Page 3 - aruba-today-20220301_Part3

A3
U.S. NEWS Friday 4 March 2022
High court sides with government in Gitmo state secrets case

By JESSICA GRESKO tional security, he wrote.
Associated Press "What was once a secret
WASHINGTON (AP) — The can, with the passage of
Supreme Court sided with time, become old news."
the government Thursday Gorsuch noted that the
and dismissed a case in- events about which Zubay-
volving a Guantanamo dah was seeking informa-
Bay detainee captured af- tion had taken place two
ter the Sept. 11 attacks and decades ago and have
tortured by the CIA abroad "long been declassified."
who has sought information "Official reports have been
about his treatment. The published, books written,
United States insisted that and movies made about
the information Abu Zubay- them. Still, the government
dah sought must remain seeks to have this suit dis-
secret even though much missed on the ground it
has been widely reported. implicates a state secret
Zubaydah, who was seized — and today the Court
in Pakistan in 2002, was acquiesces in that request.
once thought to be a high- Ending this suit may shield
ranking member of the al- In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, the sun sets behind the closed Camp X-Ray deten- the government from some
Qaida terrorist group that tion facility, on April 17, 2019, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. further modest measure
carried out the 2001 at- Associated Press of embarrassment. But re-
tacks. He was tortured while spectfully, we should not
being held at so-called CIA gued "Zubaydah's discov- he was held in Thailand intelligence about terrorist pretend it will safeguard
black sites abroad before ery request could force and Poland. The U.S. has plots against Americans. any secret," Gorsuch wrote.
being transferred to Guan- former CIA contractors allowed the disclosure of The government has cited Justice Elena Kagan
tanamo in 2006. to confirm the location of some information about his national security and its agreed with the govern-
Zubaydah was seeking to the detention site and that treatment. According to a commitments to foreign ment that the former CIA
get the testimony of two confirmation would itself 2014 Senate report, among partners. contractors should be
former CIA contractors as significantly harm national other things Zubaydah Conservative Justice Neil blocked from testifying
part of an investigation into security interests." was waterboarded more Gorsuch, writing in a dissent about the location where
his treatment in Poland, "In our view, the Govern- than 80 times and spent for himself and liberal Jus- Zubaydah was detained.
where it has been widely ment has provided suffi- over 11 days in a coffin- tice Sonia Sotomayor, said But Kagan said a lower
reported he was once cient support for its claim of size confinement box. Such Zubaydah's detention in court could protect "clas-
held. But six justices agreed harm to warrant applica- techniques are now widely Poland is no secret. Nothing sified information about lo-
his case should be thrown tion" of the so-called state viewed as torture. in the case "suggests that cation while giving Zubay-
out. secrets privilege, he said. The U.S. has stopped short requiring the government dah access to unclassified
Justice Stephen Breyer Many details about Zubay- of acknowledging the lo- to acknowledge what the information about deten-
wrote for the majority that dah's treatment have been cations of the black sites world already knows to be tion conditions and interro-
the government had ar- reported, including that set up after 9/11 to gather true" would endanger na- gation methods." q
Peace Corps plans to start sending volunteers overseas again

By LISA RATHKE unteers to medical evacu- when they were evacu-
Associated Press ation centers if there's an ated and sent back to the
The Peace Corps will start emergency. It is currently United States.
sending volunteers over- recruiting for 24 posts. "Over the past two years,
seas again in mid-March af- Besides their primary work our primary goal has been
ter it evacuated them from on local issues, volunteers to return volunteers to the
posts around the world two will be be involved in COV- more than 60 countries
years ago due to the CO- ID-19 response and recov- that are enthusiastically
VID-19 pandemic, the U.S. ery, the Peace Corps said. awaiting their return. And,
government program an- In Zambia, volunteers will we have weathered the
nounced Thursday. coordinate with local lead- waves and variants of the
An initial group of new ers and partner ministries to COVID-19 situation at each
volunteers and those who provide COVID-19 educa- post and reengineered
were evacuated in March tion and promote access Peace Corps systems, poli-
2020 as the coronavirus be- to vaccinations for commu- cies, and procedures to Cameron Beach, carries a carries a bucket of water on her
gan to spread across the nities, officials said. In the align with today's reality," head collected from a communal borehole in Dedza, near Li-
globe will go to Zambia Dominican Republic, the Peace Corps CEO Carol longwe, Malawi, on July 23, 2021.
and the Dominican Repub- focus will on helping com- Spahn said. Associated Press
lic this month, according to munities overcome issues Since those evacuations,
a Peace Corps statement. exacerbated by the pan- the Peace Corps has used its volunteers at the same ment needs through a va-
The Peace Corps plans to demic, such as increased volunteers to help with the time. riety of programs — from
return volunteers to their school dropout rates, lit- COVID-19 response domes- More than 240,000 Ameri- education to health and
posts throughout the year, erary skills and preparing tically and developed a vir- cans have served as Peace agriculture programs —
based on the number of young adults for work. tual service pilot program. Corps volunteers in scores while helping promote a
COVID-19 cases and hos- The Peace Corps marks its Not before March 2020 had of countries since the pro- better understanding of
pital capacity in the host 61th anniversary this week. the organization founded gram was created in 1961. Americans. Typical service
country and the Peace Two years ago, it had 7,000 by President John F. Kenne- The aim is to help the coun- lasts two years after a train-
Corps' ability transport vol- volunteers in 62 countries, dy needed to evacuate all tries meet their develop- ing period.q