Thursday, January 29, 2009

WHAT ABOUT THE KUWAITIS?

CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ the article discussing the fate of the remaining Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo and whether they will be released now that President Obama has signed an executive order to close the prison.

The detainees’ lawyer, David Cynamon, spoke with the paper and explained, "With Obama's presidency, we see a light at the end of the tunnel. They've been detained without trial for almost eight years; it's about time that these prisoners were released.” Cynamon also noted that he is continuing to pursue fair hearings for the detainees. The Obama administration claims “Their cases will be studied for one year; but we don't want to wait for that time frame, we shall continue our case in the Federal Court."

A sentiment that most of us feel.

FIRE JOHN YOO UPDATE: SOUTHERN CALIF. EVENT

SORRY ABOUT THE LINKS PROBLEM
NEWS FLASH:

John Yoo, the architect of the infamous Torture Memos, will speak at Chapman University - Fri., Jan. 30
at a Law Review Symposium called:

"Lincoln’s Constitutionalism in Time of War: Lessons for the War on Terror?"

Greet him in orange jumpsuits and black hoods to declare that we will not be silent as people continue to be tortured in our name. Contact WCW for more info at worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com ; 213.924.8571.

This symposium will be held from 9-5:00 p.m. at Kennedy Hall, Rm. 237 at

Chapman University School of Law, One University Drive, Orange, CA

Download flyer http://tinyurl.com/brmovh


The "Torture Professor"* can run, but he has no intention of hiding (he will also be visiting UCBerkeley on March 12... see the FireJohnYoo website calendar for details).

Say NO TO TORTURE - JOHN YOO MUST GO! And not just from UC, where he continues to enjoy tenure. Follow developments on holding this and other War Criminals accountable at http://www.FireJohnYoo.org .

THE $1000 LETTER

It was actually more than that but the rest of the costs were my own fault. I was multi tasking and clearly had too many tasks on the plate and screwed up. More on that another time. One of the joys of being a Guantanamo attorney is that the mail your client sends to you is read by the “privilege” team before it makes its way to you. Usually they just read it and fax it on to you and leave the original in your secret drawer. But sometimes they “classify” the letter and you cannot read it without going to the secret office near DC.

Maybe you can imagine my surprise when I received an email this past week stating that Mr. Al-Ghizzawi’s latest letter to me was “classified.” Al-Ghizzawi has been wrongly held prisoner for seven years in total isolation. What in the world could he have to say to me, or anyone, that should be classified? I sent an email back to the privilege team and asked them if they could please give me an indication of the reason for the classification. Shortly thereafter, I received an email back that stated that the letter was classified because Al-Ghizzawi’s letter was “too specific on the detainee's exact location within the detention facility.” I literally did a double take. I mean WTF. Did they think I (or someone) was going to try to bust him out or something? They refused to say anything more and told me I could read it next time I was at the Secret Pace.
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE REST..