret,' said Eisenberg.

The two men Eisenberg represents have been cleared for release from Guantanamo, but are yet to leave the prison.

'It's hard to find a country that says give me your tired, poor or detainees,' said Eisenberg.

'They attended Guantanamo as detainees. The U.S. accused them of terrorism - are they? And if not, then they are angry and hostile after years in confinement,' said Eisenberg, speculating on the position taken by countries that have rejected applications for asylum from detainees.

According to Eisenberg, the two men are Algerian immigrant laborers who were working in Pakistan and Afghanistan. At least one of the men is a draft-dodger. After serving his mandatory service in the Algerian armed forces, the man refused to re-enlist and skipped out on the country.

When Eisenberg's clients leave Guantanamo, he says they are looking forward to leading quiet lives.

'The people I know want no more than to live a peaceful, simple existence,' said Eisenberg.

However, for the draft-dodger, returning to Algeria would be a death sentence. Eisenberg did not disclose why the other man cannot return to his native land.

Typically, America will not deport a person to a country where he or she will face death or torture. So the search goes on to find a home for Eisenberg's clients. He has filed for asylum for one of his clients in the United States.

'My job right now is to find a country willing to accept these men for asylum or repatriation,' said Eisenberg. 'Every day a man is held is another day in hell.'

If you want to read something really outrageous in NoHo, google the Smith College magazine, the Sophian. Read the column on Sex.

Lawyers find way to aid detainees
By KRISTIN PALPINI Staff Writer

How do lawyers represent someone who hasn't asked for help -and may or may not be at Guantanamo Bay? It wasn't easy, but a network of humanitarian groups and lawyers found a way.

After Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. forces began a round-up of suspected terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan, an area that was suspected to be occupied by members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, said Emi MacLean, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. Among other things, the center is pairing volunteer lawyers with detainees.

The names of the hundreds of men captured were not released by American authorities. Their families were not notified that they had been taken captive, said MacLean.

The men were not allowed to contact the outside world.

Humanitarian groups, including Amnesty International, began taking out newspaper advertisements in places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, says Stewart "Buz" Eisenberg, an Ashfield lawyer representing two Guantanamo detainees. Eisenberg is also Ashfield's town moderator and a professor at Greenfield Community College.

The newspaper ads asked families to contact the organizations if they suspected their loved ones were being held by American forces. At the time, U.S. intelligence was running on the theory that young, foreign men would be pouring into Afghanistan to train in al-Qaeda terrorist camps, said Eisenberg. Pointing one of these men out could net an Afghani $311, a large sum for a poor family, Eisenberg said.

The two men Eisenberg now represents were caught up in this round-up. Once a man's family or friends reported him missing to humanitarian groups or private lawyers who were also taking out ads, the information was handed over to organizations such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, which sought lawyers to represent detainees.

Detainee lawyers are not paid for their work by their clients. Large legal firms may offset some costs for their lawyers, but Eisenberg, a private lawyer, pays for his own expenses incurred to represent detainees.

"There is a sense that the lawyers involved are doing critically important work in order to uphold what this country stands for and should stand for," said MacLean. "There's a growing support from the mainstream legal community for this work."

In December 2004, following a Supreme Court case establishing America's sovereignty at the Cuban base, Eisenberg joined a wave of American lawyers volunteering to represent detainees.

William C. Newman, a Northampton attorney and director of the Western Regional Office of American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, also volunteered to counsel detainees.

"The way the U.S. government was treating these prisoners is antithetical to everything I learned in law school about due process and fairness," said Newman. "There's an extraordinary effort by the American Bar (Association) that really is reflecting this same sentiment."

Eisenberg and Newman were given a young Saudi Arabian man to represent. The man was eventually released. Eisenberg later went on to represent another two detainees. These two men are still being held at Guantanamo Bay.

To be able to represent a Guantanamo Bay detainee, a lawyer must be deemed a "secure" person by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and be trained on confidentiality requirements surrounding the base and its detainees, said Eisenberg.

To earn "secure" status, the FBI did a thorough investigation on Eisenberg. The lawyer had to release his medical, physical, tax, police and other records to the FBI. The federal organization also conducted dozens of interviews with Eisenberg's colleagues and neighbors. "And they don't explain why they're there," said Eisenberg. "Everyone just suspected I was in trouble. No one knew I was doing Guantanamo stuff."

Back at home, Eisenberg can't talk much about his case or disclose details of his discussions with detainees, unless it is with a person deemed "secure" by the FBI.

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