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LeBron James as a Cavalier

Big Caveat: When I wrote this earlier today I hadn’t watched, and didn’t plan to watch, what became the LeBacle, which I thought would be pretty formulaic: A bio segment, some highlights, some analysis of scenarios, a few words about the decision-making process, LeBron expressing the requisite gratitude towards the fans and city of Cleveland, the big announcement, a little postgame, and done. This was just a basketball piece; “brave” was tongue-in-cheek. I didn’t realize a human disaster had just occurred. Apologies for any seeming indifference/obtuseness.

When LeBron James chose to play in Miami with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, he made the right decision, and he made the only potentially transformative decision.

It’s a truism at this point that talent dilution has badly damaged basketball over the past fifteen years. I’d say it’s easily damaged basketball more than anything else.

I grew up in Philly, and I wasn’t quite old enough to fully grasp the specialness of the ‘82-‘83 Malone-Erving-Toney-Cheeks-Jones Sixers, but I was old enough to live and die by them, and I took as a given the frightening arduousness of their postseason hero’s journey: To get to the McHale-Bird-Parish Celtics, they would have to get past the Sikma-Cummings-Lucas Bucks, and the reward for those conquests was the Kareem-Magic-Worthy Lakers. (The Sixers killed everybody.)

Those were historically elite teams. NBA champions should be historically elite—every team in the Finals should approach historical eliteness. They’re ostensibly the world’s best teams. But look at the ‘98-’99 Knicks, the ‘01-’02 Nets, and James’ own ‘06-’07 Cavs. Those weren’t Finals-worthy teams. In the last fifteen years maybe two losing Finals teams deserved their spots: the ‘92-‘93 Suns and the ‘96-through-‘98 Jazz. The parade of lambs to the Finals has diminished the meaning of the NBA championship. (The East-West power imbalance has aggravated but not caused the problem.)

LeBron James, the greatest player of his era, has chosen to play with another Hall-of-Famer, a player who could end up on a top-five all-time list. Historically great teams need a transcendent nucleus, and Wade was the only other transcendent player out there.

At the 2008 Olympics, James, Wade, and Bosh made what then seemed like a comically boyish pact: they would all play together someday, and if they each had to take less money to do it, they would. In a culture of extreme, team-hostile self-interest and impossible market constraints, James has just made good on that pact, and allowed us to envision a different NBA. The way you get around talent dilution is by internationalizing the league to expand the talent pool and doing exactly what James, Bosh, Wade, and Pat Riley did. Otherwise you have Scott Boras ruining the NBA like a developer ruins wetlands.

One criticism of James’ choice is that he has exploited a rare circumstance (great free agent class, much cap space) to assemble a superteam that will manufacture championships—winning will be so easy as to render his rings meaningless. On this theory, his tilting of the playing field is almost cowardly. It’s a strange idea. This new Miami team could have been assembled in a bunch of ways. And it would be hard to call a championship win meaningless if it entailed beating a very good, Dwight-Howard-led Orlando Magic team, a tough, healthy Celtics team, a Bulls team with a core of Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, and another all-star, and, in the Finals, a Lakers team with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom.

The more common objection is the opposite: James has fallen into a terrible trap by mistaking talent for team. He is overestimating the limits of his unselfishness. Here are the supposedly insurmountable obstacles to Miami’s success: Wade and James won’t be able to share the ball. Wade and James will bicker over who’s going to control the game in the last two minutes. They’ll fight over who’s going to take the last shot. Miami, now cash-poor, will never be able to assemble a serviceable supporting cast. The whole thing will be revealed to be a personal-brand-enhancing sham. Also, the sky over Miami is known to be brittle and prone to cracking and falling.

James and Wade have crazy assist numbers for superlative scorers. How will they share the ball? Passing. Who will take over the game in the last few minutes? The player who’s having the best night. Who’ll take the last shot? The player who gets the best look. The solution is team basketball, 2008 Olympics–style. James, Wade, and Bosh are betting that they can play good team basketball.

The person building this team is Pat Riley, one of the best team-builders ever. Here is one non-monetary recruiting incentive he can offer prospective players: a chance to play on one of the greatest teams in NBA history.

The great Walt Whitman

Mark Sanford, John Ensign, Eric Massa, David Vitter, high-level S&M-loving RNC staffers—Walt Whitman has thought of you! He has thought of you while taking ferries from Manhattan to Brooklyn in the mid-1850s! “You that shall cross from shore to shore years hence,” he wrote, “are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.” Fallen politicians, “consider whether [he] may not in unknown ways be looking upon you”—and then dispense with your scripts and guises! Expand! Will you not soon enough be “furnish[ing] your parts toward eternity”? Of course you will!

From ‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’:

It is not upon you alone the dark patches fell,

The dark threw its patches down upon me also,

The best I had done seem’d to me blank and suspicious,

My great thoughts as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre?

Nor is it you alone who know what it is to be evil,

I too knitted the old knot of contrariety,

Blabb’d, blush’d, resented, lied, stole, grudg’d,

Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,

Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,

The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me,

The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting,

Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting,

Was one with the rest, the days and haps of the rest,

Was call’d by my nighest name by clear loud voices of young men as they saw me approaching or passing,

Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent leaning of their flesh against me as I sat,

Saw many I loved in the street or ferry-boat or public assembly, yet never told them a word,

Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping,

Played the part that still looks back on the actor or actress,

The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like,

Or as small as we like, or both great and small.

The Texas Tech Double-T

This is the sensational allegation against Mike Leach, head football coach at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock: During practice, Leach ordered a team trainer to lock a player who had just suffered a concussion in a lightless electrical closet for several hours. The player, Adam James, son of former NFL player and ESPN analyst Craig James, was not allowed to sit down. A “guard” was posted outside the door. Adam James subsequently released footage of the closet interior that he took with his cell-phone camera.

Mike Leach’s account: Leach told his trainer to take Adam James to a safe, dark place, because the paramount considerations when a player suffers a concussion are light sensitivity and the risk of an additional blow to the head. The “electrical closet” was in fact a “sports medicine garage,” in which James could receive fluids and remain out of the light. The “guard” was a trainer who checked on James every fifteen minutes.

The James family filed a complaint, and with extraordinary rapidity Leach was fired “with cause,” meaning the school was not obligated to pay the remainder of his contract. Leach had secured the contract a year earlier after threatening to leave Texas Tech. In ten triumphant years there, he had gained tremendous leverage. An idiosyncratic law school graduate obsessed with pirates, Leach had lifted the school’s previously anemic football program to national prominence by using an unprecedented offensive attack that changed the way the college game was played. (Michael Lewis wrote a beautiful article about this in The New York Times Magazine.)

During the contract negotiations, Texas Tech administrators mistakenly assumed that Leach’s threat was a bluff, and were ultimately forced to accept his terms to keep him. Leach’s victory, though, engendered suffusing bitterness that only grew with time.

This past season, Leach struggled to discipline and earn the allegiance of his players. Adam James complicated the problem. He was, Leach says, a lazy kid with an outsized sense of entitlement who frequently flaunted team protocol.

Craig James, a ubiquitous presence on ESPN, apparently phoned Leach and his position coaches regularly, demanding to know why Adam’s minutes had fallen off. (The answer, Leach says, was a combination of laziness and limited ability.) James was also calling high-ranking administration officials and powerful alumni. Leach and his staff eventually stopped answering James’ calls.

Leach has filed suit against Texas Tech, which he says has chosen to “deal in lies.” Texas Tech has undertaken an accelerated search for a new coach.

Did Leach torture Adam James? The team trainer initially affirmed Leach’s story, but then criticized his conduct in an affidavit taken by Texas Tech lawyers. At least one of Leach’s assistants considered Adam James a disruptive player who undermined his coaches. Some of Leach’s current players have said that Leach behaved tyrannically this season and that his treatment of Adam James was not anomalous.

The first problem for Leach now is that his reputation has been damaged to the point of probable unhireability, and the only people with firsthand knowledge of the situation are beholden to Texas Tech. Leach’s public support will come obliquely from other head coaches and former head coaches (see Lou Holtz), former players (see Wes Welker), and fans.

Leach’s second problem is that the Jameses cannot back off their positions. They got the man who built Texas Tech football fired. They can’t equivocate now.

Finally, even if Leach clears his name through compelled legal testimony, it may not help him much professionally, because the near-grotesque allegations against him will have hung in the air of plausibility for so long.

In this miasma, it’s interesting to contrast Craig James’ ESPN interview with Mike Leach’s. One man, dispensing with politics and protocol, seems to be making a desperate, earnest attempt to convey what he knows to be true. The other, cautiously and uncomfortably evading certain questions, seems to be reciting talking points supplied by advisors.

Opium poppies

In 2006, Afghanistan harvested a larger illegal narcotics crop than any nation in modern history. Colombia, Mexico, and Burma together issue fewer drugs than a single Afghani province (Helmand, in southern Afghanistan). The U.S. rates the heroin-stained politicians of Afghanistan on a venality scale, hoping to work with “acceptably corrupt” officials (President Hamid Karzai falls short). Like the FARC in Columbia, the Taliban participate in and extract funding from the heroin trade. As the 2009 presidential election unfolds, opium remains the overwhelming political force in Afghanistan. The value of the election results may lie in their ability to help us calibrate the magnitude of the force.

But here I’m interested in a narrower question raised by magnitude: How do Afghani drug lords spend their absurd earnings? It’s an intermittently vexing problem. Control of the heroin trade is divided among about twenty drug lords, who split an annual take of (at least) several billion dollars. Afghanistan, though, has trouble absorbing spending on this order: The country’s per-capita GDP is $429, the lowest on the Asian continent. A world-class paucity prevails there—of luxuries to buy, professionals to employ, penthouse suites to reserve. The infrastructure situation makes leisure travel incommodious. (There is  one golf course, the Kabul Golf Club, restored after the fall of the Taliban by its proprietors, who cleared landmines, Soviet tanks, and rocket launchers to make it playable. It’s a nine-holer.)

The first step in disposing of drug money is, of course, automatic: operating expenses are considerable. Afghan drug lords rule areas as big as Maryland and Switzerland. Their territories contain river systems and mountain ranges and endemic species. Drug lords maintain large private militias. Haji Jumah Khan, the now-imprisoned former overseer of Helmand Province, commanded 15,000 fighters.

Heroin producers also employ convoys of armed jeeps and SUVs and fleets of cargo ships. Interfering palms along trafficking routes must be oiled; highway robbers must be killed. And there is the pre-shipment labwork. Refineries are crude—mud huts staffed by local men, usually very high, presiding over plastic-drum vats of boiling chemical solutions—but expensive nonetheless. There has been a little cost spike recently as a result of intensifying NATO antidrug operations; producers have felt compelled to build labs into the backs of Toyota pickups for quick relocation.

Still, there is a lot of money left. Afghan drug lords sock it away in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, to which countries they travel with some regularity, for business and pleasure. They also fly to reliably corrupt regional destinations like Quetta and Kabul. But living abroad is unrealistic, even behind walls of payoffs in autocratic oil states. A drug lord is safest in his native stronghold, the best drug-empire management is on-site management, and many producers (I imagine) simply want to make their material success manifest in their homeland.

So Afghanistan’s drug lords import loaded Lexus Land Cruisers with tinted windows and video entertainment systems. They throw parties. Haji Jumah Khan’s parties were highly alcoholic, lasted all night, and featured prostitutes flown in from Russia. Mainly, though, they build stuff—they remake the country to accommodate their acquired appetites. The pioneering Khan bought a town (land, buildings) in southern Helmand Province and transformed it into a rejuvenating way-station for his drug runners, who could pause after their travails and walk, self-reflectively, along the shores of a big artificial lake.

“Narcotecture” is the term used in Afghanistan to describe what the drug lords build. The Sherpur neighborhood in Kabul has the greatest concentration of narcotecture, but the phenomenon is national. Square blocks are razed, ancient family compounds are razed, and narco-palaces, sometimes several on a single vast lot, go up. The mansions may have twelve bathrooms, four kitchens, and rooftop parking lots. Many are fenced and armored; all are guarded.

Stylistically, narcotecture is incoherent and dizzyingly busy. Residences are composed of clashing globe-spanning elements: Asian pagoda tiers and eaves curving to points, Greek temple columns, mirrored skyscraper glass, medieval-castle balustrades and parapets, Persian pillars and arches, arabesque wrought-iron balcony railings, confectionary plasterwork. Some are straight imitations: a White House is under construction in Sherpur.

