Abe Lincoln on Gitmo

Well I am from the "land of lincoln" so this seems to me to be more than appropriate. Lincoln was a complicated guy (kind of like our current president) .... anyway, this is from my friend and fellow habeas attorney Steve Sady in honor of Abe's birthday this week.
Click on the title to read it.

Rendition

When I read the article about Obama keeping "ordinary" rendition but disavowing "extraordinary" rendition I was disturbed.... but I couldn't quite get around to putting my thoughts in writing. Well now I don't have to: click on the title and read what Dan has to say.

BACK FROM GITMO

I got back from my latest trip to Guantanamo yesterday. Until my notes are "cleared" I cannot tell you what my clients said to me but I can tell you what I saw. I did see both of my clients. Mr. Razak Ali is doing ok, he is the one in camp 4 and therefore his living arrangement is not too difficult. But it has been 7 years since he was taken captive by us and even the good natured Razak has grown weary. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi looks awful. He can no longer read and he had a difficult time understanding my words. Not because of the language problem, he does speak english, but because his brain is not quite working the way it should. Two plus years of solitary confinement has been too much for this man. I will provide more of an update when my notes are cleared.

An Open Letter To Jeh Johnson

Jeh Johnson is the new General Counsel to the Department of Defense. Click on the title to read my letter to him.

Captive Flower

All those many years ago, in my last semester at the University of Wisconsin, I finally took that science class that I needed to graduate. I opted for Plants and Man. In addition to learning such fine things as how to make wine and beer we learned about the importance of our connection with nature for our psychological wellbeing, something I have never lost sight of. Although the class was fun and interesting, it was a real college class and we had to write a paper at the end of the semester. I decided to write about Flower Power. I did an historic look at the use of the flower as a symbol of peace….sigh.
I ultimately became a lawyer and later still took on the representation of a man at Guantanamo. My client, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, told me during one of our first visits about a flower that was outside his cage at Guantanamo, just sticking out of the desert terrain, by itself. Al-Ghizzawi watched the flower over several days and I could tell from his voice that it brought him pleasure just to think about that flower. He called it a primrose and ended by saying, “it didn’t belong there, and I don’t belong here.” He was right on both accounts....
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE ENTIRE POST ON HUFFINGTONPOST

From Roger Fitch and our Friends down under.

Roger Fitch Esq • January 21, 2009
Our Man in Washington
Departing Bush Gang leaves a trail of wreckage … Obama’s legal team pronounced “excellent” ... War crimes cases against torturers still a possibility … Once secret “legal” advice being flushed into the open … Roger Fitch, exhausted after a night of Inaugural Balls, reports
“If it does not do justice, what is the government but a great criminal enterprise?” – St Augustine.
After eight years of carefully planned (if crudely executed) crime, the Republicans are just about out of town.
An era of legalised lawbreaking and calculated injustices is (hopefully) ending.
It’s well known that the Gold Standard formed the basis for the US financial system until 1971, when Richard Nixon announced its suspension.
Less well known is a similar decision in 2001 to abandon the Rule of Law, our legal Gold Standard.
Lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) diligently engineered this change.
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ MORE...

WHAT ABOUT THE KUWAITIS?

CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ the article discussing the fate of the remaining Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo and whether they will be released now that President Obama has signed an executive order to close the prison.

The detainees’ lawyer, David Cynamon, spoke with the paper and explained, "With Obama's presidency, we see a light at the end of the tunnel. They've been detained without trial for almost eight years; it's about time that these prisoners were released.” Cynamon also noted that he is continuing to pursue fair hearings for the detainees. The Obama administration claims “Their cases will be studied for one year; but we don't want to wait for that time frame, we shall continue our case in the Federal Court."

A sentiment that most of us feel.

FIRE JOHN YOO UPDATE: SOUTHERN CALIF. EVENT

SORRY ABOUT THE LINKS PROBLEM
NEWS FLASH:

John Yoo, the architect of the infamous Torture Memos, will speak at Chapman University - Fri., Jan. 30
at a Law Review Symposium called:

"Lincoln’s Constitutionalism in Time of War: Lessons for the War on Terror?"

