Some Good News...

But of course the good news does not emanate from my country- where every day the news is worse than the day before.... but I digress.
Saudi Arabia is releasing a group of the men that they agreed to take prior to Obama leaving office. The men have been held by the Saudi government in its so-called "deradicalization" program. The Saudi government also announce it will release another 4 next month.

Read about it here.

From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian....

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GENERAL BAKER: RELEASED FROM CONFINEMENT AT CAMP JUSTICE

AT GUANTÁNAMO, THE PENTAGON HAS COMPLETED THE BIZARRE TRIAL OF AHMED AL-DARBI. HE WAS CONVICTED BY GUILTY PLEA - THE ONLY SURE WAY - IN A MILITARY COURT, FOR WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY CIVILIAN PIRACY.  

THE ACTS GIVING RISE TO THE PROSECUTION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WAR, OR EVEN THE US, AND THEY OCCURRED IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS FAR FROM THE US. NO AMERICAN SHIPS OR CITIZENS WERE INVOLVED.   

MR DARBI WILL NOW BE A WITNESS AGAINST ABD AL-RAHIM AL-NASHIRI IN YET ANOTHER, EQUALLY IMPOSSIBLE, NON-WAR CASE (SO RECOGNISED SINCE IT BEGAN).  

AL-NASHIRI'S CASE WAS RECENTLY DERAILED BY THE RESIGNATION - FOR ETHICAL REASONS - OF THE DEFENCE TEAM, JUST AS THE SUPREME COURT EVADED NASHIRI'S VERY SOUND APPEAL. 

AT THAT POINT, THE NASHIRI COMMISSION EXPERIMENT BLEW UP, WITH THE NASHIRI JUDGE SENSATIONALLY HOLDING CHIEF DEFENCE COUNSEL JOHN BAKER - A BRIGADIER GENERAL AND THE SECOND RANKING LAWYER IN THE MARINE CORPS - IN CONTEMPT, SENTENCING HIM TO 21 DAYS AND A FINE.   

NEXT, THE GENERAL FILED HIS OWN HABEAS ACTION, BUT BEFORE DC JUDGE ROYCE LAMBERTH COULD RULE, THE PENTAGON'S "CONVENING AUTHORITY" SUSPENDED THE CONTEMPT ORDER PENDING APPEAL, AND GEN. BAKER WAS RELEASED FROM CONFINEMENT IN HIS MODEST TRAILER BEHIND "CAMP JUSTICE".

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ENTARTETE KUNST

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION SHOWED ITS AFFECTION FOR THIRD REICH NATIONAL SECURITY KULTUR BY ADOPTING THE UNSETTLING GESTAPO EXPRESSION, VERSCHÄRFTE VERNEHMUNG: "ENHANCED INTERROGATION".

WHILE THE WEHRMACHT MIGHT HAVE SCRUPLED AT THE PLÜNDERUNG OF A PRISONER, OBAMA'S ARMED FORCES HAD NO PROBLEM PILLAGING THE LIFE SAVINGS OF DJAMEL AMEZIANE, A FORCIBLY-REPATRIATEDGUANTANAMERO: HE COULDN'T BE TRUSTED TO USE HIS FUNDS RESPONSIBLY.

UNDER TRUMP, THE PENTAGON HAS EXTENDED THIS PRINCIPLE TO CONFISCATE ART BY GUANTÁNAMO INMATES, ON THE SAME THEORY: THAT MONEY - E.G. PROCEEDS FROM A NEW YORK EXHIBIT OF THEIR ART - COULD BE PUT TO NEFARIOUS PURPOSES; TELLINGLY, AMEZIANE IS AMONG THE ARTISTS IN THE SHOW.    

CLEARLY, IT'S ENTARTETE KUNST.

Read the rest here.....

Military Rule overrides the Court's in the Good old U S of A

An attorney who was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service and forced to testify in a Guantanamo Bay terror proceeding is ready to take the government to the court. On Monday, Stephen Gill will take the first legal step toward suing the U.S. Marshals and the Department of Defense for $1.375 million, The Daily Beast has learned.

