THE DOJ UNDER GW OBAMA

I have explained to people when giving speeches about Guantanamo that the Department of "justice" under Obama is actually quite a bit worse than it was under Bush. An example of this is found in the latest article at truthout by Jason Leopold regarding Abu Zubaydah. I could try to summarize what this is all about but I think it is better if you just read the article....

what a concept.... (updated...yet again)

Only in the new U. S. of A. could this be an issue, the next man at Guantanamo who is set to have his case heard at a military commission is asking the judge to let him know if he will be released if the jury acquits him. You can read more about this odd question here. The bottom line is that in the kangaroo court also known as the military commission there is no guarantee of release if you are found not guilty. It begs the question, why go through the theatrics if nothing is going to change?

Stay tuned for the answer.....but don't hold your breath waiting.

Carol Rosenberg at the Miami Herald has more here

The military prosecution has now responded- they claim that the military commission can sentence a man to death but they cannot set a man free---and they argue that the military tribunal hearing the case should NOT be told that even if they acquit the man he will not be set free.

Sweet land of liberty......

Carol Rosenberg at the Miami Herald has the follow up here.

And Now We Are Assassinating American Kids....

I don't even have words to describe my disgust and anguish at our latest assassination by drone-

Jim White at Emptywheel has the story here and here.

From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under

Comforting the comfortable

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Justinian in Alien Tort Statute, Citizens United, Donald Rumsfeld, Rendition, Roger Fitch Esq, Torture, US Supreme Court

Analysing the US Supremes most recent term - plenty of goodies for big business, nothing for plaintiff lawyers ... Alien Tort Statute up for a workout ... Torture cases batted around the circuit courts ... Rendition victims lose final appeal ... Our Man in Washington reports

The US Supreme Court sits again this month, but the 2010 term is still being analysed here and here.

Scotusblog has the term's statistics.

By general consensus, big business and conservatives scored well.

Some say the court is only interested in comforting the comfortable.

The court's hostility to litigation and plaintiffs' lawyers led notably to Wal-Mart v Dukes, a class-action killer and the most pro-business decision since Citizens United invented corporate free speech.

More here and here.

The decision in AT&T Mobility v Conception, an arbitration clause case, will have a devastating effect on consumer class litigation. Emptywheel has more.

A leading law dean, Erwin Chemerinsky at the University of California, and Dahlia Lithwick have more on the Roberts Court junta.

While some writers believe the Supreme Court killed class actions, others think the cause is not yet lost.

Click here for more from Fitch.........

The continuing saga of Zubaydah....

Remember Abu Zubaydah? If you have forgotten Jason Leopold at truthout has a sad reminder for you here.

Just to jog your memory- when Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan back in the spring of 2002 we were told he was the number 3 in al-Qaeda -so we water boarded him 100 times or so and subjected him to lots of other torture because that was the only way to save our country- however sometime thereafter we realized that he really wasn't number 3---or number 33 or even number 333. In fact, we realized he wasn't really a part of al-Qaeda after all. Oops on that one.

You might also recall that our torturers videotaped their handiwork but apparently after some higher ups took a gander at those tapes they decided no one else should see them and the tapes disappeared....we have been told that the tapes were destroyed (even though there was a court order to preserve the tapes). So as far as we know there are no longer any tapes depicting the torture that Abu Zubaydah and others were subjected.

However the tapes were not the only record of our misdeeds....Zubaydah of course remembered what happened to him and he drew pictures depicting his torture. As Jason tells us in the Truthout article the pictures are (or were) pretty detailed....but of course we will never see those drawings either- you see, if his drawings still even exist (the powers to be refuse to admit whether the drawings are still in existence) they are classified (wouldn't want those to get into the wrong hands would you?....I mean that could possibly make it harder for us to keep looking forward.....).

And so, Abu Zubaydah- the man who wasn't who we thought he was but who must be forever detained without charge because.....why is it again that he must be detained forever? Partly because being the most powerful country in the world we do not admit mistakes....maybe also so that Zubaydah cannot redraw those pictures?

The Drone King- moving on to target americans....

Pretty much from the moment he moved into the white house he has been a disaster.... but who could have predicted that he would be this bad?

For more discussion and insight:

Emptywheel here , here and here.

Andy Worthington here.

and Democracy Now here.