Greet him in orange jumpsuits and black hoods to declare that we will not be silent as people continue to be tortured in our name. Contact WCW for more info at worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com ; 213.924.8571.

This symposium will be held from 9-5:00 p.m. at Kennedy Hall, Rm. 237 at

Chapman University School of Law, One University Drive, Orange, CA

Download flyer http://tinyurl.com/brmovh


The "Torture Professor"* can run, but he has no intention of hiding (he will also be visiting UCBerkeley on March 12... see the FireJohnYoo website calendar for details).

Say NO TO TORTURE - JOHN YOO MUST GO! And not just from UC, where he continues to enjoy tenure. Follow developments on holding this and other War Criminals accountable at http://www.FireJohnYoo.org .

THE $1000 LETTER

It was actually more than that but the rest of the costs were my own fault. I was multi tasking and clearly had too many tasks on the plate and screwed up. More on that another time. One of the joys of being a Guantanamo attorney is that the mail your client sends to you is read by the “privilege” team before it makes its way to you. Usually they just read it and fax it on to you and leave the original in your secret drawer. But sometimes they “classify” the letter and you cannot read it without going to the secret office near DC.

Maybe you can imagine my surprise when I received an email this past week stating that Mr. Al-Ghizzawi’s latest letter to me was “classified.” Al-Ghizzawi has been wrongly held prisoner for seven years in total isolation. What in the world could he have to say to me, or anyone, that should be classified? I sent an email back to the privilege team and asked them if they could please give me an indication of the reason for the classification. Shortly thereafter, I received an email back that stated that the letter was classified because Al-Ghizzawi’s letter was “too specific on the detainee's exact location within the detention facility.” I literally did a double take. I mean WTF. Did they think I (or someone) was going to try to bust him out or something? They refused to say anything more and told me I could read it next time I was at the Secret Pace.
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE REST..

Guantanamo files in disarray?

What a surprise... the Washington Post reports that the Bush administration never even compiled files for the men it has been holding at Guantanamo Bay? Why? Because they have no evidence to justify the seven years of detention for the vast majority of these men (hence more than 500 released and most of the rest waiting for the release that is coming..) and the whole operation has been run by morons.
Click on the title for more on this from the talking dog... and while you are out and about check out this piece from Dahlia Lithwick at Slate
and this from CCR's Shayana Kadidal.

Talking Dog meets Testimonials Project

One of my favorite blogs (the talking dog) has interviewed the founder of my favorite Guantanamo research project (The Guantanamo Testimonials Project). Click on the title for the excellent interview.

Every Picture Tells a Story?

John Bellinger should be tried as a war criminal

John Bellinger is now traveling through Europe and attempting to rewrite history a common practice for those that were in the Bush administration. Bellinger who was the State Department's point person on Guantanamo was (and most likely still is) an arrogant liar. I do not say that lightly. He is on my list of individuals from the Bush administration that should be tried as war criminals. Bellinger's attempts to rewrite history will not succeed as I and others will be following close behind to set the record straight. I wrote a letter to the International Herald Tribune challenging Bellinger's claims regarding the efforts of the Bush administration to find countries in Europe to help settle detainees that could not return to their home country. The Tribune declined to publish my letter so I share it with all of you.
click on the title to read the letter.

The Executive Order.... and what it might mean

Click on the title to read the executive order. I don't believe Obama has signed it yet but there it is.
The most important part of this order is that the President is ordering that the men be treated humanely until such time as a complete review of their situation can be undertaken and it can be figured out whether or not they should be released or moved to the US for trial. I expect this will mean the immediate closing of camp's 5 and 6.
I have reason to hope that Mr. Al-Ghizzawi has been moved out of camp 6 already. Unfortunately his letter to me has been classified and I cannot read it without going to DC. I will explain more about this latest fiasco after I finish fighting my way up the new chain of command.

Obama halts military trials

Well, we shall see where this goes. 120 days is about 100 days more than he needs on that front. As for the Habeas cases in Federal Court I mentioned the one delay, that delay is for 2 weeks and for a legitimate reason. I have a hearing set for Mr. Razak Ali to finally have a habeas hearing on Jan. 28 and I don't think they need a continuance for that one: all they have to do is review the documents and they can see he never should have been held and should be immediatley released. We shall see.