Terrorist Watch List
Comments: 6
A New York Times article yesterday (unattributed from the Associated Press) called Cheap Watches Trouble for Gitmo Prisoners looked at how Casio watches “have become part of the often ambiguous web of evidence against detainees at Guantanamo Bay.”
Wearing a Casio is cited among the unclassified evidence against at least eight of the detainees whose transcripts were released by the Pentagon after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press.
The prisoners, who stand accused of links to al-Qaida or to the Taliban in Afghanistan, say they have been shocked that wearing a cheap watch sold worldwide could be used against them.
”Millions and millions of people have these types of Casio watches,” Mazin Salih Musaid, a Saudi detainee, told his military tribunal.
Now you can join the Terrorist Watch List by sporting a Casio that “may win you a trip to Guantanamo.”
Wear it proudly to show your dissent from the crimes our country is perpetrating under the guise of the war on terror: secret prisons, kidnappings, domestic wiretapping, torture, and disappearances (according to the International Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, and many other independent organizations).
Sim Sadler, whose pointed idea this is, has pledged to donate any proceeds from the auction to legal defense fund of any US government whistleblowers or reporters who bring to light further misdeeds.
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Posted to Oh, the Humanity • 2006.03.11 (Sat) • 01:08
Comments
Posted by Silus Grok 2006.03.11, 02:10
Hey Jeremy… do you know this person? I love the idea, but hate that it just be a scam to sell a box of watches…
Posted by jh 2006.03.11, 13:17
It didn’t strike me as a scam to sell any watches (who would buy one of these off eBay anyway when you could pay $20 for it at your local cheap watch store, take immediate delivery, and have somewhere to return it should it break?).
I read this as more in the nature of political satire.
I don’t know Sim Sadler, but Sim apparently knows me, or this site. I received e-mail yesterday from Sadler simply suggesting I take a look at the eBay auction, which I then decided to blog about. I get quite a lot of mail from people I don’t know suggesting things to blog about, but these are usually marketing ploys (be cutting edge: get the bloggers onboard!). This is the first thing that’s come at me like this that I’ve actually posted.
I certainly hope it’s not just a ploy to sell watches (as I say, I highly doubt it) but even if it is, I don’t care. Outweighing the concern that I may have inadvertently posted a bit of spam is the political and satirical value of what Sim has done.
Posted by Chris 2006.03.13, 21:09
Ahem (corny wristwatch-joke coming up…), surely this has gotta be a wind-up?
Posted by red river 2006.03.21, 06:06
What you dont know is that every watch has a serial number and a batch number. Watches bought in batches and then issued to AQ or Talibanis are as damning as having a cell phone with specific numbers on it.
I find it Ironic that someone would support someone whose actions and beliefs would make women unable to even read those watches or count to ten. Let’s give a cheap watch to every Talibani girl so that when the watch gives out when she is 6 she is then ready for marriage and that is end of her schooling.
Maybe the watches were the “Bhudda Blasting” commemoration watches? Or the “Village Massacre” model? Maybe they were all stuck on high noon?
Posted by Adrian MacNair 2006.04.06, 04:18
Just like crossing the border into the USA, you don’t worry about it if you’re not brown.
I agree, many of the charges against Gitmo prisoners seem pretty trumped up.
Posted by ColetasSoft 2006.04.17, 23:21
So it turns out I?ve been a terrorist the last 20 years? YIKES!!
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