Inside: three-thousand-dollar Italian chandeliers, basement swimming pools, neon lighting systems that saturate floors. One mansion, according to Monocle magazine, has neon floors in alternating colors: blue on the second floor, pink on the first floor, and a “tutti-fruiti mélange” in the basement.

These structures look down upon, usually, squalor, the condition in which most Aghans live. A private residence with fourteen bathrooms may occupy the same unpaved street as tin-sheet huts and bomb-wrecked, squatter-occupied buildings exposed to unchanneled flows of sewage.

The narco-palaces also look down upon, and displace, history. Herat, for example, features a lot of narcotecture, but also the enormous eloquent citadel built by Alexander the Great in 330 BC, a stand of minarets above the fifteenth-century tomb of Queen Gawharshad, empress of the Timurid Dynasty, and a medieval mud-brick souk whose tea shops line alleys designed for two-way camel traffic. There is talk of clearing space in central Herat for a shopping mall.

It’s hard to say how great a threat narco-culture and narcotecture pose to the cultural traditions and indigenous architectures of Afghanistan, to which every Afghan has a natural right. A few years ago, the reporter Declan Walsh interviewed a construction worker standing outside a half-built narco-palace. “The owners,” the man said, “are the ones who killed our people and drank our blood, but at least they are providing us with work.”

Another possible (if paradoxical) consolation: Narcotecture is, historically speaking, perishable. It’s hard to find good contractors and architects in Afghanistan. Out-of-plumb doors in the most princely mansions fail to close. The concrete used to make narcotecture foundations and facades is said to crack quickly, and sometimes to crumble within years of being poured. Construction quality in Herat is so anemic, one local architect recently said, that an earthquake would cause half the city to collapse.

(An excellent narcotecture photo album, with sharp commentary, by T/S contributer P.J. Tobia. Two narcotecture video tours: by Robert Greenwald, of Rethink Afghan, and Rachel Morajee, of Monocle.)

SOURCES: Monocle magazine; Declan Walsh in The Guardian; the Congressional Research Service; Gretchen Peters, author of The Seeds of Terror, on NRR’s Fresh Air; P.J. Tobia in True/Slant; Wikipedia

WHAT IS A PRESIDENT WITHOUT A COUNTRY?

ordinary ppl in Iran have no reliable info – gov is trying to break all communication routes

11:41 AM Jun 17th from web

news – Mousavi & Khatami have delivered joint letter to Ministry of Justice demanding release of protestors

11:52 AM Jun 17th from web

Tomorrow March is in memory of those killed by Government – Mousavi will lead Sea of Green

1:59 PM Jun 17th from web

What is a president without a Country?

2:22 PM Jun 17th from web

THEY ARE REMOVING FROM PUBLIC PROFILE ALL PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE THEM – ARRESTING AND TORTURING

last night we had computer problems and could not give you report

12:39 AM Jun 18th from web

We have a question for Iranian State Broadcaster (IRIB.ir)?

12:43 AM Jun 18th from web

IRIB.ir – How is it possible that 2Million people march in your country and you say NOTHING?

12:48 AM Jun 18th from web

Today in Tehran & all over Iran the Sea of Green will be the biggest March in 30 years of Iranian history

1:04 AM Jun 18th from web

IRIB.ir watch – The Sea of Green is peaceful – we have no enemies

1:07 AM Jun 18th from web

IRIB.ir said that we are all violent thugs – we are showing you everyday that we are peaceful Sea of Green

1:28 AM Jun 18th from web

All the violence in Iran now is ONLY by Baseej – they are beating people walking in the street, for no reason

1:31 AM Jun 18th from web

Gov has closed Iran to all foreign communication and news coverage

1:43 AM Jun 18th from web

They are removing from public profile all people who oppose them – arresting and torturing

1:46 AM Jun 18th from web

TODAY – SEA OF GREEN – IMAM KHOMEINI SQ (S ) – 4PM – TEHRAN – ALL WEAR BLACK – WE PRAY TOGETHER

Every night in Tehran millions of people stand on their balcony and support Sea of Green by chanting ‘Allah Akbar’

1:49 AM Jun 18th from web

Today Sea of Green will wear black in respect of those who have been killed by Gov

2:10 AM Jun 18th from web

Today ALL major universities in Iran are CLOSED for Sea of Green

3:37 AM Jun 18th from web

Confirmed – Tomorrow FRIDAY prayers in Tehran will be led by Khamenei

3:39 AM Jun 18th from web

You can follow Mir Hossein MOUSAVI official updates on his own facebook page

3:41 AM Jun 18th from web

Today – Sea of Green – Imam Khomeini Sq (s) – 4pm – Tehran – All wear BLACK – we pray together

3:47 AM Jun 18th from web

MOUSAVI SAYS: I HAVE COME DUE TO CONCERNS OF CURRENT POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS – TO DEFEND THE RIGHT OF THE NATION

Baseeji – In memory of Imam show your respect – Join us to pray – wear Black

4:05 AM Jun 18th from web

Everybody is peaceful and quiet – everybody is wearing black – the number of people is unbelievable

5:48 AM Jun 18th from web

Mousavi needs your help – he needs a film sub-titled into English and emailed back to him - will send u the link

7:09 AM Jun 18th from web

Mousavi has asked for this to be subtitled for him for ALL Foreign press to show  – http://www.youtube.com/watc...

7:09 AM Jun 18th from web

MOUSAVI launches direct attack on ANejad for insulting his wife

7:16 AM Jun 18th from web

Mousavi says: I have come due to concerns of current political and social conditions – to defend the rights of the nation … I have come to improve Iran’s Intl relations … I have come to tell the world and return to Iran our pride, our dignity, our future … I have come to bring to Iran a FUTURE of FREEDOM, of HOPE, of fulfillment … I have come to represent the poor the helpless the hungry … I have come to be ACCOUNTABLE to you my people and to this world  … Iran must participate in FAIR elections, it is a matter of national importance  … I have come to you because of the corruption in Iran … 25% inflation means IGNORANCE – THIEVING – CORRUPTION – where is the wealth of my nation? … What have you done with $300 BILLION in last 4 years – where is the wealth of the nation? … The next Gov of Iran will be chosen by the people … Why do all our young want to leave this country? … I know of no creation who places HIMSELF ahead of 20 million of the nation … We are Muslims – what is happening in Iran Gov is a sin … This Gov is not what Imam Khomeini wanted for Iran  I will change all this – This is the SEA of GREEN

7:19 AM – 8:24AM Jun 18th from web

@Google – Mr Mousavi has designed for your use a new Sea of Green logo – pls see his facebook for a copy

8:26 AM Jun 18th from web

MOUSAVI asks GOOGLE to change logo to GREEN for 1 day  – to give hope to all Iran

8:26 AM Jun 18th from web

TEHRAN IS ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF PEOPLE ON THEIR BALCONY SHOUTING ‘ALLAH AKBAR – YA HOSSEIN – MIR HOSSEIN’ … WE HAVE UNCONFIRMED REPORTS THAT THERE IS DISSENT AMONG COMMANDERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARD FORCE

Hospital source – 12 killed and 29 injured on Monday in Azadi Sq

10:41 AM Jun 18th from web

MOUSAVI : http://www.flickr.com/photo… – photo stream

11:32 AM Jun 18th from web

Hospital source – increase in admission of people injured and beaten by Baseej – all Tehran hospitals in high alert

11:44 AM Jun 18th from web

to protect us all followers pls change your twt location to IRAN GMT+3.30

11:46 AM Jun 18th from web

Tehran is alive with the sound of people on their balcony shouting ‘Allah Akbar – Ya Hossein – Mir Hossein’

11:51 AM Jun 18th from web

MOUSAVI APPEALS TO THE WORLD TO PARICIPATE IN SEA OF GREEN IN ALL CAPITAL CITIES THIS SUNDAY – confirmed

1:44 PM Jun 18th from web

Mousavi – Khatami – Karoubi – will all lead Sea of Green on Saturday at 4pm in Enghelab Sq, Tehran  – confirmed

3:32 PM Jun 18th from web

We have unconfirmed repos that there is dissent among commanders of the Revolutionary Guard Force

3:56 PM Jun 18th from web

unconfirmed reliable source – several commanders of Revolutionary Guard Force arrested today

3:58 PM Jun 18th from web

HOSPITAL SOURCE – SEVERE SHORTAGE OF BLOOD SUPPLIES ACROSS ALL IRAN HOSPITALS – PLS DONATE BLOOD

confirmed – the wife of Saeed Rajaie, a prominent Iranian waime martyr, has been arrested while praying in Qom

4:10 PM Jun 18th from web

Thursday Sea of Green was more than ONE MILLION people

4:11 PM Jun 18th from web

The security situation in Tehran is very dangerous – 100’s arrested every day

4:14 PM Jun 18th from web

CONFIRMED – MOUSAVI & KAROUBI ask suppoers NOT to attend Friday prayers inTehran

4:19 PM Jun 18th from web

hospital source – Tehran hospital doctors are on 24 hour standby

4:30 PM Jun 18th from web

hospital source – severe shoage of blood supplies accross ALL Iran hospitals – pls donate blood  -

4:32 PM Jun 18th from web

NOW IS DAWN – WE MUST GO – LOCATION NOT SAFE – THANK U FOR SUPPORTING SEA OF GREEN – PEOPLE OF IRAN NEEDS YOUR HELP

cannot reply to all our followers but pls be aware that all info we provide is 100% accurate – situation here is serious

4:52 PM Jun 18th from web

political situ in Iran is v/complex – for every decision there are reasons – some we cannot mention here

5:10 PM Jun 18th from web

Advice – travel in groups – always tell someone where u are going – dont go out unless needed

5:20 PM Jun 18th from web

Advice – NEVER log onto any proxy posted on twitter – u will be traced

5:23 PM Jun 18th from web

now is dawn – we must go – location not safe – thank u for suppoing Sea of Green  – people of Iran needs your help

5:28 PM Jun 18th from web

THE SITUATION IN IRAN IS NOW CRITICAL – THE NATION IS HEARTBROKEN – SUPPRESSION IS IMINENT

Confirmed – Saturday Sea of Green rally – Enghelab Sq – 4pm – Mousavi, Karoubi and Khatami will attend -

4:45 AM Jun 19th from web

Confirmed – Mousavi calls on people of the world to march on SUNDAY in suppo of Sea of Green -

6:03 AM Jun 19th from web

confirmed – the Gov has refused to issue a permit for Sea of Green march at 4pm on Saturday in Tehran -

6:08 AM Jun 19th from web

The situation in Iran is now CRITICAL – the nation is heartbroken – suppression is iminent -

6:16 AM Jun 19th from web

MOUSAVI – CONFIRMED – CALLS FOR ALL THE NATION TO STAND ON BALCONYS TONIGHT AND SHOW SUPPORT WITH ‘ALLAH AKBAR’

unconfirmed reports – Revolutionary Guard has been mobilised to secure Tehran -

6:24 AM Jun 19th from web

English language intro to Mir Hossein MOUSAVI – http://bit.ly/9prbq -

6:30 AM Jun 19th from web

confirmed – Shahab Talebani has been arrested today -

8:07 AM Jun 19th from web

confirmed – Ebrahim Yazdi has been released by Gov due to poor health -

8:54 AM Jun 19th from web

Mehdi Karoubi letter to National Security Council – http://www.etemademelli.ir/…

8:57 AM Jun 19th from web

confirmed – 2 student activist arrested – Alirezah Khshbakht & Zahra Toheedi -

9:01 AM Jun 19th from web

Mousavi – Confirmed – calls for ALL the nation to stand on balconys TONIGHT and show support with ‘Allah Akbar’

9:03 AM Jun 19th from web

Mousavi – confirmed – show support for Sea of Green from balcony staying 9pm to midnight tonight -

9:05 AM Jun 19th from web

OF COURSE MOUSAVI HAS BEEN SILENCED – BUT HE HAS NOT YET BEEN ARRESTED – TODAY EVERYBODY WAS SILENCED!