At issue is a question that could impact every American citizen: Do U.S. military commissions have the power to arrest Americans without showing them a warrant, fly them hundreds of miles away from their homes, lock them up without access to legal counsel, and force them to testify? The administrative claim—which is the first step to a lawsuit against the federal government—is being filed by Mark Zaid, a national security attorney who sometimes assists The Daily Beast with Freedom of Information Act litigation.

Read the rest of this troubling issue here.

Talking Dog interviews Mark Fallon

Another great interview from the dog.

Read it here.

Speaking of Clusterfuck....

Seems Mike Flynn has had alot on his plate...with his background in the so-called "counter terrorism" strategy that proved so helpful for our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq- rounding up people like my clients and carting them off to Guantanamo, without rhyme, reason or cause. So, I guess it is no surprise that Flynn would use those same talents after retiring. Lying of course comes naturally to these guys (using guys in the generic sense- there were some prominent gals in this mix too). It is really no surprise that Flynn lied about his contacts with Turkey and miscellaneous misrepresentations about other topics, but the part that must have come most naturally to him (given his vast experience) is the apparent plot to kidnap Fethullah Gulen- the cleric living legally here in the US-but wanted desperately by Turkey's rogue president Erdogan. Illegal renditions were a main part of the strategy used by my government in our forever wars so maybe Mr. Flynn didn't really understand that it is illegal?? And since we paid bounties for most of the men brought to Guantanamo perhaps Flynn thought this was ok too? (Although as far as I know we did not pay $15 million for any of those men.) But I am sure Flynn has expenses so he probably thought that was a good price to pay for kidnapping the cleric and dropping him off at a Turkish Island prison.
Anyway, Marcy Wheeler has put together a good background on what might have been going on based on the news dripping out... read her analysis here.

The Irony of it all....

Yes, there is something ironic about the General who is representing men being held at Guantanamo being himself detained (at Guantanamo but house arrest not in the prison itself!) and having to hire his own habeas counsel to file a habeas petition on his own behalf.
I am sure General Baker is not laughing at any of this but you have to wonder how much more absurd this is going to get.
Read more here... and stay tuned.

Let me back up for one minute... General Baker was "temporarily" released from his captivity prior to the article I posted above... You can read about his temporary release here.

The legal term for this whole scenario is clusterfuck.

Will the International Court look into my countries war crimes in Afghanistan?

This chief prosecutor for the International Court at The Hague has recommended an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan following the invasion by my country after the September 11, 2001 attacks. We have known for a few years that the prosecutor was looking into these war crimes but many of us were skeptical that the proseuctor would actually recommend an investigation- up until now the focus of the Court has been countries in Africa while the US led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq have been ignored. It is now up to the judges of that Court to make the final decision on whether to proceed- and make no mistake- this is a very political court....
we shall see.... maybe it will be time for me to head back to The Hague.

Meanwhile you can read more here.
And the prosecutors statement here.

And now he is going after the civilian lawyers.....

First the chief judge at the Guantanamo Military Commission found the lead defense attorney to be in contempt of court for following his ethical and statutory duty to resign after learning his and his teams attorney client communications were compromised and sentenced him to 21 days detention in his home (at Guantanamo) ... now the chief judge has his eyes set on two of the civilian lawyers who also resigned following their discovery of eavesdropping by the military in their attorney/client communications.
One of the (many) disturbing things about this is that the important information is under seal so we do not know the full scope of the eavesdropping- but I can tell you that attorneys would not take these kinds of steps unless the breach in their communications with their client was very serious.

You can read more here.

From Our Friends Down Under at Justinian....

Nothing about Guantanamo this time around but since so many of you enjoy Mr. Fitch you can view this months here....

DEFENSE TEAM RESIGNATION HAS HEATED UP.....

Now the judge in the case has found the lead attorney to be in contempt of court- 21 days of home confinement...

Read the rest here.