Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi

There has not been much coverage about the death of this man in a Libyan prison. Al-Shaykh was one of our many ghost prisoners. We used this particular man to try to get evidence of a link between Al-Qaeda and Saddam... when we finished torturing him we turned him over to the Libyans who in-turn disappeared him into their prison system. Finally on April 27th human rights watch was allowed to meet with him and a few others. He had nothing to say to them except something along the lines of "where were you when I was being tortured?" Now he is dead...the Libyan's say he committed suicide but we will probably never know if that is the truth. What we do know is that his death came at a convenient time... a time when it has first started to surface that we were using torture to try to get some of these men to provide a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam....since there was no link, torture was the only way to get people to say that there was a connection.
Andy Worthington has more.

Boumediene is on his way to France

Read more about Boumediene at cage prisoners.

I guess we cannot handle it....Updated

The Obama administration has barred the release of more pictures of prisoner abuse. This is a mistake that will not end here....
As said this will not end here. Some of these pictures are now being released from a site in Australia. I have a link to an article that will take you there. I don't need to see them but I resent Obama banning them.... The US engaged in horrendous conduct and we can't move forward until we face our past. One thing is certain...eventually all of these photos will be public.
Click on the title for more or here

Sabotaging the plan to close gitmo

We need everyone to raise a stink about this. The senate is now seeking to put provisions into the budget that no detainee from Guantanamo can come to US soil. This of course means that Guantanamo cannot be closed. The European community has made it clear that they will help us if we take the first steps.... we must take some of the men and they will help by taking others. Without their help we cannot close Guantanamo. This is clearly a plan by the Bush enablers... but unfortunately we have too many spineless democrats too.
Call, Email and Raise Hell.

What is going on with the Spanish??

Click on the title for more on the Spanish investigation into the US war criminals.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE SUNDAY MAGAZINE

The Chicago Tribune ran its cover story today on the Chicago attorneys who are involved in the Guantanamo litigation. Tribune reporter Tom Hundley actually tracked me down in The Hague to look at the issues that I have confronted.
Click on the title for the full story

what is going on??

while I am back at the secret place and spending too much time looking at total bullshit let me give you a few things to read...
start with the homicides

move your way on to pruning shears

and if Andy Worthington is not on your regular list to check, go now....

and last but not least do not forget our friend the talking dog....

as for me.... I am back to the secret place so I can continue to beat my head against the wall.

Another Habeas Win

Today Judge Kessler granted the Habeas Petition by ALI AHMED. The hearing was two weeks ago and the unclassified opinion should be available by the end of the week.

Docket Text:
ORDER: For the reasons stated in this Court's Classified Memorandum Opinion, Petitioner Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed's Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus is hereby GRANTED; the Government shall take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate Petitioner's release forthwith and shall report back to the Court no later than June 15, 2009, as to the status of Petitioner's release. Signed by Judge Gladys Kessler on 5/5/09. (CL, )

Add this to the torture techniques...

According to a recently declassified Justice Department document, the CIA believed that so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques like sleep deprivation worked better when a detainee’s resistance was weakened from hunger. The agency, with the legal approval of the Justice Department, employed a regimen that sharply restricted the caloric intake of detainees in its custody — an intake distinctly below federal nutritional guidelines for inmates in U.S. prisons.
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE REST

SAY IT'S NOT SO....

According to the NY Times the Obama regime is considering starting up the military commissions again... PLEASE MAKE NOISE ABOUT THIS....

"Our Nation Unhinged"

A month or so ago I gave you a heads up about a new book that was coming out "Our Nation Unhinged" by Peter Jan Honigsberg. The book is now out and you can click on the title to find out more about the book and to find out how to order it.
As an aside, I met Peter on one of my (too) many trips to Guantanamo. We struck up a conversation and when parting from the base we exchanged email addresses. That was back in 07. Peter was very interested in the saga of Al-Ghizzawi and contacted me for updates occasionally. In the book he covers some of those issues. My picture also made it into the book!
The book does an excellent job of trying to explain the legal side of the Guantanamo cases in a way that is understandable. It is an easy read and once I picked it up I was glued to the book. I highly recommend it.

A friend in Detainee Affairs?

After the likes of Matthew Waxman, Cully Stimson and Sandra Hodgkinson could it be that we are finally getting a friend in the new appointment to the position of Ass't Secy of Defense for Detainee Affairs.? Looks that way to me. Click on the title for more.

Spain is back...

I have been spending my days at the secret place and just came up for air long enough to read this good news.
Click on the title.

Well I am laying blame.... updated...

Just back from another trip to our hell hole ...so let me just say one thing... if we do not bring these war criminals to justice then we should just stop using the word (justice) in this country....
a few articles worth reading:
start here
then head over here...
and don't forget this...
and this
this too...
and what about this
there are more... and I have added some and check out this new (to me) website.
and this interview via the talking dog.

New Report on the treatment of detainees