@mousavi1388 Please join Mousavi, Khatami and Karoubi Sat 4pm Enghelab Sq. to Azadi Sq. Tehran for a crucial green protest

11:41 AM Jun 19th from web

confirmed – IRIB.ir – HACKED – Dos Dos Dos Dos

11:54 AM Jun 19th from web

Tehran is alive with the Sea of Green

3:12 PM Jun 19th from web

Mir Hossein Mousavi is safe and well – preparing for tomorrow – Sea of Green

3:16 PM Jun 19th from web

confirmed – sms text messaging is working again in Iran after 1 week of disconnecsion

3:26 PM Jun 19th from web

Of course Mousavi has been silenced – but he has not yet been arrested – today everybody was silenced!

3:56 PM Jun 19th from web

KAROUBI: AS A FORMER POLITICAL PRISONER WHO WAS TORTURED I KNOW THAT INSULTING A NATION WILL TURN THEM INTO A RAGING FIRE

58 scholars & lawyers condemn the recent killings & arrests in Iran as illegal – http://ghalamnews.org/news-…

4:19 PM Jun 19th from web

Advice – your location can be identified from mobile signal – + delete all sms after sending in case u are arrested

4:33 PM Jun 19th from web

Advice – remove sim and use mobile to film ANY violence or attak against Sea of Green

4:38 PM Jun 19th from web

Karoubi – As a former political prisoner who was toured I know that insulting a nation will turn them into a raging fire -

4:41 PM Jun 19th from web

Karoubi – Recognize the will of the nation and void the 10th Presidential Elections to return order to the country

4:44 PM Jun 19th from web

KHATAMI: IT IS THE TIME OF TWILIGHT – BUT I LOVE THE DAWN!

Iranian scholars and uni Proffessors write joint letter to Secretary General of UN condemning violation of Iran Human Rights

4:47 PM Jun 19th from web

Hossein Obama – The world is watching

4:57 PM Jun 19th from web

Shirin Ebadi – Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate – condemns harsh treatment of protesters in Iran

5:00 PM Jun 19th from web

EU – condemns threats of Ayatollah Khamenei

5:01 PM Jun 19th from web

Khatami: It is the time of Twilight – but I LOVE THE DAWN – Sea of Green -

6:36 PM Jun 19th from web

People of the world – Today Saturday 20 June 2009 – Iran will again make HISTORY -

6:38 PM Jun 19th from web

MOUSAVI – CONFIRMED – I HAVE PREPARED FOR MARTYRDOM

confirmed – Mousavi – SATURDAY 4pm Enghelab Sq – HISTORY will be watching us -

6:40 PM Jun 19th from web

confirmed – Mousavi – SATURDAY is a big day for fighting fascism -

6:41 PM Jun 19th from web

The world must not watch us – you must all join us wherever you are

6:43 PM Jun 19th from web

Google – thank you – NOW CHANGE YOUR LOGO FOR TODAY – Sea of Green

6:49 PM Jun 19th from web

Dawn is upon us – Allah Akbar – Let us pray together today – http://bit.ly/4dKQjX

7:14 PM Jun 19th from web

today the world can see why we want our freedom from fascists -

7:37 AM Jun 20th from mobile web

tonight to the streets – for freedom -

7:41 AM Jun 20th from mobile web

Mousavi – Confirmed – I have prepared for martyrdom

8:35 AM Jun 20th from web

TEHRAN IS BURNING WITH THE BLOOD OF OUR MARTYRS – THE STREETS ARE FULL OF DEAD

Helicopters pouring acid on people from the sky

8:37 AM Jun 20th from web

Today is the day of rekoning – the day of GHIAMAAT – Allah Akbar -

8:38 AM Jun 20th from web

Mousavi declares results of 10th Presidential Election null and void

8:40 AM Jun 20th from web

Mousavi speaking to suppoers in the street NOW

8:43 AM Jun 20th from web

Tehran is burning with the blood of our Mayrs – The streets are full of dead

8:44 AM Jun 20th from web

SODIUM METABISULFITE Na2S2O5 MIXED WITH WATER (5% SOLUTION) CURES CS TEAR GAS. WASH EYES WITH SOLUTION

People of Iran – be ready to take people from the streets tonight and give protection -

8:46 AM Jun 20th from web

Unconfirmed – The Army will not follow orders to kill the people -

8:47 AM Jun 20th from web

Advice – Tear Gas – cover mouth/nose – remove gased clothes immedietly – wash face and inside mouth/eyes/nose with water fast

8:50 AM Jun 20th from web

hospital source – Tehran hospitals report hundreds of casualtys

8:50 AM Jun 20th from web

@stopahmadi #gr88  Sodium metabisulfite Na2S2O5 mixed with water (5% solution) cures CS tear gas. Wash eyes with solution

9:03 AM Jun 20th from web

Advice – Wash face/mouth/eyes/nose/ears with lemon juice if gassed - cover face

9:17 AM Jun 20th from web

MOUSAVI – CONFIRMED – IF I AM ARRESTED THE NATION IS TO STRIKE INDEFINITELY

Mousavi – tehran TODAY http://bit.ly/TgIJf -

9:18 AM Jun 20th from web

Karegar St S – Tohid sq – Arya Shahr – Azadi Sq – Valli Asr Ave/Sq – Are alive with Sea of Green and fighting -

9:22 AM Jun 20th from web

confirmed – riots in Shiraz

9:24 AM Jun 20th from web

The nation has awoken TODAY – the Sea of Green is marching

9:25 AM Jun 20th from web

confirmed – Riots in Tabriz, Mashad, Isfahan, Ahwaz – Gov using violence -

9:27 AM Jun 20th from web

Mousavi – confirmed – IF I AM ARRESTED THE NATION IS TO STRIKE INDEFINITELY

9:31 AM Jun 20th from web

WE ARE WASHED IN THE PURE WATER OF HEAVEN AND STAND BEFORE YOU ALLAH TO BE MARTYRED

Good morning people of the world - the day of the new dawn has arrived

5:04 PM Jun 20th from web

Mousavi – it is the duty of the people to keep the fire of hope burning

5:06 PM Jun 20th from web

today the world witnes this Gov burn the nation with acid from the sky -

5:07 PM Jun 20th from web

we have seen today pain and suffering like never before in Iran – our nation – our love -

5:09 PM Jun 20th from web

The magnificent nation of Iran has spoken – the Gov of Iran has reacted

5:11 PM Jun 20th from web

We are the soldiers of Allah – peace be upon him – and we shall fight until justice of God is upon this nation -

5:12 PM Jun 20th from web

We are washed in the pure water of heaven and stand before you Allah to be martyred – Allah Akbar

5:14 PM Jun 20th from web

Allah you are the creator and to you we shall return -

5:16 PM Jun 20th from web

We are of peace for all man – we are the blood of Allah – we stand for that which you Will and decide – Allah Akbar

5:20 PM Jun 20th from web

CONFIRMED – RASOUL HOSPITAL TEHRAN – AT LEAST 11 DEAD … CONFIRMED – BANK MELLI HOSPITAL TEHRAN – AT LEAST 9 DEAD

Hojateleslam bin Moslemin Rafsanjani holds the honour of the army of this great nation - Allah Akbar

5:26 PM Jun 20th from web

We have no future – no life – no hope – without you Allah – our creator – our leader Enna Allah va Analieh Rajeoon

5:30 PM Jun 20th from web

Brothers and sisters were killed before our eyes today – the innocent blood of the mayrs of Allah

5:34 PM Jun 20th from web

We are the bird of freedom of Iran – but we have no wing without you Allah – peace be upon you

5:39 PM Jun 20th from web

We know that the army is not ready to kill the people of Iran

5:46 PM Jun 20th from web

confirmed – hospital source – hundreds injured Saturday

5:48 PM Jun 20th from web

confirmed – Rasoul Hospital Tehran – at least 11 dead -

5:52 PM Jun 20th from web

confirmed – Bank Melli hospital Tehran – at least 9 dead

5:54 PM Jun 20th from web

MOUSAVI WE WILL STAND BESIDE YOU – WE WILL DIE BESIDE YOU

Mousavi calls on Sea of Green – DO NOT take act violently

6:00 PM Jun 20th from web

Rafsanjani has stayed silent until now – he has the support of the army – our hope is that the army will protect us -

6:03 PM Jun 20th from web

We must rest – Tehran is burning with the fire of freedom – but tomorow we fight again – we have injured ppl

6:08 PM Jun 20th from web

we have no confirmation of tank in Tehran – that is a rumor from Gov -

6:10 PM Jun 20th from web

Khatami – Today is the dawn – Allah Akbar

6:14 PM Jun 20th from web

Mousavi – we have gone too far to stop now

6:14 PM Jun 20th from web

Again we thank you for support – pls see our video links for violence in Tehran today -

6:18 PM Jun 20th from web

again it is dawn- we go to pray to Allah – pls people of the world pray with us – God is but one – Allah – of all creation

6:21 PM Jun 20th from web

Mousavi we will stand beside you – we will die beside you – Allah Akbar – peace be upon all man

6:26 PM Jun 20th from web

Twitter pins people to little screens, truncates thoughts and attention spans, encourages people to write stupid stuff, etc. (Also, in combination with “twitter,” the verb “tweet” suggests “weenie,” “tit,” and “twit.”)

But in the middle of a revolution, Twitter’s pretty amazing. This obviously isn’t news, but in crisis the technology functions like telegraphy in the nineteenth century, the tightness of the dispatch pressing out superfluous information and leaving the immediate and vital. Again obviously, there’s zero lag time, except when there are connectivity/censorship issues, which allows for the cool meta narrative of the intrepid reporter eluding in various technologically clever ways the government’s fat fist. (I am accessing Twitter from 148.233.239.24 Port 80 in tehran. you can avoid gov filters from here. spread to others.) Plus, there are pictures and video.

If you find a good reporter (perhaps an actual reporter using Twitter) who writes over a sustained period of time, the totality of his or her messages will be—I’m realizing, probably several years after most people—an encompassing, startlingly granular account of a set of events.

Along with about 32,000 other people, I’ve been following Persiankiwi, who started reporting during the Iranian elections and has been an amazing correspondent ever since. Almost immediately I had an urge to clean up the feed and edit out extraneous material and put it all in chronological order, so it would read like a diary or series of actual dispatches from the front.

Here’s the result. It’s a stretch to compare Persiankiwi’s Twitter stream to Hiroshima or Dispatches or Homage to Catalonia, but they’re not totally absurd comparisons. Pretty soon (I think) the messages unite themselves and become parts of a single work, and clearly Twitter feeds are going to be cited copiously in future dissertations.

There’s a lotta text down there; I’ve broken it up with headings and “continued” hyperlinks, and if you want to know what’s happening at this very moment you can of course go to Twitter. It’s interesting to go back and forth and see the two- or twelve- or thirty-hour antecedents of present circumstances. I’ll try to bring this as close as possible to the latest entries; I’m still playing a little catchup.

(Note: I tried to change as little as possible. I didn’t care much about grammar or spelling; I tried to maximize clarity and minimize visual busyness.)

Finally, to Persiankiwi (should you read this): Good luck, stay safe, and, on behalf of the world, thank you.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

rumour sweeping mousavi has called national strike on tuesday (10:07 AM Jun 14th from web)

enough is enough… where is my vote? I waiting in line 4 hours to vote? (10:14 AM Jun 14th from web)

mousavi calls for mass march Monday Valli asr. 18 kilometer human chain. (10:17 AM Jun 14th from web)

mousavi calls for national strike by all supporters on tuesday. (10:19 AM Jun 14th from web)

I CAN HEAR PEOPLE SAYING ‘DEATH TO KAMENEIE.’ THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.

