From the talking dog

SORRY HAVE BEEN RUNNING BEHIND ON SOME THINGS....

From my perspective, I just try to cling to my own corner of truth [as well as justice and, to the extent consistent with those, which isn't often enough IMHO, the American way] for whomever is still interested in reading about it. And along the way, we can look at some other milestones. Next January, the military prison for Muslim men and boys at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will have been open for twenty years, even as speculation remains that the Biden administration might be considering finally closing it. Interestingly, the "Periodic Review Board" added three names to the "cleared for release" group, bringing that number up to nine out of the forty remaining prisoners.

For the record, those prisoners are Saifullah Paracha, 73, of Pakistan; Abdul Rabbani, 54, of Pakistan; and Uthman Abdul al-Rahim Uthman, 40, of Yemen. Over the years, I interviewed one of Paracha's attorneys, Gaillard Hunt, and I interviewed one of Uthman's attorneys, Marc Falkoff. I'm pretty sure that Cori Crider, then of Reprieve when I interviewed her, also represented Rabbani, as did Jon Eisenberg, who I also interviewed. Hope springs eternal, though I suspect that come next January, my friend Candace's client Saeed Bakouche a/k/a Razak Ali of Algeria will probably still be held at GTMO (particularly in light of recent legal developements in his case), and I expect my friend Andy to resume his annual visits [as the pandemic dies down, please God] so we can all go down to D.C. to protest GTMO on what I fear will be its 20th anniversary.

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MEMORIAL DAY 2021

 

Supreme Court denies Razak's cert petition

 It was a long shot but I had hoped they would grant my motion to not decide the case - because the DC Circuit Court had granted en banc in a case with similar issues. Unfortunately they did not put the case on hold and so Razak is once again out of luck.

You can read more here.

To Razak Ali's mother

 AND ALL OF THE MOTHER'S OF THE DISAPPEARED  WHO ARE HELD AT GUANTANAMO OR ANYWHERE ELSE ACROSS THE WORLD. WHETHER BY MY COUNTRY OR ANOTHER COUNTRY.

Can (will) Biden close Guantanamo

A must read from TomDispatch -- followed by Karen Greenberg's analysis -- on whether we will finally see the end of Guantanamo.

 The difficulty of closing Guantánamo has shown that once you move outside the laws and norms of this country in a significant way, the return to normalcy becomes ever more problematic — and the longer the exception, the harder such a restoration will be. Remember that, before his presidency was over, George W. Bush went on record acknowledging his preference for closing Guantánamo. Obama made it a goal of his presidency from the outset. Biden, with less fanfare and the lessons of their failures in mind, faces the challenge of finally closing America’s forever prison.

Read the rest here.

h/o to Walt

Fitch is back...

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Biden's litigation posture in pending legal proceedings commenced during Trump's term has been much more progressive than Obama's when he took office (see Fitch, Feb. 24, 2009). Obama accepted and pursued Bush arguments that suited him (e.g, for the accumulation of executive powers), but Biden has altered the government's position in many pending cases. Some major lawsuits remain to be sorted.

Biden's administration has nevertheless availed itself of some harmful rules and regs from the Trump era, and needlessly appealed the Julian Assange extradition that was denied in Britain. 

The Pentagon has announced new military commission charges, against Hambali, a terrorist with no connection to any war, or the US, other than American Bali-bombing victims - far fewer than the Australians affected. 

Biden's Guantánamo litigation strategy complicates senior senators' efforts to close the prison; their arguments, however, assume the continuance of military prosecutions, only one of which truly involves a war-time war crime: that of Abd Al Hadi.

In theory, the promised official end to the war in Afghanistan should bar US claims that the men are detained as "war prisoners". Much depends on Guantánamo appeals headed for (likely unsympathetic) supreme court review.

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Read the whole thing here...