Our Mission

The following statement was endorsed by the individuals and organizations listed below in January 2012, when this campaign and website was launched. It has been amended since then to reflect changes in the numbers of prisoners held, and those cleared for release, and the number of years since the prison opened.

January 11, 2024 marked the 22nd anniversary of the opening of the Bush Administration's "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Donald Trump released just one prisoner in his lamentable four years in office, and failed to understand that every day Guantánamo remains open undermines America's values and national security. Since Joe Biden became president, he has released ten prisoners, and we call on him to act swiftly and decisively to close the prison once and for all.

As Guantánamo's 23rd year of operations unfolds, 30 men are still held, and 16 of these men have now been approved for release. Three were approved for release 14 long years ago, in January 2010, by an interagency Task Force established by President Obama, which was made up of the top intelligence and law enforcement officials in the nation, one was approved for release by a Periodic Review Board in 2020 (a second review process set up by Obama), and 12 others have now been approved for release under President Biden, but these decisions mean nothing unless these men are actually freed.

Despite this limited progress, in Guantánamo's 23rd year, it remains apparent that all three branches of the U.S. government have failed to deal adequately with the moral stain that the prison represents.

We call for the immediate closure of Guantánamo.

Guantánamo harms our nation every day it stays open, and it continues to serve as a potent symbol for terrorist recruitment. Guantánamo also undermines our bedrock commitment to the rule of law, making that fundamental principle less secure for all Americans.

We call on President Biden to finish what President Obama started, and to close Guantánamo for good, and we insist that Congress stop making Guantánamo – and the fate of the men imprisoned there – into a cynical game of political maneuvering.

• David M. Brahms, Esq., BGEN USMC (Ret.)
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• John A. Chandler, attorney
• Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, attorney
• Morris Davis, Colonel, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), former chief prosecutor for the Military Commissions at Guantánamo, and professor at the Howard University School of Law
• The Hon. John J. Gibbons, former Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Elizabeth P. Gilson, attorney
• Donald J. Guter, Rear Admiral, JAGC, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
• Jonathan Hafetz, attorney
• Scott Horton, contributing editor, Harper's Magazine
• Human Rights First
• Human Rights Watch
• John D. Hutson, Rear Admiral, JAGC, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
• Gary A. Isaac, attorney
• Rob Kirsch, attorney
• Joseph Margulies, attorney
• George Brent Mickum IV, attorney
• Matthew J. O’Hara, attorney
• Stephen Oleskey, attorney
• Todd E. Pierce, Major (Ret.), Military Commissions defense attorney
• David Remes, attorney
• Clive Stafford Smith, attorney and founder of Reprieve
• Thomas P. Sullivan, attorney
• Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.), former Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, and visiting professor of government at the College of William and Mary
• P. Sabin Willett, attorney
• Tom Wilner, attorney
• Andy Worthington, journalist and author

The individuals above have endorsed our Mission Statement. Content on the rest of the website does not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the signers of this statement.

Please join us, and then spread the word to all your friends and contacts. Let's make 2024 the year that we close Guantánamo!

For further information, please contact Andy Worthington, the co-founder of the campaign with Tom Wilner.