I am in north tehran – shemiran – people on rooftops shouting slogans. (1:42 PM Jun 14th from web)

I can hear people actually saying ‘death to khameneie.’ this has never happened before. (1:46 PM Jun 14th from web)

I lived thru first revolution.. it is like it is happeing again. (1:49 PM Jun 14th from web)

internet very difficult here – keeps breaking. (1:52 PM Jun 14th from web)

I hear from friends that riots in sadatabad now. (1:55 PM Jun 14th from web)

friend on phone – people in sadatabad have blocked roads with railings to stop Basij motorbikes. (2:00 PM Jun 14th from web)

running battle in sadatabad. Basij are using live ammunition. (2:01 PM Jun 14th from web)

IF MARCH GOES AHEAD TOMORROW THE GOV WILL BE POWERLESS TO ACT. THEY CANNOT KILL MILLIONS.

government refuses permit for Moussavi march tomorrow. army may be called. (2:02 PM Jun 14th from web)

Khatami has called on people to join march in Tehran tomorrow for Mousavi. I think millions will come. (2:03 PM Jun 14th from web)

I can hear people on rooftops in Niavaran shouting ‘death to khamenaie’ – unbelievable. (2:05 PM Jun 14th from web)

if march goes ahead tomorrow the gov will be powerless to act. they cannot kill millions. (2:07 PM Jun 14th from web)

there are people running in streets outside my house chanting. can hear gunfire. (2:08 PM Jun 14th from web)

people chanting in streets now ‘kessafat doroghgo’ – dirty liar. (2:10 PM Jun 14th from web)

I am accessing twitter from 148.233.239.24 Port:80 in tehran. you can avoid gov filters from here. spread to others. (2:16 PM Jun 14th from web)

LAST 2 NIGHTS LIKE 1979 AGAIN. FRIGHTENING BUT FANTASTIC. HISTORY.

normally nights are quiet. it is now 0150hrs and streets jammed. thousands of cars on roads. can hear tooting. (2:20 PM Jun 14th from web)

friend on phone from sadatabad. he says violent street battles between Basij and people. cars on fire. (2:23 PM Jun 14th from web)

people still shouting from rooftops. ‘allah akbar – death to the dictator’. (2:24 PM Jun 14th from web)

internet very slow in tehran. keeps cutting out. maybe cant twit more tonight. (2:33 PM Jun 14th from web)

2am and people still on roof shouting death to khamenaie. a week ago that was unthinkable. people very fed up. want freedom. (2:37 PM Jun 14th from web)

tomorrow will be very important. i think millions will join march. (2:39 PM Jun 14th from web)

the sound of cars and people chanting is incredible. like all the city is alive at 2am. (2:43 PM Jun 14th from web)

normally tehran is quiet at night. last 2 nights like 1979 again. frightening but fantastic. history. (2:44 PM Jun 14th from web )

FIRES BURNING SOMEWHERE IN NORTH EAST TEHRAN. CAN SEE IN NIGHT SKY REFLECTION.

tomorrow i will try to join march in valliasr ave. Moussavi has said he will be there too. tomorrow we make history. (2:47 PM Jun 14th from web)

cannot see incoming messages on my twitter. internet too slow or jammed. (2:49 PM Jun 14th from web)

tomorrow in 19 cities we march. world will see that ppl of iran are brave. we will defeat dictators. (2:50 PM Jun 14th from web)

cannot get line out on my mobile for past 30 mins. either too many users or jammed network by gov. (2:53 PM Jun 14th from web)

landline working but cannot call mobiles at all. tried many numbers. (2:56 PM Jun 14th from web)

just heard that Moussavi is mobilising people for mach at 4 pm tomorrow across Iran. death to the dictator. (3:00 PM Jun 14th from web)

have not slept since early saturday morning. exhausted. but how to sleep in middle of history being made. (3:03 PM Jun 14th from web)

mousavi is posting direct here http://sites.google.com/sit… tell everyone. (3:06 PM Jun 14th from web)

canot see incoming tweets. spread word that Moussavi has asked for people to join march in Valliasr ave Monday at 4pm. (3:11 PM Jun 14th from web)

fires buring somewhere in north east tehran. can see in night sky reflection. estimate it is in direction of pasdaran ave. (3:16 PM Jun 14th from web)

I AM HEARING THAT TEHRAN UNI HAS BEEN RAIDED BY BASEEJ. HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A CALL SINCE BEING TOLD.

managed to get call out on my mobile. spoke for 2 mins then cut off. cannot reconnect. (3:19 PM Jun 14th from web)

am being told that there is rioting in several parts of city now. trying to get details. (3:19 PM Jun 14th from web)

unconfirmed but have heard that the demo tomorrow may be held at khomeinis grave instead of valliasr ave. gov threats to stop. (3:25 PM Jun 14th from web)

gov has refused permission for pro-moussavi march tomorrow. (3:28 PM Jun 14th from web)

very bad internet connection. keeps outing, am on dialup, running out of credit. (3:30 PM Jun 14th from web)

fires buring. heard some gunshots about 10 mins ago. sounded like coming from north east tehran where fires are. (3:32 PM Jun 14th from web)

I am hearing that Tehran Uni has been raided by Baseej. Have not been able to make a call since being told. (3:36 PM Jun 14th from web)

i think the mobile phone network is just overburdened. managed to get line out. the city roads are still full of cars. (3:43 PM Jun 14th from web)

I am running out of credit. I am going to go out to get a new dialup credit from a neighbour. (3:44 PM Jun 14th from web)

TEHRAN IS LIKE WAR ZONE. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE. I HAVE NOT SEEN THIS FOR 30 YEARS. FIRES EVERYWHERE. SHOOTING, PEOPLE SHOUTING.

I am in north tehran now. people still on rooftops. risky, but I need to go out to get internet credit. (3:45 PM Jun 14th from web)

apparently at least one dead in sadatabad tonight. several demonstrators shot/missing. (3:46 PM Jun 14th from web)

I am going to go and see what is happening for myself. cannot sit here any longer. need to act. (3:47 PM Jun 14th from web)

cannot go out at all. militia everywhere on motorbikes. (3:58 PM Jun 14th from web)

just managed to get new dialup codes for internet from a friend. (3:58 PM Jun 14th from web)

it is crazy in the streets. people running up my street. motorbikes chasing them. (4:00 PM Jun 14th from web)

tomorrow we will march. it will be biggest march in history of the world. 10 million will march tomorrow. (4:02 PM Jun 14th from web)

i am hearing that tehran uni has been raided. (4:04 PM Jun 14th from web)

unconfirmed but I am hearing that many killed in tehran uni this evening. (4:08 PM Jun 14th from web)

tehran is like war zone. it is unbelievable. i have not seen this for 30 years. fires everywhere. shooting, people shouting. (4:10 PM Jun 14th from web)

we have no satellite tv, internet is blocked to most sites, no texting at al and very limited mobile phone cover. (4:12 PM Jun 14th from web)

tehran university dorm has been raided and hundreds of students arrested tonight. this is happening now. (4:14 PM Jun 14th from web)

tomorrow if army come we will greet them with roses. (4:16 PM Jun 14th from web)

THIS WILL NOT STOP

i am not sure if students killed in tehran uni dorm. unconfirmed that there was shooting heard there. no students seen.

4:19 PM Jun 14th from web

i am hearing that students beaten severly at tehran uni tonight. am speaking with someone on the scene now on mobile

4:23 PM Jun 14th from web

i have just been told that moussavi has called national strike on tuesday.

4:26 PM Jun 14th from web

gov trying to arrest all people suspected in organising demo tomorrow and strike on tuesday.

4:27 PM Jun 14th from web

apparently there is running battles in tehran uni right now. i can hear shooting on the phone line.

4:29 PM Jun 14th from web

students being killed in tehran uni dorm in amirabad right now. this must stop, ahmadinejad must stop.

4:33 PM Jun 14th from web

4am and people still on streets and rooftops shouting ‘death to the dictator’.

4:36 PM Jun 14th from web

this will not stop.

4:36 PM Jun 14th from web

I MUST GO TO PRAY NOW. TODAY WE WILL NEED GOD.

moussavi demo at 4pm this afternoon in 19 cities announced. expect millions. 4:39 PM Jun 14th from web

have lost mobile contact in university dorm. cannot reconnect. cannot get info.

4:43 PM Jun 14th from web

internet very slow. dialup only. no facebook, no bbc, cnn nothing. even arab stations blocked.

4:46 PM Jun 14th from web

everytime i press refresh, system cuts out. no incoming at all. crazy.

4:48 PM Jun 14th from web

occasionally hear gunshots in distance. no idea where. seems to be all over city. just like 79.

4:52 PM Jun 14th from web

dawn is breaking. can hear prayers from mosques.

4:56 PM Jun 14th from web

have no more news from uni dorm. i must go to pray now. today we will need god.

5:00 PM Jun 14th from web

confirmed – tehran uni dorm 17 seriously injured. no deaths reported yet. will post link.

5:05 PM Jun 14th from web

i am going to masjed tekkieh to pray. I will try to log on later today.

5:08 PM Jun 14th from web

COUNTRY IS AT STANDSTILL. LIKE WAR TIME. PEOPLE CONFUSED, FRIGHTENED. REPORTS THAT MILITIA CARRYING LIVE AMMUNITION TO KILL.

I am online for few minutes. total communication blackout here. gov panicking. very dangerous.

1:19 AM Jun 15th from web

mobile phones down. sms, outage, facebook and all news channels out.

1:20 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed but people saying many killed last night.

1:21 AM Jun 15th from web

country is at standstill. like war time. people confused, frightened. reports that militia carrying live ammunition to kill.

1:23 AM Jun 15th from web

have seen my inbox. thank you all for support. please help us by pressure. keep us in news please dont forget.

1:25 AM Jun 15th from web

people trying to gather for march. roads blocked everywhere.

1:26 AM Jun 15th from web

have no news of tehran uni dorm. rumours that many killed and remainder arrested.

1:28 AM Jun 15th from web

i am now at a friends house. trying to get in to uni dorm area. all roads blocked.

1:29 AM Jun 15th from web

PEOPLE SAYING THAT ARMY IS SPLIT. PEOPLE TALKING OF COUP. UNCONFIRMED. WE NEED ARMY ON OUR SIDE.

gov spreading rumous that march cancelled. that is not true. WE MARCH AT 4pm.

1:32 AM Jun 15th from web

please tell all – march is NOT CANCELLED today. Mousavi is in danger of being killed.

1:35 AM Jun 15th from web

almost no mobile phone coverage in city. landlines working but cannot access mobiles. they are frightened.

1:35 AM Jun 15th from web

people saying that army is split. people talking of coup. unconfirmed. we need army on our side.

1:42 AM Jun 15th from web

I am being told that many gathering at haram Imam Khomeini for march. gov cannot kill us there. but roads closed.

1:48 AM Jun 15th from web

internet connection v/bad. just heard that tehran uni dorm under seige. students barricaded inside.

2:12 AM Jun 15th from web

KHATAMI & MOUSAVI SAY THEY WILL JOIN PROTESTERS TO PROVIDE PROTECTION. WE MARCH TODAY.

Khamenei has just announced that if Moussavi does not retreat he will be dealt with according to law.

2:43 AM Jun 15th from web

this is live on IRIB news now. Kamenei threatens Moussavi and supporters.

2:44 AM Jun 15th from web

direct threat to Moussavi from Khamenei. on Iran news channels now – live.

2:45 AM Jun 15th from web

khamenei tells ’shorah enghelab’ to take Moussavi’s letter of objection ’seriously’. he threatens Moussavi directly.

2:48 AM Jun 15th from web

IRIB admits that khamenei and Moussavi have met.

2:49 AM Jun 15th from web

IRIB reads out Moussavi letter of protest to Khamenei. now live on IRIB.

2:51 AM Jun 15th from web

We have just been told that Seyyed Mohamad Khatami and Moussavi will march together today at 4pm in Tehran.

2:56 AM Jun 15th from web

Khatami & Mousavi say they will join protesters to provide protection. we march today. trying to post link.

3:01 AM Jun 15th from web

http://kalemeh.ir/vdcd.90n2….

3:02 AM Jun 15th from web

cancelation of march today is a RUMOUR from gov. Khatami ad Moussavi will attend. today we march.

3:05 AM Jun 15th from web

THEIR IS CIVIL UNREST IN STREETS. RECEIVING NEWS OF STREET BATTLES ACROSS TEHRAN.

seyyed Bagher Askoobi, director of Student Union confirmed arrested last night by gov.

3:29 AM Jun 15th from web

thanks to all for following me. I only report reliable info. If it is unrelaible then I say so.

3:30 AM Jun 15th from web

Saeid Allah Badashti – arrested last night.

3:31 AM Jun 15th from web

advice to people joing march. travel together with friends. do not travel alone. keep track of friends.

3:34 AM Jun 15th from web

students arrested last night at tehran uni: Mansoor Mousavi, Vahid Sarfi, Amir Afzali, Kazem Rahimi.

