Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Recently, I wrote here about the tragic conviction of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz for leaking the names of Guantanamo inmates to a human rights lawyer in 2003. Even though the military later released all the names anyway, Diaz was convicted on the improbable charge of damaging the interests of the U.S. by revealing the names. He was sentenced to six months in prison. All for doing what any decent American should’ve done. All for standing up for traditional American values of freedom, decency, fairness and the rule of law.

Diaz’ niece saw my post at TPMCafe and wrote me a nice note thanking me. Then Bryan White, one of my readers, asked me if he could contact Diaz to thank him for his bravery:

Poor bastard! They’ve got the wrong guy in jail. He’s been locked up for obeying the law.

…I’m sending him a letter telling him I admire him and that I wish him the best. See if he needs anything or just feels like corresponding. Show solidarity. I support the guy and want to be sure he knows it. Millions of people support him. I just hope he doesn’t come out of this bitter or hateful…

Matt agreed to recieve mail from Bryan and the former’s niece graciously provided his military address. I was thinking that if others of my readers would like to do this I could pass on your names to his niece and ask her permission to provide Matt’s postal address.

But you can’t have Matt’s e mail address because the Navy denies him e-mail privileges. You also can’t send Matt copied pages from any media (including the internet). You can only send him newspapers or magazines that are pre-approved. The idea that a man who gave 18 yrs of his life as a Navy lawyer is locked up as a common criminal & prevented even from using e mail is so repugnant as to be beyond belief. This man is a patriot & deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, not 6 months in solitary. What is the Navy afraid of–that he will communicate some secret code to yet another human rights lawyer and give away the keys to the kingdom?

Matt Diaz is an American patriot. The military brass and CIA officers running Gitmo and their enablers back in DC are the criminals who deserve six months in the brig for ignoring our Constitution. Matt should be giving lessons in habeus corpus and due process to senators like Lindsay Graham and John McCain who essentially “legalized Gitmo.”

Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz, man of conscience

The idea that Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz will do six months in the brig for committing the brave and even noble deed of leaking the names of all Guantanamo detainees to human rights lawyers is profoundly distressing:

A military jury recommended Friday that a Navy lawyer be discharged and imprisoned for six months for sending a human rights attorney the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay detainees.

…Diaz was convicted Thursday of communicating secret information about Guantanamo Bay detainees that could be used to injure the United States and three other charges of leaking information to an unauthorized person.

…After the first day of his trial Monday, Diaz had told The Dallas Morning News he felt sending the list — which was inside an unmarked Valentine’s Day card — was the right decision because of how the detainees were being treated.

…In early 2005, as he was concluding a six-month tour of duty as a legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Diaz sent an anonymous note to a New York civil liberties group containing the detainees’ names.

…”I had observed the stonewalling, the obstacles we continued to place in the way of the attorneys,” Diaz told the newspaper. ”I knew my time was limited. … I had to do something.”

I regret that Diaz, facing the full brunt of military justice bearing down on him seems to have decided that folding his tail between his legs and begging for mercy was advisable under the circumstances. And who really can blame him?

Diaz, who could have received up to 14 years in prison, gave emotional testimony during the sentencing hearing, apologizing for his actions.

”The prosecutors were right: I’m a meticulous man. I should have done better. It was extremely irrational for me to do what I did,” Diaz said.

…Diaz said he now believes it was ”cowardly” to release the names and other identifying information in that manner.

Read the Morning News story. It’s devastating and includes this jaw-dropping quotation from Diaz (remember he served 18 years as a Navy lawyer):

I think a good case could be made for allegations of war crimes, policies that were war crimes,” he said.

Matthew Diaz is an American hero. He should not spend a day in jail. Patrick Leahy should call him to testify before the Judiciary Committee so he can tell the nation why his conscience impelled him to do what he did. And if his lawyers or family read this, please tell us more about him, his case, and what else we can do to support him.