Len Goodman writing at In These Times

Len Goodman is a fellow habeas counsel from Chicago (and also coincidently a sole practitioner). Click on the title to read why Len is, and all of us should be, concerned about Obama's "preventive detention plan."

75 cleared to go....

I am not allowed to say whether or not both or either of my clients are on this list. Ironically the Government posted this list of the numbers of released by country at the prison but they refused to give this same information to the habeas counsel. Transparency.

Click on the title for more.

One of the (many) heartbreaking stories from Gitmo

Click on the title to read...

Three released yesterday...

Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, a Yemen native, was returned to his homeland. A federal court in May ruled that Ahmed could no longer be detained at the military detention in Cuba facility and ordered him released.

The two other detainees, whose names were not disclosed for security reasons, have been sent to Ireland. In July, the Irish government agreed to accept the two Uzbek prisoners, one of at least four European nations that have said they would take detainees.

Andy Worthington has more....click on the title.

Talking Dog interviews Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham

The talking dog interviews another in a long line of military attorneys who have helped shed light on Guantanamo. Col. Abraham is well known for his declaration before the Supreme Court in the Boumediene case, a declaration that led the way for the supreme court to reverse its earlier decision not to hear the Boumediene case. Col. Abraham is perhaps lesser known for his role in my own client's case (Al-Ghizzawi): he sat on the original Combat Status Review Tribunal panel for Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, that was the panel that determined that Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was not in fact properly designated as an "enemy combatant." Unfortunately, and unbeknown to the panel members the military decided to review Mr. Al-Ghizzawi again, this time with the "rubber stamp" panel.... you can read more about that sinister move here.

Click on the title to read the talking dog's interview of Stephen.

Part 2 of the Interview

Again from Chicago's own North and Clark.

Click on the title for the link directly to the interview.

Order for Rule to Show Cause Against Government, entered

Last month I filed a Motion in the District Court for a Rule to Show Cause against the Government for its blatant and intentional violation of an Order entered by the Court that applied in every pending habeas case. Today one of the judges ruled and agreed with me. You can find the order here. (Tip of the hat to the talking dog....for finding the order on the public docket..a docket I didn't even know existed.) Although the Government violated the Order in every case it seems that at least for now we are going to have to deal with this case by case...but we will.

And my apologies to the punctuationists of the world...I couldn't help myself.

SEPTEMBER 24

In honor of national punctuation day I will refrain from posting....

Another Interview

This time from Chicago's own North and Clark.

Click on the title for the link directly to the interview.

Torture doesn't work.... (Upated with better link....)

Just in case you were wondering...

click on the title to read a paper by Prof. Shane O'Mara at Trinity College.

Tip of the hat to EmptyWheel

and to the anonymous Lee.

Eid at Guantanamo

Moazamm Begg discusses what it was like to be in US custody both at Guantanamo and other sites during Ramadan and Eid.

Click on the title to read his account.

Ambassador Fried Speaks out about the resettlement problems

Special ambassador Fried has the task of finding homes for the men at Guantanamo who cannot go back to their home countries...a task made all the more difficult by our Congress which has refused to allow any of these wrongly held men to settle in our country. Click on the title to read more.

Another Habeas Win

The score is now 30 wins, 7 losses. Yesterday Judge Kollar Kotelly entered the habeas petition for Kuwaiti, Fouad Al Rabiah. I will provide a link to the opinion as soon as it is available. Here is the breakdown:

Writ granted – 30 (20 are still at Guantanamo)

17 Uighurs - Urbina (4 released to Bermuda)
5 Bosnian-Algerians - Leon - (4 released - 3 to Bosnia and 1 (Lakhdar Boumediene) to France)
Mohammed el Gharani (Chadian) - Leon (released to Chad)
Yasim Muhammed Basardah - Huvelle (Yemeni)
Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed - Kessler (Yemeni)

Abd al Rahim Abdul Rassak Janko – Leon (Syrian)

Khalid Abdullah Mishal Thamer Al Mutairi - Kollar-Kotelly (Kuwaiti)

Mohammed Jawad - Huvelle (Afghan; released to Afghanistan)

Mohammed Al-Adahi-- Kessler (Yemeni)

Fouad Al Rabiah – Kollar-Kotelly (Kuwaiti).

Writ Denied - 7
Belkacem Bensayah (Bosnian) - Leon
Hisham Sliti (Tunisian) - Leon
Muaz Al Alawi (Yemeni) - Leon
Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani (Yemeni) - Leon
Hammamy (Tunisian) – Leon

Waqas Mohammed Ali Awad (Yemeni) - Robertson

Fawzi Al Odah (Kuwaiti) - Kollar-Kotelly

Closing Gitmo

Click on the title to read more about what the Government is saying about closing Gitmo...funny thing this Government of transparency....some of us have asked the Government to tell us some of the very numbers that they reported to the press in this article but they refused...seems they are more willing to tell the press what is going on than the attorneys representing the men at Guantanamo.

Andy Worthington interviews Col.Lawrence Wilkerson, Part 2

Part one is posted here.
Click on the title to read part 2.... and yes, Cheney is seriously crazy.