3:37 AM Jun 15th from webwebsites being shut down fast. having trouble accessing tweeters.

3:40 AM Jun 15th from web

My twitter was hacked. am back in again. they are shutting down all internet services.

4:17 AM Jun 15th from web

ahmadinejd cancels trip to russia planned for today. confirmed.

4:19 AM Jun 15th from web

their is civil unrest in streets. receiving news of street battles across tehran.

4:19 AM Jun 15th from web

ADVICE – CARRY PHOTOS OF IMAM KHOMEINI. THEY CANNOT SHOOT AT US WITH THESE.

we are accessing twitter from open proxies. they are closing them as fast as we can find them.

4:20 AM Jun 15th from web

some reports that road to imam khomeini airport closed.

4:21 AM Jun 15th from web

the march has started. tens of thousands in streets.

4:22 AM Jun 15th from web

ADVICE – carry photos of imam khomeini. they cannot shoot at us with these.

4:23 AM Jun 15th from web

heavy security in Jamaran. khamenei house under heavy protection.

4:25 AM Jun 15th from web

we are hearing that Khatami website hacked. Gov is attacking all websites inside iran.

4:28 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – Ayatollah Javadi Amali is sitting in protest at the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh.

4:28 AM Jun 15th from web

PEOPLE POURING INTO ALLEYWAYS. RUNNING EVERYWHERE. CAN HEAR PEOPLE ON ROOFTOPS.

cannot access websites for khatami, moussavi or karroubi.. all down.

4:29 AM Jun 15th from web

we are now several people. we have 4 computers running. 2 men out with camcorders.

4:31 AM Jun 15th from web

can hear loud chanting from Fatemi. lots of noise.

4:32 AM Jun 15th from web

am being told that anyone using public phones in streets is being beaten. they are trying to stop us.

4:33 AM Jun 15th from web

people pouring into alleyways. running everywhere. can hear people on rooftops.

4:34 AM Jun 15th from web

Jahanbakhsh Khanjali arrested. unconfirmed.

4:36 AM Jun 15th from web

Khatami and Mousavi have asked that protestors remain peaceful no matter what happens.

4:36 AM Jun 15th from web

@TehranBueau advises all to cover your face, avoid detection and be ready for tear gas.

4:39 AM Jun 15th from web

PEOPLE SHOUTING ‘MIR HOSSEIN MOUSAVI – PRESIDENT OF IRAN’.

unconfirmed – Karroubi is also joining protest march.

4:41 AM Jun 15th from web

militia on motorbikes today without uniform. seen several with guns.

4:43 AM Jun 15th from web

no update from Azadi Square yet. we have 2 people there with cameras.

4:44 AM Jun 15th from web

see a helicopter high, in direction of Azadi sq.

4:48 AM Jun 15th from web

people shouting ‘Mir Hossein Mousavi – President of Iran’.

4:50 AM Jun 15th from web

for later we need proxy address to upload film. we have no upload possibility now, can anyone help?

4:54 AM Jun 15th from web

mousavi has confirmed that he will attend rally to protect people and keep the peace. see sites @ google search mousavi.

4:57 AM Jun 15th from web

uncomfirmed – Mousavi and Karroubi are in the march now.

5:05 AM Jun 15th from web

CAN HEAR HELICOPTERS, CANNOT SEE THEM. MORE THAN ONE.

all friends gone to march. I am now alone. want to go but they want me to stay online.

5:12 AM Jun 15th from web

cannot reach anyone on phones. mobile network is jammed or just too busy.

5:13 AM Jun 15th from web

I have massive incoming mail from twitter. cannot possibly reply. our internet conection is 27kb.

5:15 AM Jun 15th from web

just received call from street. enghelab square is packed with peaceful marchers.

5:20 AM Jun 15th from web

the city is very busy. seems like everyone is out but most shops are closed, business all quiet. not much normal traffic.

5:22 AM Jun 15th from web

call in from Enghelab Sq. Baseej outnumbered, just watching people march.

5:25 AM Jun 15th from web

can hear helicopters, cannot see them. more than one.

5:26 AM Jun 15th from web

keeps timing out. hearing rumours that Mousavi and Khatami are in azadi square now, unconfirmed.

5:48 AM Jun 15th from web

VALLI ASR ST CLOSED TO TRAFFIC – TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCHING – UNBELIEVABLE SIGHT

my last ISP downed. have redialed new ISP, slow process. streets are packed with people. seems peaceful.

5:53 AM Jun 15th from web

am being told that there are injured students stuck in Tehan dorms. surrounded by baseej.

5:55 AM Jun 15th from web

I am hearing that Karoubi is in a car and being escorted through the streets with tens of thousands of people.

6:16 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – students killed last night at Tehran Uni dorms.

6:17 AM Jun 15th from web

no confirmed sighting of Khatami yet.

6:18 AM Jun 15th from web

Ferdowsi Ave – confirmed – thousands marching – peaceful.

6:20 AM Jun 15th from web

Valli Asr st closed to traffic – tens of thousands marching – unbelievable sight.

6:26 AM Jun 15th from web

TEHRAN IS AT STANDSTILL. ALL MAJOR ROUTES JAMMED WITH PEOPLE.

have secured good proxy service. cannot display adds – will be cut as soon as displayed.

6:29 AM Jun 15th from web

I cannot see directly from my position but am being told many many people in streets – too many to count.

6:29 AM Jun 15th from web

we have 40kb speed now. will post as fast as possible.

6:30 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – Mashad is violent.

6:31 AM Jun 15th from web

have spoken with Ahwaz. am told demos are not peaceful there.

6:31 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed as yet – mousavi newspaper offices raided.

6:32 AM Jun 15th from web

tehran is at standstill. all major routes jammed with people.

6:35 AM Jun 15th from web

we do not know if foreign press are covering this. we cannot access satellites.

6:36 AM Jun 15th from web

TEHRAN STREETS ARE A SEA OF GREEN – MANY MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS

informed Karoubi and Mousavi are at different parts of rally. no sighting of khatami yet.

6:38 AM Jun 15th from web

lost internet again. difficult logging back in.

7:11 AM Jun 15th from web

my people are saying perhaps a million on the streets of tehran now.

7:12 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed sighting of mousavi again today.

7:26 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – tehran university – all exams postponed for 1 month.

7:36 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed by students – more than 100 professors resign from Sharif University.

7:37 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed by students – Tehran Uni dorms destroyed by Baseej last night.

7:38 AM Jun 15th from web

Tehran streets are a sea of GREEN – many many hundreds of thousands.

7:39 AM Jun 15th from web

Have just been out to see Valli Asr is an ocean of green marchers.

7:40 AM Jun 15th from web

MOUSAVI SAID ‘THESE MASSES WERE NOT BROUGHT BY BUS OR THREAT. THEY WERE NOT BROUGHT FOR POTATOES. THEY CAME THEMSELVES.’

Militia still attacking people in sidestreets but main roads are peaceful marchers.

7:41 AM Jun 15th from web

all my reports saying that demo is peaceful. we have film of demo now. are looking for ways to upload.

7:52 AM Jun 15th from web

mousavi said ‘these masses were not brought by bus or threat. they were not brought for potatoes. they came themselves’.

7:57 AM Jun 15th from web

world must understand that ppl who attended ANejad rally were all civil servants, they are sacked if they dont participate.

8:00 AM Jun 15th from web

I am told you can see some film here http://bit.ly/62y2g. we cannot see.

8:03 AM Jun 15th from web

pictures of today – http://twitpic.com/7gtbu.

8:06 AM Jun 15th from web

BASSEJ ARE OUT IN FORCE IN DARKNESS. THIS IS WHEN THEY OPERATE BEST.

reliable soure from Ahvaz. Situation there is bad – violent clashes in streets.

9:26 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – there are reports of violence in Tehran now.

9:28 AM Jun 15th from web

Bassej are out in force in darkness. this is when they operate best. Streets are dangerous now for young people.

9:29 AM Jun 15th from web

We have heard what sounds like gunshots in distance. still have people on streets we have not heard from.

9:31 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – there is shooting in Azadi sq. protesters wounded and shot, no numbers yet, still hearing gunfire.

9:41 AM Jun 15th from web

CONFRIMED AT LEAST ONE DEAD IN AZADI SQ – FIRST HAND

people are running in streets outside. There is panic in streets.people going into houses to hide.

9:43 AM Jun 15th from web

can hear people shouting from rooftops ‘allah akbar’.

9:44 AM Jun 15th from web

there is gunfire still coming from direction of Azadi square. we are trying to get info.

9:46 AM Jun 15th from web

have been warned not to speak too much on phone. difficult getting info.

9:48 AM Jun 15th from web

several twitters hacked today.

9:49 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed at least one dead in azadi sq – first hand.

10:00 AM Jun 15th from web

3 PPL FROM OUR GROUP STILL NOT RETURNED FROM MARCH. NO MOBILE CONTACT.

Baseej shooting in Azadi sq – army standing by and watching for now.

10:01 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – it was unprovoked attack by Baseej. People running to hide everywhere in streets around Azadi.

10:03 AM Jun 15th from web

shooting has stopped but people panicked.

10:06 AM Jun 15th from web

We are hearing that one person shot dead at Azadi sq.

10:07 AM Jun 15th from web

we estimate marchers today were 1 million ++.

10:08 AM Jun 15th from web

streets very dangerous now. groups of militia on motorbikes searching for protesters.

10:11 AM Jun 15th from web

we have decided not to go out now and wait to see if situation calm down.

10:12 AM Jun 15th from web

3 ppl from our group still not returned from march. no mobile contact. last phone contact 2 hours ago.

10:13 AM Jun 15th from web

WWW.KHAMENEI.IR – HACKED!!!!!!!

trying to access ANejad website – appears to be hacked. whoever did this ‘peerooz’.

10:20 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – ahmadinejad website hacked off net.

10:22 AM Jun 15th from web

www.ahmadinejad.ir – hacked – hacked – hacked – afareen – javeed bad mellat Iran.

10:23 AM Jun 15th from web

NOTE to HACKERS – attack www.farhang.gov.ir – pls try to hack all iran gov wesites. very difficult for us.

10:26 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – khamenei website hacked down. no access at all!!!!

10:28 AM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – khamenaie website hacked – the dictator of iran.

10:31 AM Jun 15th from web

www.khamenei.ir – HACKED!!!!!!!!

10:32 AM Jun 15th from web

we honour and thank the people of Iran and especially the hackers. Baseej have guns we have brains.

10:33 AM Jun 15th from web

TONIGHT KAMENEI WILL FIGHT HARD – HE KNOWS HE IS CLOSE TO FINISH.

thousands of people on rooftops and balconyes now – allah akbar – death to dictator.

10:36 AM Jun 15th from web

we are hearing that large numbers gathering in Tajreesh sq, north tehran, now. rumour that there will be another speech.

10:38 AM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – Karroubi is heading to Tajreesh sq now.

10:39 AM Jun 15th from web

http://twitpic.com/7h41m pictures of killings in tehran today.

10:40 AM Jun 15th from web

too much happening too fast – cant keep up. we need more telephones. too much calls –

10:42 AM Jun 15th from web

tonight Kamenei will fight hard – he knows he is close to finish.

10:42 AM Jun 15th from web

cnfirmed – karbaschi and karoubi heading to Tajreesh sq tonight at 11pm – now after 10pm –

10:45 AM Jun 15th from web

Tajreesh is close to Jamaran where Khamenei live. maybe marching to his house. unconfirmed –

10:45 AM Jun 15th from web

WE HEAR RUMOURS THAT ANEJAD HAS LEFT IRAN AT REQUEST OF KHAMENEI

we are going offline to get a phone free for calling out. we are also moving location – too long here – is dangerous.

