There are so many hero’s in the US ( and in the world). I want to just take a moment on this memorial day to recognize a group of hero’s that do not get the recognition that they deserve. The office of the chief defense counsel has been defending the rule of law at Guantanamo. They have done an excellent job of fighting to maintain our Constitution and in keeping the unlawful military commissions in cheque.
Thank you to the men and women of the defense counsel’s office. May this part of your work soon be over.
I am so sick of this fake story. Every time people have actively criticized Guantanamo this story is "leaked" with new numbers. Last time it surfaced was around inauguration time. At least now the NYT is admitting it may have been duped. But they have missed the point of their being duped... now they are saying maybe these men "have not returned to the battlefield" but instead have joined the battle because of being locked up wrongly for so many years. Of couse that makes sense and you could bet your bottom dollar that I would be fighting mad if I was held for 5,6, 7, 8 + years for no reason and then just dropped back home with no apology, no compensation, nothing except a reputation for having been at the worlds most notorious prison. But anyway, getting back to the point of this duping.... no one is looking at who these supposedly dissatisfied people are and what exactly constitutes "returning to the battlefield". First I will point you again to the article I wrote all those many years ago when the first of these bogus stories appeared. In addition to claiming people that were never at Guantanamo, men who were still at Guantanamo and men that did little more than criticize our government as "returning to the battlefield" the propaganda machine has included men who have gone back to their former charitable work and of course working for Al-Jazeera. When the battlefield is everything Muslim it is not hard for them to paint this picture. A law suit will be filed in the next week for disclosure of the, most likely, non existent names. There is a reason that this story is always leaked but the numbers never confirmed with something like "evidence". The numbers are made up. What is not made up is that men who have been held illegally for all these years have a right to be angry. No thought was given to the men released by the Bush regime. They were sent from Guantanamo in the middle of the night and most were given no help to adjust back to a normal life. Even if the pentagon's false numbers were real we would have to consider ourselves lucky to have only 14% fighting mad. Hopefully we can help the remaining men to be settled in a way that will help them to adjust to life on the other side of the wire. Even something as simple as an apology tends to go a long way.
Well I know I part with some in the civil rights area on my analysis of the Obama speech today but I think he is doing OK on this for now. Yes, my clients are still at Gitmo and Yes, I do not know when they will get the hell out of there but I think Obama is setting a good course and he is prioritizing and picking his fights.... and when you have more than half the democrats afraid of their own shadows I think he is choosing wisely. The only question in my mind is whether or not he can and will show the leadership necessary to follow through with what he is saying. Once we get the place closed and the vast majority of the men somewhere safer than Guantanamo we can deal with the other issues. Well anyway, that is my take.
Judge Bates is the judge in my client Al-Ghizzawi's case. In a thoughtful opinion Judge Bates defines the scope of the Government's Authority to detain the men whose cases are before him. Although I have not been happy with some of Judge Bates' rulings I am happy with this one. click on the title to read what ScotUS has to say and also for a link to the decision.
Last night the first Gitmo Detainee was brought to the US to face charges in NY where he was indicted. Some how I don't think New Yorkers are going to be shaking in their boots at the thought that this man is on US soil.
Today the supreme court ruled that the pleading standard is a little bit tighter in cases involving qualified immunity. Unfortunately the media has again mischaracterized a major court decision and wrongly announced that the Court has held that officials cannot be sued based on their conduct in rounding up muslims following 911. I guess no one in the media can be bothered actually having someone who knows a little something about the law read the decision before reporting on it. Anyway the case was ultimately sent back to the 2nd circuit to decide if the Plaintiffs should be given the chance to amend their complaint. I think recent news on Rumsfeld's actual briefings should help at the repleading stage. Click on the title to read the actual Supreme Court decision. Just a little legal interlude here....
