On A Related Subject

Protest at Gitmo Captured on film

Click on the title for one of the pictures and go to the Miami Herald for the story and more pictures.

Talking Dog Interviews Professor Peter Jan Honigsberg

Peter Jan Honigsberg is a professor of law at the University of San Francisco, where among other subjects, he teaches a course on terrorism and national security law. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including most recently, "Our Nation Unhinged: The Human Consequences of the War on Terror". I mentioned his book here on my blog earlier this spring and I have a reminder about the book on the right hand column of this blog. This is yet another terrific interview by the Talking Dog. Click on the title to read the entire interview and then go out and get the book.

ANOTHER DEATH AT GITMO

Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih, aka al Hanashi, (ISN 078?)

I don't know anything more... well actually we all know alot more. These men have been held for more than seven years. They cannot take it any longer. This particular man was apparently a hunger striker and was down to 85 pounds. Also, despite media accounts this is the fifth "apparent suicide" at Gitmo (it really should not be that hard to keep track!)

Dick Gordon's "The Story"

I will be back on NPR's "the story" this afternoon. Click on the title to see when it will be on your local NPR station.

Who needs freedom when you have a laptop?

This article goes in the category of "I couldn't make this shit up." Unfortunately, when it comes to Guantanamo, this particular category keeps expanding.
Click on the title for more.

PUBLIC DOCUMENTS SHOULD BE PUBLIC

A while back I reported on the government's new practice of refusing to allow documents to be filed on the public record. In the past the Guantanamo court documents were screened and a few hours or days later the documents were either cleared for public filing or had a few words or sections blackened out and then the document was cleared. Right around the time of the presidential election everything that was filed in the Guantanamo cases was all of a sudden considered "classified" and nothing was ever declassifed by the Department of Justice (DOJ). (I think this was another way of the old DOJ controlling the filings and the new DOJ either not being aware or not challenging.) Today Judge Hogan said the practice must end. Thanks to Judge Hogan for ending a practice that was going to make the job of historians (and was in fact making the job of habeas counsel) that much harder.

AIM FOR THE FOOT AND KEEP SHOOTING

Obama is almost doing as good a job as our congress in making sure that closing Guantanamo is as difficult as possible. The Uighers were ordered released by a judge many months ago when Bush was still in office. It was no surprise when the Bush justice department appealed that decision and filed an outrageous brief accusing the Uighers of being terrorists and a threat to the sanctity of American soil. When Obama came into office he could have put an end to this charade by withdrawing any objection to the District Court opinion. Instead the Obama administration ignored the case and let the DC Circuit rule. After the Uighers filed a cert petition in the Supreme Court we all waited with baited breath to see if the Obama administration would do the right thing. They did not. Last week Obama's new solicitor general filed an opposition to the Uigher's Cert petition in which she seemed to suggest that the reason the Uigher's are still at Guantanamo is because they do not want to go home. It would have been more honest to say that they are still at Guantanamo because they want to live (as going "home" to China means certain death...) and with Obama clinging to the Bush position that the Courts can enter a Habeas petition but cannot order release they are tying their own hands for closing Guantanamo.
Click on the title for Scotusblog's summary and a link to the government's opposition and read more about the Uighers from Andy Worthington.

REMEMBERING

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.

RETURNING TO THE BATTLEFIELD, take iv

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.

Obama's Speech

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 Defines the Government's Authority to Detain

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.

Gitmo Detainee Brought to NY to face charges

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.

Spanish Investigation Update

Another Talking Dog Interview

This time the Talking Dog interviews habeas counsel Ramzi Kassem. Click on the title for another great interview.