10:47 AM Jun 15th from web

reliable hospital source – at least 7 killed yesterday in Azadi sq – more than 50 injured

11:25 PM Jun 15th from web

Tehran is under heavy guard today – we are expecting more problems

11:26 PM Jun 15th from web

reliable source – many killed and injured last night in Sharak Gharb/Tehran

11:27 PM Jun 15th from web

we hear rumours that ANejad has left Iran at request of Khamenei – unconfirmed

11:28 PM Jun 15th from web

FROM OUR GROUP 1 IS CONFIRMED ARRESTED – 2 STILL MISSING

from our group 1 is confirmed arrested – 2 still missing – last night they attack his family house –

11:30 PM Jun 15th from web

his family beaten seriously and brother taken away – house destroyed -

11:31 PM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – foreign press are being removed from Tehran

11:33 PM Jun 15th from web

Many unconfirmed reports of violence in Isfahan for past 24 hours – several feared killed

11:34 PM Jun 15th from web

reliable hospital source – several killed in Ahwaz in past 24 hours – b/w pro ANejad & Moussavi supporters

11:36 PM Jun 15th from web

RUMOUR SPREADING TEHRAN – ARMY GENERAL HAVE MET IN SECRET – ARMY CONSIDERING POSITION

rumour spreading Tehran – Army Generals have met in secret – Army considering position

11:39 PM Jun 15th from web

we are online – new location – 3 phonelines – ;

12:30 PM Jun 15th from web

were attacked in streets by mob on motorbikes with batons – firing guns into air – streetfires all over town – roads closed;

12:32 PM Jun 15th from web

khamenei website is back online – waas hacked before –

12:34 PM Jun 15th from web

3 of our group missing from afternoon – we have no news from them;

12:37 PM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – homeowners in Rasht are giving refuge to people running from Baseej attacks.

12:38 PM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – Dr’s reporting ’several’ dead from Azadi sq today. seeking names;

12:42 PM Jun 15th from web

PEDESTRIANS AVOID MILITARY BARAKS OFF PASADARAN ST – SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN FROM THERE

Everywhere the city is under pressure – cars tooting, people running motorbikes in large groups, fires and people chanting

12:53 PM Jun 15th from web

normally at this time tehran is quiet – last 2 days is crazy -

12:54 PM Jun 15th from web

we passed thru shemiran, Pasdaran St is full of cars and people and security is tight -

12:57 PM Jun 15th from web

Gohardasht in Karaj – confirmed – people in street batles with militia -

12:59 PM Jun 15th from web

Moussavi – calling national strike tomorrow – all Iran -

1:03 PM Jun 15th from web

large number of plain clothes with bikes hiding in military barraks off Pasdaran – dont know what they are planning -

1:05 PM Jun 15th from web

pedestrians avoid military baraks off Pasdaran St – something is going to happen from there -

1:06 PM Jun 15th from web

Moussavi asks people to confront military with flowers not guns – we want peace -

1:10 PM Jun 15th from web

moussavi calling national strike tomorrow – Tuesday – Iran -

1:19 PM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – Yousefabad and Fatemi area are quiet now -

1:24 PM Jun 15th from web

most activity is in north – Gheytarieh, Pasdaran, Gholhak and Niavaran still busy and noisy -

1:25 PM Jun 15th from web

we have no info about Tajreesh – tried going there but roads blocked in and out by plain clothes

1:26 PM Jun 15th from web

WE ARE ALL TIRED – NO SLEEP FOR 3 DAYS – ONE OF US IS INJURED FROM BATON – WAITING FOR DOCTOR

Troubled day in Isfahan – several protesters killed;

1:28 PM Jun 15th from web

confirmed Larijani to investigate attack on Tehran Uni dorms of last night –

1:30 PM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – up to 7 dead in Azadi sq today

1:32 PM Jun 15th from web

more than 100 students missing from Tehran Uni dorms – reports of several dead from last night

1:34 PM Jun 15th from web

thanks to all people following us and trusting us. we are trying to give you correct info –

1:41 PM Jun 15th from web

it is very hard here – we are under big pressure and risk – we are being tracked on twitter –

1:42 PM Jun 15th from web

we are all tired – no sleep for 3 days – one of us is injured from baton – waiting for doctor

1:44 PM Jun 15th from web

we only want freedom – we are peaceful – we have no life no future in IRI without freedom –

1:49 PM Jun 15th from web

we have call from Sharak Gharb – reports of streetfighting and tear gas

1:52 PM Jun 15th from web

reliable source – gunshots in Sharak Gharb were not directly at the people but still many injured by tear gas

2:48 PM Jun 15th from web

reports of gun shots in Sadatabad too – we heard gunshots from that direction about 45 mins ago

2:49 PM Jun 15th from web

RUMOURS THAT SOME OF THE MOTORBIKES ARE ARAB SPEAKING PPLS – CANNOT CONFIRM IF HEZBOLLAH FROM LEBANON

one of us is injured and we have doctor – we cannot go to hospital now as plainclothes are at all hospitals

2:50 PM Jun 15th from web

reliable source – more than 100 motorbikers at Baseej headquerters in Iran street

2:53 PM Jun 15th from web

Gov hackers are on twitter now – we are getting threats -

2:58 PM Jun 15th from web

we are routed thru mirror proxies – but service is unreliable – keeps cuting out – have to switch off lights now -

3:00 PM Jun 15th from web

motorbikes all over Tehran – outside now – they break windows of houses some have pepper gas – they want to scare ppl

3:02 PM Jun 15th from web

foreign news reported us on twitter – we have too much ppl looking at us –

3:05 PM Jun 15th from web

today is bad day for us – 3 of group still not contacted from Azadi demo and we have 1 injured -

3:12 PM Jun 15th from web

our street is quiet now – we cannot move tonight but must move asap when dawn starts

3:22 PM Jun 15th from web

rumours that some of the motorbikes are arab speaking ppls – cannot confirm if Hezbollah from Lebanon

3:22 PM Jun 15th from web

VERY LATE HERE BUT STILL CITY IS A FULL OF NOISE OF AMBULANCE/POLICE/MOTORBIKE SOMETIMES GUNSHOOTING

http://bit.ly/UAQxL just saw this from today

3:24 PM Jun 15th from web

unconfirmed – Tuesday at 5pm march Valli Asr – all ppl to wear black

3:26 PM Jun 15th from web

reliable source – Sharak Gharb is quiet now

3:27 PM Jun 15th from web

http://bit.ly/TlTsQ

3:28 PM Jun 15th from web

we have also heard that tomorrow at 5pm Valli Asr march but it is not confirmed by any reliable source -

3:33 PM Jun 15th from web

ANejad site is still down in IRI

3:33 PM Jun 15th from web

All normal proxys out – all normal ISP’s out in Tehran –

3:38 PM Jun 15th from web

reliable source – 6 named Mousavi protesters arrested in Tabriz today

3:40 PM Jun 15th from web

reliable source – many arrested taken to Evin in past 24hrs – evin under heavy protection

3:41 PM Jun 15th from web

Very late here but still city is full of noise of ambulance/police/motorbike sometimes gunshooting

3:43 PM Jun 15th from web

we must log off – will update asap – sources pls keep info coming – we thank u and will not print your id’s – u know who u are

4:02 PM Jun 15th from web

we are moving location – seperating – situation in Tehran is tense – cant explain

5:34 PM Jun 15th from web

ABTAHI REPORTED ARRESTED – CONCERNS FOR KHATAMI … MOST ROADS OUT OF TEHRAN BLOCKED

we have contact in 11 Tehran hospitals – all report large increase in injurees

11:41 PM Jun 15th from web

Tehran is full of rumours like 1979 again – cant say what will happen but public dissent is not stopping

11:43 PM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – most of Tehran Bazar is closed today

11:45 PM Jun 15th from web

All last night we hear shooting accross Tehran – everyone is full of rumours and stories – many arrests in night

11:49 PM Jun 15th from web

security in Jamaran is unbelieveble – hundreds of Baseej guarding Khamenei

11:51 PM Jun 15th from web

Abtahi reported arrested – concerns for Khatami

11:53 PM Jun 15th from web

confirmed – Tabriz – Baseej headqurters set fire – ‘many’ dead

11:55 PM Jun 15th from web

most roads out of Tehran blocked

11:58 PM Jun 15th from web

ANYONE WITH CAMERA OR LAPTOP IS ATTACKED IN STREET

rumours that foreign embassys preparing to leave Iran

11:59 PM Jun 15th from web

Tehran hotels under high security to stop Iranians from contacting foreign press

12:00 AM Jun 16th from web

anyone with camera or laptop is attacked in street

12:02 AM Jun 16th from web

I must log off now – will log on when I have more info – need phone line – no mobile cover, no sms, no satellite, no radio

12:03 AM Jun 16th from web

UNCONFIRMED RUMOURS – ARMY GENERALS ARRESTED – MANY RUMOURS OF COUP D’ETAT BY ARMY

confirmed – today 5pm Valli Asr sq – supporters of freedom – wear black in respect of fallen -

12:46 AM Jun 16th from web

are hearing that all foreigner visas are being cancelled by gov –

12:50 AM Jun 16th from web

Saeid Hajarian – rumour – arrested last night -

12:51 AM Jun 16th from web

unconfirmed rumours – army generals arrested – many rumours of coupdetat by army –

12:53 AM Jun 16th from web

we cannot confirm that university exams cancelled – you must check with your uni directly –

12:59 AM Jun 16th from web

Gov is planning ANejad rally also today afternoon – close to Valli Asr – new tactic

1:04 AM Jun 16th from web

Shiraz university reports of unrest and governor resignation

1:07 AM Jun 16th from web

reliable source Isfahan hospital – many injured from last 24 hours -

1:11 AM Jun 16th from web

Logging off – must keep phone line open – will update asap

1:16 AM Jun 16th from web

GOV NOW WORRIED – ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN 2DAY – EBODY BE VERY CAREFULL – STAY IN BIG GROUPS … EVERYBODY TRY TO FILM AS MUCH AS POSS TODAY ON MOBILES – VIMPTNT – THESE ARE EYES OF WORLD

only official march today is valli asr. others may be a trap – avoid others –

3:24 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

confirmed – jahanbakhsh khangahi arrested –

3:57 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

confirmed – only official mousavi march is today valli asr to jaam jam –

4:33 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

wear black and avoid clashes with plain cloths –

4:34 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

all hackers pls down vezarat ershad web traffic – heavy interception today – problems

4:37 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

gov now worried – anything could happen 2day – ebody be very carefull – stay in big groups

4:55 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

everybody try to film as much as poss today on mobiles – vimptnt – these are eyes of world

5:08 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

I ESTIMATE MORE THAN QUARTER MILLION FOR MOUSAVI

have returned from valli asr to update and request help –

8:22 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

we have info that tehran uni will be attacked tonight – have contact inside – says uni blocked

8:26 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

some students have left but need to get off street before night

8:29 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

demo today vpeaceful but it is going to change tonight – too many baseej tody

8:33 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

i estimate more than quarter million for mousavi

8:36 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

ANejad supporters not civilian, but plain clothes, many from out of tehran

8:40 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

call from Niavaran saying plainclothes going door2door now looking for satellite dsh

9:14 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

UNCONFMD MAJOR INCIDENT AT AZADI – SHOOTING – FIRES – PPL RUNNING

unconfmd – Montazeri speaks out rejecting election result –

9:16 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

hackers pls target vezarat ershad website – we know they jaming from that proxy

9:19 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

tonight we will have full info about Ahwaz – contact has arrived in tehran – vweak internet today plus diff computr kboard

9:26 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

unconfmd major incident at Azadi – shooting – fires – ppl running

9:29 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

if u have functional portalproxy which has not been twtted – pls do NOT tweet it – will tell u what to do with this later –

9:34 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

MANY MANY ARRESTS IN TEHRAN 2 DAY. HUNDREDS. – NOW IS DARK BASEEJ START TO MAKE TROUBLE … 1000’s ON BALCONYS – TEHRAN IS ALIVE WITH SOUND OF FREEDOM – MARG BAR DICTATOR

our scout at Evin reports many many prisoners being brought and high security outside

11:36 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

confirmed – tomorrow Haft Teer Sq at 4pm pro mousavifreedom – carry flowers for baseej – no confrontation –

11:40 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

sorry for not responding to soooo many follower. vbad internet connection – thank u everybody 4 following ****

11:44 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

many many arrests in tehran 2day. hundreds. – now is dark baseej start to make trouble.

11:57 AM Jun 16th from mobile web

1000’s on balconys – tehran is alive with sound of freedom – marg bar dictator –

12:01 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

reports of street fighting in azadi sq and surrounding st’s -pepper gas and fires

12:03 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

OUR LIVES ARE IN REAL DANGER NOW – WE ARE THE EYES – THEY NEED TO STOP US –

ok – tonight twitter is full of gov usernames. all users IGNORE all post except from reliable sources -

1:36 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

IMPORTANT to all tweeters in iran – follow my next message carefuully –

1:39 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

do NOT follow any instructions on twitter except from the trusted sources – cont……

1:53 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

ignore all instructions from new twitters or twitters with no history of accurate posts – cont….