There has not been much coverage about the death of this man in a Libyan prison. Al-Shaykh was one of our many ghost prisoners. We used this particular man to try to get evidence of a link between Al-Qaeda and Saddam... when we finished torturing him we turned him over to the Libyans who in-turn disappeared him into their prison system. Finally on April 27th human rights watch was allowed to meet with him and a few others. He had nothing to say to them except something along the lines of "where were you when I was being tortured?" Now he is dead...the Libyan's say he committed suicide but we will probably never know if that is the truth. What we do know is that his death came at a convenient time... a time when it has first started to surface that we were using torture to try to get some of these men to provide a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam....since there was no link, torture was the only way to get people to say that there was a connection. Andy Worthington has more.
The Obama administration has barred the release of more pictures of prisoner abuse. This is a mistake that will not end here.... As said this will not end here. Some of these pictures are now being released from a site in Australia. I have a link to an article that will take you there. I don't need to see them but I resent Obama banning them.... The US engaged in horrendous conduct and we can't move forward until we face our past. One thing is certain...eventually all of these photos will be public. Click on the title for more or here
We need everyone to raise a stink about this. The senate is now seeking to put provisions into the budget that no detainee from Guantanamo can come to US soil. This of course means that Guantanamo cannot be closed. The European community has made it clear that they will help us if we take the first steps.... we must take some of the men and they will help by taking others. Without their help we cannot close Guantanamo. This is clearly a plan by the Bush enablers... but unfortunately we have too many spineless democrats too. Call, Email and Raise Hell.
The Chicago Tribune ran its cover story today on the Chicago attorneys who are involved in the Guantanamo litigation. Tribune reporter Tom Hundley actually tracked me down in The Hague to look at the issues that I have confronted. Click on the title for the full story
while I am back at the secret place and spending too much time looking at total bullshit let me give you a few things to read... start with the homicides
Today Judge Kessler granted the Habeas Petition by ALI AHMED. The hearing was two weeks ago and the unclassified opinion should be available by the end of the week.
Docket Text: ORDER: For the reasons stated in this Court's Classified Memorandum Opinion, Petitioner Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed's Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus is hereby GRANTED; the Government shall take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate Petitioner's release forthwith and shall report back to the Court no later than June 15, 2009, as to the status of Petitioner's release. Signed by Judge Gladys Kessler on 5/5/09. (CL, )
According to a recently declassified Justice Department document, the CIA believed that so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques like sleep deprivation worked better when a detainee’s resistance was weakened from hunger. The agency, with the legal approval of the Justice Department, employed a regimen that sharply restricted the caloric intake of detainees in its custody — an intake distinctly below federal nutritional guidelines for inmates in U.S. prisons. CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE REST
A month or so ago I gave you a heads up about a new book that was coming out "Our Nation Unhinged" by Peter Jan Honigsberg. The book is now out and you can click on the title to find out more about the book and to find out how to order it. As an aside, I met Peter on one of my (too) many trips to Guantanamo. We struck up a conversation and when parting from the base we exchanged email addresses. That was back in 07. Peter was very interested in the saga of Al-Ghizzawi and contacted me for updates occasionally. In the book he covers some of those issues. My picture also made it into the book! The book does an excellent job of trying to explain the legal side of the Guantanamo cases in a way that is understandable. It is an easy read and once I picked it up I was glued to the book. I highly recommend it.
Probably the most important book of 2014 as it gives a comprehensive look at the extent this country of mine has creeped into the bedrooms of all of us across the world-and the importance of hero EDWARD SNOWDEN- in risking his freedom to let all of us know. What we do with that knowledge will say alot about all of us...
If you have not read Ron's book then you do not have the whole story about what I have been doing to try to get my clients out ofGuantanamo. Ron kept up with my activities and even followed me around on occasion to get the full story... then he weaved my story in with the stories of other individuals who are concerned with the direction of the United States. I recommend the book to all of you out there who also care about the direction that the US has gone these past eight years and want to work to change things.
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