1:55 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

i cannot name the reliable sources because we are now the main attention of censors – but .. cont….

2:57 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

you will know them by looking at their past tweets – cont…. –

3:11 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

for all followers outside iran pls follow my next tweet – vimportant –

3:18 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

pls everyone change your location on tweeter to IRAN inc timezone GMT+3.30 hrs -  – cont….

3:24 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

our lives are in real danger now – we are the eyes – they need to stop us -  cont….

3:46 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

NEWS FROM TUESDAY::: OUR MARCH WAS BIG SUCCESS!! MILITIA ARE NOW FRIGHTENED OF US -THEY KNOW WORLD IS WATCHING … RELIABLE SOURCE – MONTAZERI HAS WITHDRAWN SUPPORT FROM KHAMENEI

RT all my posts as much as possble to help confuse censors -  – cont………

4:06 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

DO NOT RT any other tweeters posts unless u are 100% sure they are GENUINE -  – cont……..

4:21 PM Jun 16th from mobile web

sorry for delay – no ISP could be accessed for long time – are now in a different location for very short time with ++ access

5:22 PM Jun 16th from web

any proxy addss twittered is blocked almost immediately –

5:24 PM Jun 16th from web

any proxy addss shown on twitter is possible trap – freedom twitters in Iran DO NOT follow – YOUR LOCATION IS VISIBLE –

5:28 PM Jun 16th from web

news from tuesday::: our march was big success!! militia are now frightened of us – they know world is watching –

5:32 PM Jun 16th from web

reliable source – Montazeri has withdrawn support from Khamenei –

5:34 PM Jun 16th from web

SITUATION IN AHWAZ CRITICAL – MANY MANY DEAD IN PAST 48 HRS – HUNDREDS ARRESTED AND BEATEN … SHEEREEN EBADI – NOBEL LAUREAT – SAYS IRAN ELECTION IS VOID …

several HR activists inc Ebadi have spoken out against election

5:35 PM Jun 16th from web

Sannaie & Bayat supporting Moussavi –

5:37 PM Jun 16th from web

militia in streets of tehran all night trying to scare ppl –

5:39 PM Jun 16th from web

Sheereen Ebadi – Nobel laureat – says iran election is void –

5:41 PM Jun 16th from web

reliable hospital sources say that at least 8 killed in Azadi sq Monday –

5:43 PM Jun 16th from web

situation in Ahwaz critical – many many dead in past 48 hrs – hundreds arrested and beaten –

5:45 PM Jun 16th from web

conflicting reports from Rasht of many dead and all night street fighting -

5:46 PM Jun 16th from web

KAMENEI IS UNDER PRESSURE AND FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL – WITHOUT ANEJAD HIS AUTHORITY IS FINISHED … UNCONFIRMED – MILITARY HAS REFUSED ORDERS TO SHOOT PROTESTERS

support for Mousavi in Tabriz is v-high – many protests –

5:47 PM Jun 16th from web

large demo today outside tehran tv-radio headquerters – Karroubi attended 

5:48 PM Jun 16th from web

Kamenei is under pressure and fighting for survival – without ANejad his authority is finished –

5:50 PM Jun 16th from web

unconfirmed – military has refused orders to shoot protesters –

5:51 PM Jun 16th from web

only baseej militia and Etellaat folowing orders – they cannot contain country without Army –

5:55 PM Jun 16th from web

in azadi sq the killing was by baseej ONLY – military did not react –

5:56 PM Jun 16th from web

unconfirmed – several Generals have been arested –

5:58 PM Jun 16th from web

IT IS NOW DAWN IN TEHRAN – STREETS ARE QUIET- WE MUST MOVE FROM HERE

last night thousands stayed in streets between Parkway and Vanak sq until after 2am –

6:21 PM Jun 16th from web

it is now dawn in tehran – streets are quiet – we must move from here – this was good internet connection but not ours –

6:32 PM Jun 16th from web

b4 I forget – IRIB has been saying that demos r work of anti-gov thugs – IRIB want to turn ppl against Mousavi – hack them pls

6:41 PM Jun 16th from web

CONFIRMED BY MOUSAVI – THURSDAY MARCH – IN MEMORY OF THOSE KILLED

Mousavi supporters to march on Friday to Friday Prayers – Namaz Joame – Tehran – sea of green –

1:50 AM Jun 17th from web

Khamenei has said he will preside over Friday Prayers in Tehran this week – sea of green –

1:56 AM Jun 17th from web

high level of false information on twitter quoting us – BEWARE -

2:04 AM Jun 17th from web

Tehran march TODAY 5pm – 7Tir Sq – Meydan 7 Tir – silent – sea of green 

2:28 AM Jun 17th from web

confirmed by MOUSAVI – Thursday march – in memory of those killed – location tbc – sea of green –

3:22 AM Jun 17th from web

unconfirmed – we are hearing that Majlis Khobregan is calling emergency meeting – if confirmed – critical event!

4:25 AM Jun 17th from web

Confirmed – Iranian National Football Team show support for Mousavi – sea of green –

5:01 AM Jun 17th from web

TODAY AGAIN WE WERE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SEA OF GREEN … CHANTING ‘MY BROTHER – MY MARTYR – I WILL CLAIM YOUR VOTE FOR YOU!’

we are now leaving for Meydan Haft Tir – 7 Tir Sq for sea of green – reports afterward –

5:07 AM Jun 17th from web

sea of green to approach 7 Tir from 2 directions – Tehran Uni via Enghelab Ave AND 7 Tir via Vanak Sq – CONFIRMED MOUSAVI –

5:17 AM Jun 17th from web

Confirmed Mousavi – Friday Sea of Green will march to Friday Prayers in Tehran –

10:59 AM Jun 17th from web

Gov spreading false rumours on twitter that protestors are causing violence – this is NOT true -

11:04 AM Jun 17th from web

Today and every day all protestors were peaceful –

11:05 AM Jun 17th from web

Today again we were hundreds of thousands of Sea of Green –

11:05 AM Jun 17th from web

chanting ‘my brother – my martyr – I will claim your vote for you!’ –

11:07 AM Jun 17th from web

Sea of Green will continue tomorrow and every day until election is declared void -

11:08 AM Jun 17th from web

Hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay

Last Monday, a Yemeni detainee named Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al-Hanashi committed suicide in his Guantanamo Bay cell. Earlier this month, another Yemeni detainee tried to slit his wrists. There have been suicide attempts at Guantanamo Bay every year since the camp was built. In 2003, there were 350 incidents of “self-harm”; 120 inmates tried to hang themselves.

Al-Hanashi had apparently been suicidal for some time. He went on a hunger strike in early May. To keep him alive, guards strapped him to a chair and force-fed him. Omar Khadr also participated in a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, and had a similar experience. From my Rolling Stone article:

In the summer of 2005, Omar Khadr joined 200 other detainees in a hunger strike to protest prison conditions and unlimited detention without due process. Many strikers told their lawyers they were being force-fed through the nose with tubes as thick as a finger, and ended their strikes because of the consequent pain. Many said they were beaten on their way to and from forced-feeding sessions. Omar lost weight and grew ill. From the diary of Omar Deghayes, a fellow detainee who participated in the strike: Omar Khadr is very sick in our block. He is throwing [up] blood. They gave him cyrum [serum] when they found him on the floor in his cell. Omar was carried to the hospital. As he was being moved back to his cell, he collapsed, and was beaten. The resolve of the strikers deteriorated. The strike ended. No concessions were made.

Part V.
(Note: Since my article appeared, Muneer Ahmad and Rick Wilson, both professors of law at American University, have stopped representing Omar Khadr. They felt he would be better served by full-time trial lawyers.)

To see their client at Guantanamo Bay, Muneer Ahmad and Rick Wilson have to take a chartered single-prop plane from Miami to the base. It takes four hours to circumnavigate Cuban airspace. The bay itself is uncommonly beautiful. It is horseshoe-shaped, with the camps on one side and military and civilian housing on the other. Nothing ever moves quickly; multi-day waits, for unexplained security reasons, are standard. Ahmad and Wilson sometimes have to wait a week to see Omar for a few hours. To protect the Cuban iguana in accordance with the Endangered Species Act, the speed limit on the base is set at twenty-five miles an hour—a good metaphor, Ahmad says, for both the studied stalling techniques of the base’s administrators and its moral priorities. The camps are on a level piece of ground close to the sea. They come into view when the visitors’ bus rounds the final curve. From that distance, in the beauty of the setting, the prison complex appears to be a resort.

When Ahmad saw Omar Khadr for the first time, in October 2004, after the convoluted flight and the numberless delays and checkpoints and searches and phalanxes of armed soldiers, and after being told so many times how evil the detainees there were, his first thought was, “He’s just a little kid.” Khadr was seventeen but looked fourteen or fifteen. He was gaunt and pale, in a state of everlasting exhaustion, his senses starved by solitude. He had large gunshot-wound scars on his back and chest, and smaller scars over most of his body, several parts of which still held shrapnel.

It took Omar Khadr a while to accept that his lawyers were not part of the interrogation system at Guantanamo. Their initial visits were spent trying to get Omar to believe in them—legal strategy was secondary. Gradually, Omar revealed himself to be very shy and curious and, in most ways, still a child, with a child’s sweetness and credulous charm. Despite the rate at which his bones were lengthening, isolation and trauma seemed to have preserved him in emotional time. When he learned a new word—his experiences had left odd gaps in his knowledge—he tried to use it right away, and as often as possible. When Wilson and Ahmad offered to get him something to read, he asked for coloring books and car magazines and books with photographs of big animals in them. When they asked him what kind of juice he wanted them to bring back after a break during a meeting, he said, “Just something weird.”

Whenever Wilson or Ahmad left a pen on the interview table, Omar would pick it up and start taking it apart and putting it back together again. He always asked to play with Ahmad’s digital watch, which had a stopwatch function; he never tired of using it to test his reflexes. He wanted to know all about his laywers: their ages, their hometowns, their family backgrounds, why they had chosen to become lawyers.

When he discussed the United States’ case against him, he did not mention ideology or God. He was still devout, but he did not always manage to pray five times a day. He seemed to have drifted from the absolutism of his family.

Omar Khadr grasped legal concepts surprisingly quickly. When Wilson and Ahmad half-seriously told him he should study law, he showed something close to delight, and then laughed darkly: He was unable to contemplate a future so far removed from Guantanamo, a future in which an “enemy combatant” was acquitted and became a lawyer. On the advice of Wilson and Ahmad, Omar Khadr wrote a note to the presiding officer of his first military commission hearing: “With my respect to you … i’m boycotting thes persedures untel i be treated humainly and fair.”

Once Omar Khadr had allowed himself to believe that he had acquired committed advocates, his life bent itself around his meetings with them. They had brought him back into the forward-moving world and reminded him who he was. His accounts of mistreatment emerged slowly. At the very end of his first meeting with his lawyers, he mentioned, embarrassed, that he had been threatened with rape. He was convinced that Ahmad and Wilson would never return, and it suddenly occurred to him, during the interview’s final moments, that this might be his last chance to speak to the world. It was easier to reveal something shameful to confessors he would never see again.

Except for a brief hiatus, Omar Khadr has been alone in a very small cell at Guantanamo Bay for nearly four years. His daily life remains filled with menace: He is so conditioned to abuse in captivity that he is incapable of believing he will ever be free of it. He is also unable to believe that he will ever be released. The foundational distortions in his perspective are the product both of deliberate manipulation—childhood indoctrination and sustained torture—and simple chronology: Four years is nearly a quarter of Omar’s life. Since he was caught, he has grown seven inches.

(Postscript: Khadr is now twenty-two. His future depends, first, on how the Obama Administration classifies him as a detainee, and, second, on whether the Canadian government agrees to repatriate him. I explain Khadr’s current situation in more detail here.)

Detainee with escort at Guantanamo Bay

President Bush has finally broken his silence on his administration’s torture policies. “The first thing you do,” he explained to members of the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan, “is ask, What’s legal? What do the lawyers say is possible? I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I [could] say to myself, I’ve done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.”

What was possible? Office of Legal Counsel lawyer John Yoo informed the president in a memo that physical abuse was not torture unless it generated the intensity of pain associated with “organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” Impossibly, Yoo got this medical description from a completely unrelated federal statute that regulated Medicare benefits—and then pretended that this was how the irrelevant statute defined “severe pain.” (U.S. law partly defines torture as inflicting “severe pain.” See Gary Kamiya’s excellent evisceration of Yoo’s memo.)

Psychological methods, Yoo went on, were illegal only if they inflicted harm that endured for “months, or even years.” That was the official position of the Bush Administration until shortly before he left office, and it offered spurious legal cover for Omar Khadr’s torturers, who were very good at inflicting psychological harm that would last for years.

Part IV.

One of the chief mental defenses against harsh imprisonment is durable perspective; sanity requires a steady identity. But identity in adolescence is precarious by nature: Teenagers change their identities and beliefs all the time, and they cannot develop a secure perspective in the isolation of captivity. To figure out the world, teenagers have to be in it. For adolescents like Omar Khadr, who have already experienced radical trauma, the characteristic symptoms of months or years of barbarous confinement—paranoid delusions, suicidal tendencies, hallucinatory psychoses—can become irreversible.

Soon after Omar arrived at Guantanamo, he began exhibiting the kinds of disassociative symptoms most adolescent psychiatrists would have expected. He was startled to the point of disorientation by small changes in his surroundings. He had fainting spells. He cried frequently. When he heard gunshots at Camp Delta, he had a vision of helicopter gunships descending on him, as had happened during the gun battle in Afghanistan. These kinds of enclosing flashbacks came repeatedly. He had recurrent nightmares, often concerning the death of his father or his capture during the firefight, in which he felt, with phenomenal versimilitude, bullets piercing his chest.

His appetite diminished; he took on the appearance of the permanently malnourished. He entered what clinicians call a state of hypervigilance: He started thinking he might be attacked at any time—without reason, his heart rate would jump, and he would sweat and hyperventilate. He began hearing sounds—screams, bombs, things he could not identify—when the cellblock was silent. Every week or so, a self-generated rage possessed him. He screamed, he paced, he punched and threw things—an experience wholly foreign to his character. For long periods he felt no emotion at all. He started blaming himself for the things that had happened to him; he became deeply ashamed of what he had suffered in interrogation rooms. He developed a pronounced twich on the left side of his face, of which he remained unaware.

There were no conditions for release at Guantanamo—the Bush administration had suspended all the customary rules of judicial review and due process. Detainees had no way of knowing if anyone would ever get out. The human mind has tools for dealing with extreme physical and emotional stress, but it is not equipped to manage pugatorial limbo. In every POW camp in history there has been an easily imagined end-point: the end of the war. At Guantanamo, what detainee after detainee has said—and what study after study has shown—is that insanity and suicidal impulses inevitably accompany the kind of futurelessness Gitmo imposed on its inmates. The quantity of successful self-destruction among Guantanamo detainees, in circumstances so carefully designed to prevent it, indicated a suffusing despair unimaginable outside the gates of the base. Even if the detainees had all been released and received immediate psychological treatment, a great majority would have been—will be—psychologically impaired for the rest of their lives.

When Omar Khadr arrived at Guantanamo, his future became a vacancy, and his imagination quickly lost the ability to fill it. He thought earnestly about killing himself. In January of 2003, only four months after he arrived, his guards were sufficiently worried about his suicidal disposition to confiscate his possessions. Madness was all around him. During the fall of 2004, Omar watched an Arab orthopedist named Ayman go insane. Over a period of months, Dr. Ayman became entirely mute, except for an occasional scream and a single question, asked of no one in particular: “Who is a woman here?”

The authorities at Guantanamo repeatedly refused to allow an independent medical evaluation of Khadr, so his lawyers [the Supreme Court had granted due process rights to detainees in early 2004] administered two exams to determine his mental status, and submitted the results to several experts. All concurred in their interpretations. Dr. Eric Trupin, one of the world’s foremost experts on the effects of incarceration on adolescents, concluded that Omar had been traumatized and tortured to a degree that was, in Trupin’s considerable experience, remarkable.

“The impact of these harsh interrogation techniques on an adolescent such as O.K., who also has been isolated for almost three years, is potentially catastrophic to his future development,” Trupin concluded. “Long-term consequences of harsh interrogation techniques are both more pronounced for adolescents and more difficult to remediate or treat even after such interrogations are discontinued, particularly if the victim is uncertain as to whether they will resume. It is my opinion, to a reasonable scientific certainty, that O.K.’s continued subjection to the threat of physical and mental abuse place him at significant risk for future psychiatric deterioration, which may include irreversible psychiatric symptoms and disorders, such as a psychosis with treatment-resistant hallucinations, paranoid delusions and persistent self-harming attempts.”

[Next: The last installment. If he is released, will Omar Khadr be able to recover?]

Prisoner transfer at Guantanamo Bay

Two Bush-Cheney torture program developments since the last post. One, Democratic senators have said they are open to the possibility of releasing Guantanamo’s Uighur detainees. That’s swell, since the Uighurs never had anything to do with Al Qaeda. They are Muslim traders from Xinjiang Province, in northwestern China. They arrived in Afghanistan with cheap leather goods to sell, having first passed through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzystan, and Tajikistan.

In my Rolling Stone article on Omar Khadr, I explained how this could have happened. Some background: Khadr’s brother, Abdurahman, who was also captured near bin Laden’s compound in Afghanistan, later became an informant for the CIA, and for a few months posed as a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay. (He was never housed with Omar.)

During the course of their research, [Khadr’s lawyers] learned that the CIA had pulled Abdurahman out of Guantanamo … because so few detainees knew anything about Al Qaeda or the Taliban … Abdurahman told his CIA handlers how utterly the United States had failed, in its military sweeps in Afghanistan, to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. The U.S. offered cash rewards for suspected Al Qaeda members that were sometimes equivalent to several years of local wages. The American military thus made every Arab-looking person in Afghanistan vulnerable to opportunists. Criminal gangs rounded people up and brought them en masse to American authorities. Others were turned in to settle grudges, or because they had once associated with someone from Al Qaeda. U.S. intelligence apparently took criminals and mercenaries and underpaid soldiers at their word … Abdurahman Khadr concluded that only ten percent of the detainees at Guantanamo “are really dangerous.” The rest, he said, “are people that don’t have anything to do with it.” He told the story of an innocent detainee turned in by his own son for $5,000 … When the government recently prepared Summaries of Evidence for every one of its 517 detainees in an attempt to justify its “enemy combatant” designation, only eight percent were “definitively identified” as Al Qaeda fighters. Sixty-six percent have no definitive connection to Al Qaeda at all. The detention camps of Guantanamo Bay are filled with shepherds, taxi drivers, farmers, small businessmen, drug addicts, homeless people, and children.

(Andrew Sullivan was all over this story at the time; his trenchant commentary spoke for many of us.)

Also, the Daily Telegraph (UK) is reporting that the unreleased Abu Ghraib torture photos include scenes of rape—many different kinds of rape. (The source is apparently a former U.S. general.) Abu Ghraib is, of course, a direct descendent of Guantanamo. General Geoffrey Miller, overseer of “enhanced interrogations” at Guantanamo Bay, was later sent to Abu Ghraib to “Gitmo-ize” it. As I wrote in Rolling Stone, Omar Khadr had the misfortune of being at Guantanamo when Miller arrived:

[Khadr’s] statements [about torture practices] correlate exactly with the methods President Bush commissioned from General Miller. From the endlessly corroborated statement of [Khadr’s fellow detainee] Shafiq Rasul: “[Things changed] after General Miller. That is when short-shackling started, loud music playing in interrogation, shaving beards and hair, putting people in cells naked … moving some people every two hours depriving them of sleep, the use of A/C air. People would be kept [in isolation] for months and months and months. We didn’t hear anybody talking about being sexually humiliated before General Miller came.”

Part III

On March 31st, 2003, Omar Khadr’s security level was downgraded to “Level Four, with isolation.” Everything in his cell was taken, and he spent a month without human contact in a windowless box kept at the approximate temperature of a refrigerator.

When he was not being tortured or held in isolation, Omar spent virtually every waking minute of his captivity alone in his cell, first in a facility called Camp Delta and then in one called Camp V. His left eye, injured in the gun battle in Afghanistan, had gone blind and become immobile. Except for a Koran, there was nothing in his cells to occupy his mind. During his first year and a half at Guantanamo, Omar was permitted to exercise only twice a week for fifteen minutes, in a cage slightly larger than his own. Conversation between cells was possible, but prisoners had become so unstable and fearful of one another that they tended not to say much; there were no friendships. Omar tried to talk to his guards, about anything, but they were unresponsive. They often covered their nameplates with tape before entering detention facilities.

As Guantanamo was imposing heavy stagnation on Omar Khadr, it was also instilling in him an abiding sense of vulnerability and disequilibrium. The call to prayer was usually played five times a day, but sometimes it stopped, or changed. Exercise could come at any time of the day or night. If the guards woke you at 3:30 a.m. and you didn’t present yourself quickly enough to please them, you didn’t get to exercise. The timing and character of interrogations followed no pattern. Sometimes prisoners were woken up and moved from cell to cell for half the night for no apparent reason, a tactic so common it became known among guards as “the frequent-flier program.”

Meal portions were usually small enough to keep the prisoners in a state of low-grade hunger. Several times Omar found powder or partially dissolved tablets in the plastic glass he got with his food. The drugs produced dizziness, sleepiness or hyper-alertness. Tasteless and invisible, they were not detectable beforehand. Omar was never told what they were or why he had been drugged.

Once, when he was being transferred, Omar learned that his brother Abdurahman was in an adjacent prison yard. Abdurahman, forced by the CIA to choose between life imprisonment and cooperation, had chosen the latter. Omar had no idea that his brother was in Guantanamo to spy on detainees.

“How are you? How are you?” Abdurahman yelled, in Arabic.

According to Abdurahman, Omar told him to stick to the story the family had agreed upon—the Khadrs did charity work, and knew nothing of Al Qaeda.

“But how is your health?” Abdurahman yelled.

“It’s OK,” Omar yelled back. “I’m just losing my left eye and all. They don’t want to operate on it.”

It was the only time they encountered one another. Guards and interrogators continually reminded Omar that no one in the world knew where he was. No one would know if they decided to kill him. He was frequently threatened with physical harm and sudden execution. He heard gunshots. He heard the sounds other prisoners made when they were dragged back from interrogation rooms. Around the time of Omar’s arrival, detainees watched as guards rushed into the cell of a prisoner named Jumah Al-Dousari. As a detainee later described it:

[The first guard] ran in and did a knee drop onto Jumah’s back just between his shoulder blades with his full weight, which must have been about 240 pounds … The others came in and were punching and kicking Jumah … [One] was kicking his stomach. Jumah had an operation and had metal rods in his stomach clamped together in the operation … [A guard] grabbed his head with one hand and with the other hand punched him repeatedly in the face. His nose was broken. He smashed [his face] into the concrete floor. There was blood everywhere. When they took him out they hosed the cell down and the water ran red with blood.

It was the kind of beating Omar witnessed regularly.

In July 2004, when Omar was seventeen, he was moved to Camp V. In his new cell, the fluorescent ceiling lights stayed on twenty-four hours a day. Sometimes he went for weeks without seeing daylight. The temperature of the cell hovered around fifty eight degrees. Omar spent a lot of his time trying to stay warm: balling himself up, covering his extremities to the extent it was possible, making the best use of his blanket and mattress pad when they hadn’t been confiscated. His metal cot was a problem: It briskly gave away his body heat.

After a day in his Camp V cell, Omar had nothing new to see, touch, taste, hear or smell. He was accompanied only by his ow disordered thoughts. He tried to sleep the time away, but the cold was inimical to sleep, and the incessant lighting had divested him of his feel for night and day. Over the course of any given month, Omar did not know whether he would get to see the sun, have a conversation with another human being, or be allowed to wear clothes. For the past four years, Guantanamo has held him dead-still in the vacuum of his cell without ever allowing him to come to rest. The institution has made it clear to him that this will remain, for untold years, the form of his life.

[Next: Omar Khadr’s mental health unravels.]